Health and Education PDF

Chapter 15 Education, Health, and Medicine Learning Objectives 15.1 Compare schooling in high-, middle-, and 15.4 Contrast patterns of health in low- and low-income societies. high-income countries. 15.2 Apply sociology’s major theories to 15.5 Compar...

Chapter 15 Education, Health, and Medicine Learning Objectives 15.1 Compare schooling in high-, middle-, and 15.4 Contrast patterns of health in low- and low-income societies. high-income countries. 15.2 Apply sociology’s major theories to 15.5 Compare the medical systems in nations education. around the world. 15.3 Discuss dropping out, school choice, and 15.6 Apply sociology’s major theories to health other issues facing today’s schools. and medicine. 450  CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine 451 The Power of Society to open the door to college 70% 62.6% 60% Percentage of 18- to 24-Year-Olds Enrolled in College, Fall 2015 50% 41.8% 36.6% 40% 34.9% 30% 23.0% 20% 10% 0% Asian Non-Hispanic Hispanic African American Americans Whites Americans Americans Indians/ Alaska Natives SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education (2016). Do the odds of going to college simply reflect a personal desire for more schooling? Researchers claim that almost all parents say they would like their children to go to college. But while about 42 percent of white people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four in the United States were enrolled in college in fall 2015, a much smaller share (23.0 percent) of American Indians and Alaskan Native people were on campus. Asian Americans (who benefit from both higher family income and cultural capital that encourages schooling) are especially likely to attend college. In short, our society is organized in a way that opens the door to higher education far wider for some categories of people than for others. 452 CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine Chapter Overview This chapter explains the operation of education and health care, which are two major social institutions that emerge in modern societies. The discussions of both education and health include a global perspective and a focus on the United States. When Lisa Addison was growing up in Baltimore, she always smiled when her teachers said she was smart and encouraged her to go to college. “I liked hearing that,” she recalls. “But I didn’t know what to do about it. No one in my family had ever gone to college. I didn’t know which courses to take in high school. I had no idea of how to apply to a college. How would I pay for it? What would col- lege be like if I got there?” Discouraged and uncertain about her future, Addison found herself “kind of goofing off in school.” After finishing high school, she spent the next fifteen years working as a waitress in a restaurant and then as a kitchen helper in a catering company. Now, at the age of thirty-eight, Addison has decided to go back to school. “I don’t want to do this kind of work for the rest of my life. I am smart. I can do bet- ter. At this point, I am ready for college.” Addison took a giant step through the door of the Community College of Baltimore County and, with the help of counselors, set her sights on an associate’s degree in business. When she finishes this two- year program, she plans to transfer to a four-year university to complete a bachelor’s degree. Then she hopes to go back into the food service industry—but this time as a manager at higher pay (Toppo & DeBarros, 2005). Higher education is a social institution that has particu- Schooling and Economic lar importance to people looking to advance their careers. This chapter explains why schooling is more important Development than ever for success in the United States today and also The extent of schooling in any society is tied to its level of eco- describes who benefits most from schooling. The second nomic development. In low- and middle-income countries, half of the chapter examines health and the social institu- which are home to most of the world’s people, families and tion of medicine. Good health, like good schooling, is dis- local communities teach young people important knowledge tributed unequally throughout our society’s population. and skills. Formal schooling, especially learning that is not In addition, patterns involving both schooling and educa- directly connected to survival, is available mainly to wealthy tion reveal striking differences from society to society. people who can afford to pursue personal enrichment. The word school is from a Greek root that means “leisure.” In ancient Greece, famous teachers such as Plato, Socrates, and Education: A Global Survey Aristotle taught aristocratic, upper-class men who had plenty of spare time to pursue the joy of learning. The same was true 15.1 Compare schooling in high-, middle-, in ancient China, where the famous philosopher K’ung Fu-tzu and low-income societies. (Confucius) shared his wisdom with just a privileged few. Education is the social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values. Education takes many education the social institution schooling formal forms, from informal family discussions around the din- through which society provides its instruction under the ner table to lectures and labs at large universities. In high- members with important knowledge, direction of specially income nations, education depends largely on schooling, including basic facts, job skills, and trained teachers formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers. cultural norms and values  CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine 453 December 30, the Cuzco region, Peru. High in the Andes Mountains of Peru, families send their children to the local school. But “local” can mean three miles away or more, and there are no buses, so these chil- dren, almost all from poor families, walk an hour or more each way. Schooling is required by law, but in the rural highlands, some parents prefer to keep their children at home where they can help with the farm- ing and livestock. Today, schooling in low-income countries reflects the national culture. In Iran, for example, school- ing is closely tied to Islam. Similarly, schooling in Bangladesh (Asia), Zimbabwe (Africa), and Nicaragua (Latin America) has been shaped by the distinctive cultural traditions of these nations. In many low-income nations, children are as likely to work as to attend school, and