Chapter 10: education and religion

Chapter 10: Social Institutions: Politics, Education, and Religion

• Education is the process by which a society transmits academic knowledge, cultural values, and societal expectations to its members, so they can function effectively.

• The belief in education for all citizens led to the U.S. public education system, changing schooling from a luxury to a necessity.

• Education, while improving life chances, also reproduces inequality through tracking (placement in different educational tracks) and hidden curriculum (values and behaviors learned indirectly).

• Rosenthal and Jacobson's study found that teacher expectations influence student academic performance.

• Kozol's research highlighted inequalities in schools based on socioeconomic status.

• A credential society emphasizes degrees and certificates for job market and social mobility.

• A 1983 report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education noted declining standardized test scores, marking a significant crisis.

• The 2010 Common Core State Standards attempted to address this, relying heavily on standardized tests to measure student and teacher performance but research has emphasized connections between poverty and academic underachievement.

• Charter schools are public schools run by private entities giving parents more control over their children's education.

• School vouchers are payments from the government to parents whose children attend failing public schools, enabling them to pay private school tuition. Both charter schools and vouchers use public funds for private education but evidence supporting increased academic achievement through these means is limited.

• Alternatives to traditional schooling, such as homeschooling and unschooling exist.

• Homeschooling involves education by parents at home.

• Unschooling is a homeschooling alternative that rejects a standard curriculum and favors learner-driven, self-directed learning.

• Early college high schools allow students to earn a high school diploma and two years of college credit.

• Dual enrollment programs enable high school students to take college courses for both high school and college credit.

• Community colleges offer general education to students and facilitate transfer to four-year universities.

• For-profit colleges are often criticized for high student debt, low graduation rates, and potential predatory recruitment practices, which disproportionately target minority students.

• The rise of online education has been accelerated by the internet and the COVID-19 pandemic.

• College degrees are valuable on the job market but are subject to inflation.

• Whether the earnings advantage of college outweighs its cost is a subject of ongoing debate.

• Religion is an institutionalized system of shared beliefs and rituals that acknowledge a relationship between the sacred and the profane.

• Beliefs are propositions and ideas held on faith.

• Rituals are practices based on beliefs.

• The sacred refers to the holy, divine, or supernatural.

• The profane refers to the ordinary, mundane, or everyday.

• Structural functionalism views religion as shaping behavior, providing meaning, and building a community.

• Symbolic interactionism focuses on how individuals construct religious meanings.

• From a conflict perspective, religion can subjugate and oppress.

• A monotheistic religion worships a single divine figure.

• Religiosity refers to the regular practice of religious beliefs, measured by attendance and importance to the individual.

• Extrinsic religiosity is demonstrated through public display of faith.

• Intrinsic religiosity is the inner religious life or personal relationship with the divine.

• Young people, white individuals, and men are less likely to identify as religious than other groups.

• Recent research shows a renewed engagement with religion and spirituality among younger college students.

• Spirituality has positive effects on college outcomes like academic performance, well-being, leadership, and satisfaction.

• Religion in the U.S. and the world is diverse, including religious trends such as fundamentalism (emphasizing literal interpretation of texts and a return to greater religious purity), evangelism (conservative Christianity emphasizing conversion), and the unchurched (those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious).

• Secularism, a society that separates church and state and doesn't endorse any religion, is a concept central to understanding America's social structure, though the reality is more complicated than the theory espoused.

• Social institutions like politics, education, and religion are fundamental parts of society and sociologists study how they intersect with and shape individual lives and vice versa.

Religious Composition

• (Figures) Provide specific details regarding the religious makeup of the United States and the world.

Explore the role of education within social institutions through this quiz. Understand how education influences societal values, reproduces inequalities, and impacts student performance. Delve into important studies and findings that have shaped the landscape of U.S. education.