All lower-income countries have one girls receive less schooling than boys. But the doors to schooling are now opening trait in common when it comes to schooling: to more girls and women. These young women are studying nursing at Somalia There is not much of it. In the poorest nations University in downtown Mogadishu. (including several in Central Africa), about one-fourth of all children never get to school (World will complete the secondary grades. So what do girls do Bank, 2017); worldwide, about one-quarter of all children if they are not in school? Most of the children working in never make it as far as the secondary grades. As a result, Indian factories are girls—a family’s way of benefiting from about one-seventh of the world’s people cannot read or their daughters while they can (UNESCO, 2017). write. Global Map 15–1 shows the extent of illiteracy around the world, and the national comparisons in the text illustrate the link between schooling and economic Schooling in Japan development. Schooling has not always been part of the Japanese way of life. Before industrialization brought mandatory educa- tion in 1872, only a privileged few attended school. Today, Schooling in India Japan’s educational system is widely praised for training India has recently become a middle-income country, but some of the world’s highest achievers. people there still earn only about 11 percent of U.S. average The early grades concentrate on transmitting Japanese income, and most poor families depend on the earnings traditions, especially a sense of obligation to family. Starting of children. Even though India has outlawed child labor, in their early teens, students take a series of rigorous and many children continue to work in factories—weaving highly competitive examinations. These written tests, which rugs or making handicrafts—up to sixty hours per week, are like the Scholastic Assessment Test (SATs) in the United which greatly limits their opportunities for schooling. States, decide the future of all Japanese students. Today, 96 percent of children in India complete pri- More men and women graduate from high school in mary school, typically in crowded schoolrooms where one Japan (97 percent) than in the United States (89 percent). teacher may face thirty-five or more children. In compari- Then, Japanese young people face rigorous entrance son, U.S. public schoolteachers have on average fewer than examinations that open or close the door to a university fifteen students in a class. In India, 92 percent of students education. Understandably, Japanese students (and their go on to secondary school, but just 24 percent enter college. parents) take entrance examinations very seriously. About Currently, about one-quarter of India’s people are unable half attend special “cram schools” to prepare for the exams, to read and write (UNESCO, 2017; World Bank, 2017). which means very late nights completing homework. Such Patriarchy also shapes Indian education. Indian parents hard work is one reason that many Japanese students nap are joyful at the birth of a boy because he and his future wife in class—seen by teachers as the mark of a serious student will both contribute income to the family. But there are eco- (Steger, 2006; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016; OECD, 2017). nomic costs to raising a girl: Parents must provide a dowry (a Japanese schooling produces impressive results. In a gift of wealth to the groom’s family), and after her marriage, number of fields, notably mathematics and science, young a daughter’s work benefits her husband’s family. Therefore, Japanese students (who rank second in the world in sci- some Indians see less reason to invest in the schooling of ence and fourth in mathematics) outperform students in girls, which is why a slightly smaller share of girls than boys most other high-income nations, including the United 454 CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine Window on the World Miguel Milicchio, age 17, lives in Buenos Aires, Shreela Deeble, age 14, lives 4 miles Argentina’s capital city, and expects to attend from her school in Mwanza, Tanzania, college next year. and is the first member of her family to learn to read and write. Greenland (Den.) Area of inset U.S. RUSSIA CANADA GEORGIA KAZAKHSTAN MONGOLIA UZBEKISTAN ARMENIA NORTH KYRGYZSTAN KOREA AZERBAIJAN TURKMENISTAN UNITED STATES TAJIKISTAN SOUTH TUNISIA LEBANON SYRIA KOREA JAPAN MOROCCO ISRAEL IRAQ Palestine IRAN AFGHANISTAN BHUTAN CHINA KUWAIT 30° West Bank JORDAN PAKISTAN NEPAL 30° ALGERIA LIBYA BAHRAIN Hong BAHAMAS QATAR DOM. REP. Western Sahara EGYPT SAUDI Kong U.S. BELIZE Puerto Rico (U.S.) (Mor.) ARABIA U.A.E. INDIA MYANMAR Taiwan MEXICO CUBA ST. KITTS & NEVIS OMAN (BURMA) Macao ANTIGUA & BARBUDA MAURITANIA MALI BANGLADESH LAOS JAMAICA HAITI DOMINICA CAPE NIGER ERITREA VERDE THAILAND PHILIPPINES ST. LUCIA SENEGAL CHAD YEMEN VIETNAM GUATEMALA Netherland GRENADA BARBADOS BURKINA SUDAN Antilles Aruba ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES GAMBIA FASO NIGERIA DJIBOUTI EL SALVADOR TRINIDAD & TOBAGO MARSHALL GUINEA-BISSAU CAMBODIA ISLANDS HONDURAS VENEZUELA GUYANA GUINEA GHANA CENT. S. ETHIOPIA PALAU NICARAGUA French Guiana SIERRA LEONE BENIN AFR. REP. SUDAN BRUNEI FEDERATED STATES SRI OF MICRONESIA COSTA RICA COLOMBIA (Fr.) LIBERIA TOGO CAM. SOMALIA LANKA MALAYSIA UGANDA MALDIVES PANAMA CÔTE D’IVOIRE EQ. GUINEA RWANDA Singapore 0° KENYA 0° ECUADOR SURINAME SAO TOME & PRINCIPE GABON NAURU DEM. REP. KIRIBATI OF THE REP. OF THE CONGO CONGO BURUNDI I N D O N E S I A PAPUA SOLOMON BRAZIL TANZANIA COMOROS NEW GUINEA ISLANDS TUVALU PERU TIMOR-LESTE SEYCHELLES SAMOA ANGOLA MALAWI ZAMBIA VANUATU FIJI BOLIVIA MADAGASCAR ZIMBABWE NAMIBIA MAURITIUS TONGA BOTSWANA New CHILE PARAGUAY Caledonia 150° 120° MOZAMBIQUE AUSTRALIA (Fr.) SWAZILAND 30° SOUTH 30° LESOTHO AFRICA URUGUAY 20° 0° 20° 40° ARGENTINA NEW 0 500 Km ZEALAND EUROPE ICELAND SWEDEN NORWAY FINLAND 90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° 60° ESTONIA LATVIA RUSSIA UNITED DENMARK LITHUANIA Rate of Illiteracy KINGDOM BELARUS IRELAND NETH. BEL. GERMANY POLAND A NTA R C T ICA 50.0% and greater CZECH UKRAINE LUX. REP. SLVK. 20.0% to 49.9% AUS. MOLDOVA SWITZ. HUNG. FRANCE SLO. ROMANIA 5.0% to 19.9% CROATIA SERBIA BOS. & HERZ. MONT. BULGARIA 1.0% to 4.9% KOS. MAC. ITALY ALB. 40° SPAIN GREECE Less than 1.0% PORTUGAL TURKEY MALTA CYPRUS Global Map 15–1 Illiteracy in Global Perspective Reading and writing skills are widespread in high-income countries, where illiteracy rates generally are below 5 percent. In much of Latin America, however, illiteracy is more common, one consequence of limited economic development. In fourteen nations—almost all of them in Africa—illiteracy is the rule rather than the exception; there people rely on the oral tradition of face-to-face communication rather than the written word. SOURCE: UNESCO (2017). States (ranked twenty-fourth in science and thirty-ninth in The U.S. educational system is shaped by both our high mathematics) (World Bank, 2017). standard of living (which means that most young people do not have to work) and our democratic principles (the idea that schooling should be provided to everyone). Thomas Schooling in the United States Jefferson thought the new nation could become democratic The United States was among the first countries to set a only if people learned to read. Today, the United States has goal of mass education. By 1850, about half the young peo- a strong record of higher education for its people, ranking ple between the ages of five and nineteen were enrolled fifth in the world in terms of the share of adults (one-third) in school. By 1918, all states had passed mandatory educa- who have a bachelor’s degree (OECD, 2016; DeSilver, 2017). tion laws requiring children to attend school until the age Schooling in the United States also tries to promote of sixteen or completion of the eighth grade. As Table 15–1 equal opportunity. National surveys show that most peo- shows, this country reached a milestone in the mid-1960s, ple think that schooling is crucial to personal success. when for the first time a majority of U.S. adults had high Therefore, it is just as important to add that half of U.S. school diplomas. In 2016, 89.1 percent of adults twenty-five adults also say that African Americans do not have suffi- years of age or older had completed high school, and 33.4 cient access to good schooling (Smith et al., 2017). Good percent had earned a four-year college degree (U.S. Census schooling is distributed very unequally in U.S. society. Bureau, 2017). Generally speaking, young people who attend the best  CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine 455 schools—from the primary grades through university degrees—are the women and men who come from families with the highest incomes (Aisch et al., 2017). Schooling is shaped not just by patterns of inequality but also patterns of culture. In the United States, the educational system stresses the value of practical learning, knowledge that prepares people for their future jobs. This is in line with what the educational philosopher John Dewey (1859–1952) called progressive education, having the schools make learn- ing relevant to people’s lives. Students seek out subjects of study that they believe will give them an advantage when they are ready to compete in the job market. For example, as international affairs with predominantly Muslim countries have become more important in recent years, there has been Graduation from college is an important event in the lives an increase in the number of students studying these nations of an ever-increasing number of people in the United States. as well as the Islamic religion (Piela, 2017). Look over the discussion of the functions of schooling. How many of these functions do you think people in college are aware of? Can you think of other social consequences of going to college? Theories of Education 15.2 Apply sociology’s major theories to education. 1. Socialization. Technologically simple societies In the following sections, we apply each of sociology’s look to families to transmit a way of life from one major theoretical approaches to education. We begin with generation to the next. As societies gain complex structural-functional theory. technology, they turn to trained teachers to pass on specialized knowledge that adults will need for Structural-Functional Theory: their future jobs. The Functions of Schooling 2. Cultural innovation. Faculty at colleges and universi- Structural-functional theory focuses on ways in which ties invent culture as well as pass it along to students. schooling supports the smooth operation and the stability Especially at centers of higher education, scholars of society: conduct research that leads to discoveries and changes our way of life. 3. Social integration. Schools mold a diverse popula- Table 15–1 Educational Achievement in the United tion into one society sharing norms and values. This States, 1910–2016 is one reason that states enacted mandatory educa- tion laws a century ago when immigration became High School College Average Years Year Graduates Graduates of Schooling very high. In light of the ethnic diversity of many urban areas today, schooling continues to serve this 1910 13.5% 2.7% 8.1 purpose. 1920 16.4 3.3 8.2 4. Social placement. Schools identify talent and match 1930 19.1 3.9 8.4 instruction to ability. Schooling increases meritocracy 1940 24.1 4.6 8.6 by rewarding talent and hard work regardless of social 1950 33.4 6.0 9.3 background and provides a path to upward social 1960 41.1 7.7 10.5 mobility. 1970 55.2 11.0 12.2 5. Latent functions. Schooling serves several less 1980 68.7 17.0 12.5 widely recognized functions. It provides child care 1990 77.6 21.3 12.4 for the growing number of parents who work out- 2000 84.1 25.6 12.7 side the home. In addition, it occupies thousands of 2010 87.1 29.9 12.9 young people in their twenties who would otherwise 2016 89.1 33.4 13.0 be competing for limited opportunities in the job NOTES: Figures are for people 25 years of age and older. Percentage of market. High schools, colleges, and universities also high school graduates includes those who go on to college. Percentage of bring together people of marriageable age. Finally, high school dropouts can be calculated by subtracting the percentage of high school graduates from 100 percent. school networks can be a valuable career resource SOURCES: U.S. Census Bureau (2017) and World Bank (2017). throughout life. 456 CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine EVALUATE asking her white students what they thought about peo- ple of color and was stunned to learn that they held many Structural-functional theory stresses ways that formal education supports the operation of a modern society. However, this approach powerful negative stereotypes. overlooks the fact that the classroom behavior of teachers and To show the class the harmful effects of such stereo- students can vary from one setting to another, a focus of symbolic- types, Elliott performed a classroom experiment. She found interaction theory, which is discussed next. In addition, structural- that almost all of the children in her class had either blue functional theory says little about many problems of our educational eyes or brown eyes. She told the class that children with system and how schooling helps reproduce the class structure in brown eyes were smarter and worked harder than children each generation, which is the focus of social-conflict theory. with blue eyes. To be sure everyone could easily tell which CHECK YOUR LEARNING Identify five functions of schooling for category a child fell into, a piece of brown or blue cloth was the operation of society. pinned to each student’s collar. Elliott recalls the effect of this “lesson” on the way students behaved: “It was just horrifying how quickly they became Symbolic-Interaction Theory: what I told them they were.” Within half an hour, Elliott continued, a blue-eyed girl named Carol had changed from The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy a “brilliant, carefree, excited little girl to a frightened, timid, The basic idea of symbolic-interaction theory is that people uncertain, almost-person.” Not surprisingly, in the hours create the reality they experience in their day-to-day inter- that followed, the brown-eyed students came to life, speak- actions. We use this approach to explain how stereotypes ing up more and performing better than they had before. The can shape what goes on in the classroom. prophecy had been fulfilled: Because the brown-eyed children Chapter 4 (“Social Interaction in Everyday Life”) pre- thought they were superior, they became superior in their sented the Thomas theorem, which states that situations classroom performance; they also became “arrogant, ugly, and people define as real become real in their consequences. domineering” toward the blue-eyed children. For their part, Put another way, people who expect others to act in cer- the blue-eyed children began underperforming, becoming the tain ways often encourage that very behavior. In doing so, inferior people they believed themselves to be. people set up a self-fulfilling prophecy. At the end of the day, Elliott explained to the students Jane Elliott, an elementary school teacher in the all- what they had experienced. She applied the lesson to race, white community of Riceville, Iowa, carried out a simple pointing out that if white children thought they were supe- experiment that showed how a self-fulfilling prophecy rior to black children, they would expect to do better in can take place in the classroom. In 1968, Elliott was teach- school, just as many children of color who live in the shadow ing a fourth-grade class when Martin Luther King Jr. was of the same stereotypes would underperform in school. The murdered. Her students were puzzled and asked why a children also realized that the society that teaches these ste- national hero had been brutally shot. Elliott responded by reotypes, as well as the hate that often accompanies them, encourages the kind of violence that ended the life of Martin Luther King Jr. (Kral, 2000). EVALUATE Symbolic-interaction theory explains how we all build reality in our everyday interactions with others. When school of- ficials define some students as “gifted,” for example, we can expect teachers to treat them differently and expect the students themselves to behave differently as a result of having been labeled in this way. If students and teachers come to believe that one race is academically superior to another, the behavior that follows may be a self-fulfilling prophecy. One limitation of this approach is that people do not just make up such beliefs about superiority and inferiority. Rather, these beliefs are built into a society’s system of social inequality, which brings us to social-conflict theory. How good are you as a student? The answer is that you are as good as you and CHECK YOUR LEARNING How can the labels that your teachers think you are. The television show Glee demonstrates how the help schools place on some students affect the students’ of an inspiring teacher encourages students toward greater self-confidence and actual performance and the reactions of others? higher achievement.  CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine 457 Sociological research has documented the fact that young children living in low-income communities typically learn in classrooms like the one on the left, with large class sizes and low budgets that do not provide for high technology and other instructional materials. Children from high-income communities typically enjoy classroom experiences such as the one shown on the right, with small classes and the latest learning technology. Social-Conflict Theory: Schooling PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION Across the United States, about 91 percent of 55.5 million primary and sec- and Social Inequality ondary school children attend state-funded public schools. Social-conflict theory challenges the structural-functional The rest (about 5 million students) go to private schools. idea that schooling develops everyone’s talents and abili- About 36 percent of private school students attend one ties. Instead, this approach emphasizes three ways in of the 6,500 parochial (of the parish) schools operated by the which schooling causes and perpetuates social inequality: Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic school system grew 1. Social control. As Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis rapidly a century ago as cities swelled with immigrants. (1976) see it, the demand for public education late in Today, after decades of flight from the inner city by white the nineteenth century was based on capitalist factory people, many parochial schools enroll non-Catholics, includ- owners’ need for an obedient and disciplined work- ing a growing number of African Americans whose families force. Once in school, immigrants learned not only the seek an alternative to the neighborhood public school. English language but also the importance of following Another 38 percent of private school students attend orders. one of more than 16,000 schools with some non-Catholic reli- 2. Standardized testing. Critics claim that the assess- gious affiliation. Many private schools linked to Protestant ment tests widely used by schools reflect our society’s denominations are known as Christian academies. These dominant culture, placing minority students at a dis- schools are favored by parents who want religious instruc- advantage. By defining majority students as smarter, tion for their children, as well as parents of all backgrounds standardized tests unfairly transform privilege into per- who seek higher academic and disciplinary standards. sonal merit (Crouse & Trusheim, 1988; Vlahakis, 2016). The remaining 26 percent of private school students 3. Tracking. Despite controversy over standardized tests, are enrolled in a nonreligious private school. Many of these most U.S. schools use them for tracking, assigning students young people are from well-to-do families, and they attend to different types of educational programs, such as college prestigious and expensive preparatory (“prep”) schools, preparatory classes, general education, and vocational modeled on British boarding schools, that not only provide and technical training. Tracking supposedly helps teach- strong academic programs but also teach the way of life of ers meet each student’s individual abilities and interests. the upper class. Many “preppies” maintain lifelong school- However, the education critic Jonathan Kozol (1992) based networks of personal contacts that provide numer- considers tracking one of the “savage inequalities” in ous social advantages. our school system. Most students from privileged back- Are private schools better than public schools? grounds get into higher tracks, where they receive the Research shows that holding social background constant, best the school can offer. Students from disadvantaged students in private schools do outperform those in public backgrounds end up in lower tracks, where teachers schools. The advantages of private schools include smaller stress memorization and put little focus on creativity classes, more demanding coursework, and greater disci- (Bowles & Gintis, 1976; Kilgore, 1991; Gamoran, 1992). pline (Coleman & Hoffer, 1987; Peterson & Llaudet, 2006). 458 CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine Seeing Ourselves Now in his tenth year of middle school teaching, Fresh out of college, J. P. Saunders just Robert Tucker lives near Tulsa, Oklahoma, and landed a teaching job in Albany, New York, earns $44,156 a year. with a starting salary of $56,000 a year. WASHINGTON MONTANA NORTH VERMONT MAINE DAKOTA MINNESOTA OREGON MICHIGAN NEW HAMPSHIRE SOUTH WISCONSIN NEW MASSACHUSETTS IDAHO DAKOTA YORK WYOMING RHODE ISLAND CONNECTICUT IOWA PENNSYLVANIA NEBRASKA NEW JERSEY NEVADA INDIANA OHIO D.C. DELAWARE UTAH ILLINOIS WEST COLORADO VIRGINIA MARYLAND CALIFORNIA KANSAS MISSOURI VIRGINIA KENTUCKY NORTH CAROLINA TENNESSEE ARIZONA ARKANSAS NEW OKLAHOMA SOUTH Average Annual MEXICO CAROLINA Teacher Salaries GEORGIA ALABAMA $65,000 and above MISSISSIPPI ALASKA TEXAS $55,000 to $64,999 LOUISIANA FLORIDA $50,000 to $54,999 $45,000 to $49,999 HAWAII less than $45,000 U.S. average: $58,950 National Map 15–1 Teachers’ Salaries across the United States In 2017, the average public school teacher in the United States earned $58,950. The map shows the average teacher salary for all the states ranging from a low of $42,668 in South Dakota to a high of $79,637 in New York. Looking at the map, what pattern do you see? What do high-salary (and low-salary) states have in common? SOURCE: National Education Association (2017). INEQUALITY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLING But even public Such economic differences also benefit whites over schools are not all the same. Differences in funding between minorities, which is why some districts started a policy rich and poor communities result in unequal resources; of busing, transporting students to achieve racial balance this means that children in more affluent areas receive a and equal opportunity in schools. Beginning in the 1970s, better education than children in low-income communi- about 5 percent of U.S. students were bused to schools out- ties. National Map 15–1 shows one key dimension of differ- side their neighborhoods, and this policy was very contro- ence: Average teacher salaries vary by as much as $37,000 versial. Supporters claimed that given the reality of racial in state-by-state comparisons. segregation, the only way governments would adequately At the local level, differences in school funding can be dra- fund schools in poor, minority neighborhoods was if white matic. Arlington County, Virginia, one of the richest suburbs children from richer areas attended. Critics responded that in the United States, spends more than $18,000 a year on each busing was expensive and undermines the concept of neigh- of its students, compared to a poor district such as Nampa, borhood schools. But almost everyone agreed on one thing: Idaho, that spends only $5,500 each year. In recent years, these Given the racial imbalance of most urban areas, an effective differences have increased (U.S. Department of Education, busing policy would have to join inner cities and suburbs— 2016). The Thinking About Diversity box shows the effects of a plan that has rarely been politically possible. Although funding differences in the everyday lives of students. racial segregation in U.S. public schools showed a modest Because school funding is most often based on the col- decline between 1970 and 1990, there has been little change lection of local property taxes, schools in more affluent areas since then (Logan, Oakley, & Stowell, 2008; Cornish, 2016). will offer better schooling than schools in poor communities. But other policies to address unequal schools have A recent analysis of academic performance in New York City emerged. One policy is to provide money equally across documented that sixth-grade students in the richest commu- a state. This is the approach taken by Vermont, which nities were four grade levels ahead of comparable students passed Act 60, a law that distributes per-student tax money in the poorest neighborhoods (Rich, Cox, & Bloch, 2016). equally to all communities.  CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine 459 Thinking About Diversity: Race, Class, and Gender Schooling in the United States: Savage Inequality “Public School 261? Head down Jerome Avenue and look for the mortician’s office.” Off for a day studying the New York City schools, Jonathan Kozol parks his car and walks toward PS 261. Finding PS 261 is not easy because the school has no sign. In fact, the building is a former roller rink and doesn’t look much like a school at all. The principal explains that this is in a minority area of the North Bronx, so the population of PS 261 is 90 percent African American and Hispanic. Officially, the school should serve 900 students, but it actually enrolls 1,300. The rules say class size should not exceed thirty-two, but Kozol observes that it some- Entering one of the many classes for gifted students, times approaches forty. Because the school has just one small Kozol asks the children what they are doing today. A young cafeteria, the children must eat in three shifts. After lunch, with girl answers confidently, “My name is Laurie, and we’re no place to play, students squirm in their seats until they are doing problem solving.” A tall, good-natured boy continues, told to return to their classrooms. Only one classroom in the “I’m David. One thing that we do is logical thinking. Some entire school has a window to the world outside. problems, we find, have more than one good answer.” Toward the end of the day, Kozol remarks to a teacher Kozol asks if such reasoning is innate or if it is something about the overcrowding and the poor condition of the building. a child learns. Susan, whose smile reveals her braces, She sums up her thoughts: “I had an awful room last year. In responds, “You know some things to start with when you the winter, it was 56 degrees. In the summer, it was up to 90.” enter school. But we learn some things that other children “Do the children ever comment on the building?” Kozol asks. don’t. We learn certain things that other children don’t “They don’t say,” she responds, “but they know. All know because we’re taught them.” these kids see TV. They know what suburban schools are Kozol’s research was done twenty-five years ago. But his like. Then they look around them at their school. They don’t picture of inequality in schooling remains important today for comment on it, but you see it in their eyes. They understand.” the simple reason that these patterns are still very much with us. Several months later, Kozol visits PS 24, in the affluent Riverdale section of New York City. This school is set back from the road, beyond a lawn planted with magnolia and What Do You Think? dogwood trees, which are now in full bloom. On one side of 1. Are there differences between schools in your city or the building is a playground for the youngest children; behind town? Explain. the school are playing fields for the older kids. Many people 2. Why do you think there is so little public concern about pay the high price of a house in Riverdale because the local schooling inequality? schools have such an excellent reputation. There are 825 children here; most are white and a few are Asian, Hispanic, 3. What changes would our society have to make to or African American. The building is in good repair. It has a eliminate schooling inequality? Would you support such large library and even a planetarium. All the classrooms have changes? Why or why not? windows with bright curtains. SOURCE: Adapted from Kozol (1992:85–88, 92–96). Not everyone thinks money is the key to good school- larger class size to insufficient libraries and too few science ing. Consider, for example, that Cleveland, Ohio, spends labs. But the Coleman report cautioned that more money $14,000 a year on each public school student (40 percent by itself will not magically improve schooling. More impor- above the national average) but manages to graduate only tant are the cooperative efforts of teachers, parents, and the 64 percent of them. Newark, New Jersey, spends more students themselves. In other words, even if school funding than double the national average and still only graduates were exactly the same everywhere (as in Vermont), students seven out of ten students (Will, 2011; U.S. Department of who benefit from more cultural capital—that is, those whose Education, 2016). parents value schooling, read to their children, and encour- What other than money is involved? A classic report age the development of imagination—would still perform by a research team headed by James Coleman (1966) con- better. In short, we should not expect schools alone to over- firmed that schools in low-income communities and with come marked social inequality in the United States (Israel, mostly minority populations suffer problems ranging from Beaulieu, & Hartless, 2001; Ornstein, 2010). 460 CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine Diversity Snapshot ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION For most people, advanced schooling is the key to a good job. But only 100% 69 percent of U.S. high school graduates enroll in some 93% 94% 88% Men Women type of higher education immediately after gradua- 86% tion. Among young people ages eighteen to twenty-four 80% years old, about 41 percent are enrolled in college (U.S. 67% 70% Department of Education, 2016). A crucial factor affecting access to higher education is 60% income. College is expensive: The fifty most expensive col- leges and universities all cost more than $65,000 a year—a challenge for most working families—and many universi- 40% 37% 37% ties charge much more. Even at state-supported colleges and universities, annual tuition averages $10,000. The high 25% 22% cost of higher education means that college attendance is 20% 17% more common among families with higher incomes. In the 15% United States, some 6.5 million families have at least one child enrolled in college. Of these families, 50 percent have 0% incomes of at least $75,000 annually (roughly the richest 30 Non- African Hispanic Non- African Hispanic percent, who fall within the upper-middle class and upper Hispanic Americans Americans Hispanic Americans Americans Whites Whites class), 42 percent have incomes of at least $20,000 but less Graduate from High School Four or More Years of College than $75,000 (the middle class and working class), and only 8 percent have incomes of less than $20,000 a year Figure 15–1 Educational Achievement for Various (the lower class, including families classified as poor) (U.S. Categories of People, Ages 25 Years and Older, 2016 Census Bureau, 2016). U.S. society still provides less education to minorities. These economic differences are one reason that the educational gap between whites and minorities widens at SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau (2017). the college level. As Figure 15–1 shows, African Americans are not quite as likely as non-Hispanic whites to graduate Further research confirms the difference the home from high school and are much less likely to complete four or environment makes in a student’s school performance. A more years of college. Schooling is an important path to social research team studied the rate at which school-age chil- mobility in our society, but the promise of schooling has not dren gain skills in reading and mathematics (Downey, von overcome the racial inequality that exists in the United States. Hippel, & Broh, 2004). Because U.S. children go to school Completing college brings many rewards, including six to seven hours a day, five days a week, and do not higher earnings. In the past forty years, as our economy has attend school during summer months, the researchers cal- shifted to work that requires processing information, the culate that children spend only about 13 percent of their gap in average income between people who complete only waking hours in school. During the school year, high- high school and those who earn a four-year college degree income children learn somewhat more quickly than low- has more than doubled. In fact, today, a college degree can income children, but the learning gap is far greater during add as much as $1 million to a person’s lifetime income. the summer season when children are not in school. The Table 15–2 gives details. In 2015, men who were high school researchers conclude that when it comes to student per- graduates averaged $41,569, and college graduates averaged formance, schools matter, but the home and local environ- $71,385. The ratios in parentheses show that a man with a ment matter more. Put another way, schools close some bachelor’s degree earns 2.6 times in annual income as much of the learning gap that is created by differences in fam- as a man with eight or fewer years of schooling. Across the ily resources, but they do not “level the playing field” board, women earn less than men, although like men, add- between rich and poor children the way we like to think ing years of schooling boosts their income. Keep in mind they do (Wolfers, 2015). that for both men and women, some of the greater earnings Despite the challenges, some policies do make a dif- have to do with social background, because the people with ference. Early childhood education programs have been the most schooling are likely to come from well-off families. shown to help prevent students living in low-income fami- lies from falling behind children in more well-off families. GREATER OPPORTUNITY: EXPANDING HIGHER In addition, it is vital that teacher salaries in schools that EDUCATION With some 20 million people enrolled in col- enroll children from low-income families be high enough leges and universities, the United States is a world leader to attract the very best educators (Yadoo, 2016). in providing a college education to its people. This country  CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine 461 also enrolls more students from abroad than any other, with more than 840,000 nonresident students in 2014. Table 15–2 Median Earnings by Sex and Educational Attainment, 2015 One reason for this achievement is that there are 4,147 colleges and universities in the United States. This number Education Men Women includes 2,584 four-year institutions (which award bach- Professional degree $131,189 (4.8) $82,473 (3.9) elor’s degrees) and 1,563 two-year colleges (which award Doctorate 102,335 (3.8) 82,305 (3.9) associate’s degrees). Some two-year colleges are private, Master’s degree 86,738 (3.2) 62,379 (3.0) but most are publicly funded community colleges that Bachelor’s degree 71,385 (2.6) 51,681 (2.5) serve a local area (usually a city or a county) and charge a 1–3 years of college 49,672 (1.8) 36,143 (1.7) low tuition (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). 4 years of high school 41,569 (1.5) 31,249 (1.5) Because higher education is a path to better jobs and 9–11 years of school 32,143 (1.2) 22,670 (1.1) higher income, the government makes money available to 0–8 years of school 27,155 (1.0) 21,054 (1.0) help certain categories of people pay the costs of college. NOTES: Figures are for persons ages 25 years and older working full-time. After World War II, the GI Bill provided college funds to The earnings ratio, in parentheses, indicates what multiple of the lowest in- veterans, enabling tens of thousands of men and women come level a person with the indicated amount of additional schooling earns. to attend college. Some branches of the military continue to SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau (2016). offer college money to enlistees; in addition, veterans con- tinue to benefit from government grants and scholarships. their greatest pleasure in the classroom. Community college In recent years, there has been increasing discussion of students often get more attention from faculty than students expanding access to higher education by enacting laws that at large universities (Jacobson, 2003). Finally, community provide free tuition to in-state residents. As noted at the colleges teach the knowledge and career skills that countless opening of this chapter, Oregon, Tennessee, and New York people depend on to find the jobs they want. have such programs. It seems likely that many more states PRIVILEGE AND PERSONAL MERIT If attending college will follow their lead in the years to come (Sanburn, 2017). is a rite of passage for rich men and women, as social conflict COMMUNITY COLLEGES Since the 1960s, the most theory suggests, then schooling transforms social privilege into effective strategy to expand access to higher education personal merit. But given our cultural emphasis on individu- has been the growth of state-funded community colleges. alism, we tend to see credentials as badges of ability rather According to the National Center for Education Statistics than as symbols of family affluence (Sennett & Cobb, 1973). (2017), the 1,563 two-year colleges across the United States When we congratulate the new graduate, we rarely rec- now enroll one-third of all college undergraduates. ognize the resources—in terms of both money and cultural Community colleges provide a number of specific capital—that made this achievement possible. Yet young benefits. First, their low cost places college courses and people from families with incomes exceeding $200,000 a year degrees within reach of millions of families who could not average 400 points higher on the SAT exam than those whose otherwise afford them. Many students at community col- families earn less than $20,000 a year (College Board, 2016). leges today are the first in their families to pursue a college The richer students are thus more likely to get into college; degree. The low cost of community colleges is especially once there, they are also more likely to complete their stud- important during periods of economic recession. When the ies and get a degree. In a credential society—one that evalu- economy slumps and people lose their jobs, college enroll- ates people on the basis of their schooling—companies hire ments soar, especially at community colleges. job applicants with the best education. This process ends up Second, community colleges have special impor- helping people who are already advantaged and hurting tance for minorities. Currently, 35 percent of all African those who are already disadvantaged (Collins, 1979). American and 47 percent of Hispanic undergraduates in the United States attend community colleges. EVALUATE Third, although community colleges serve local pop- Social-conflict theory links formal education to social inequality to ulations, some attract students from around the world. show how schooling transforms privilege into personal worthiness Many community colleges recruit students from abroad, and disadvantage into personal deficiency. However, the social con- and about 11 percent of all foreign students enrolled on flict approach overlooks the extent to which finishing a degree reflects a U.S. campus are studying at community colleges (U.S. plenty of hard work and the extent to which schooling provides up- Department of Education, 2016). ward mobility for talented women and men from all backgrounds. Fourth, the top priority of faculty who work at large In addition, despite claims that schooling supports the status quo, universities is typically research, but the most important job today’s college curricula challenge social inequality on many fronts. for community college faculty is teaching. So even though CHECK YOUR LEARNING Explain several ways in which educa- teaching loads are heavy (typically four or five classes each tion is linked to social inequality. semester), community colleges appeal to faculty who find 462 CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine APPLYING THEORY Education Structural-Functional Theory Symbolic-Interaction Theory Social-Conflict Theory What is the level of analysis? Macro-level Micro-level Macro-level What is the importance Schooling performs many vital tasks How teachers define their students— Schooling maintains social inequality of education for society? for the operation of society, including as well as how students think of through unequal schooling for rich socializing the young and encouraging themselves—can become real to and poor. discovery and invention to improve everyone and affect students’ Within individual schools, tracking our lives. educational performance. provides privileged children with a Schooling helps unite a diverse society better education than poor children. by teaching shared norms and values. The Applying Theory table sums up what the theoreti- 2012—have shocked the nation. Such tragic incidents also cal approaches show us about education. raise serious questions about balancing students’ right to privacy (typically, the law prohibits colleges from inform- ing parents of a student’s grades or mental health issues) and the need to ensure the safety of the campus popula- Problems and Issues tion. In the Virginia Tech case, had the university been able in U.S. Education to bring the disturbed young man’s mental health prob- lems to the attention of the police or his family, the tragedy 15.3 Discuss dropping out, school choice, and other might have been prevented (Gibbs, 2007; Shedden, 2008). issues facing today’s schools. Intense debate revolves around schooling in the United Student Passivity States. Because we expect schools to do so much—equalize If some schools are plagued by violence, many more are opportunity, instill discipline, and fire imagination— filled with students who are bored. Some of the blame for people are divided on whether public schools are doing their passivity can be placed on the fact that electronic their job. Although half of adults give their local schools devices, from television to iPhones, now claim far more a grade of A or B, just as many give a grade of C, D, or F of young people’s time than school, parents, and commu- (PDK/Gallup Poll, 2016). nity activities. But schools must share the blame because the educational system itself encourages student passivity (Coleman, Hoffer, & Kilgore, 1981). Discipline and Violence BUREAUCRACY The small, personal schools that served When many of today’s older teachers think back to their local communities a century ago have evolved into huge own student days, school “problems” consisted of talking education factories. In a study of high schools across the out of turn, chewing gum, breaking the dress code, or cut- United States, Theodore Sizer (1984:207–9) identified five ways ting class. Today, schools are grappling with serious issues in which large, bureaucratic schools undermine education: such as drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, and outright violence. Although almost everyone agrees that 1. Rigid uniformity. Bureaucratic schools run by outside schools should teach personal discipline, many people specialists (such as state education officials) generally think the job is no longer being done. ignore the cultural character of local communities and Schools do not create violence; in most cases, violence the personal needs of their children. spills into schools from the surrounding society. In the 2. Numerical ratings. School officials define success in wake of a number of school shootings in recent decades, terms of numerical attendance rates and dropout rates, many school districts have adopted zero-tolerance policies and teachers “teach to the tests,” hoping to increase that require suspension or expulsion for serious misbehav- test scores. Overlooked in the process are dimensions ior or bringing weapons on campus. of schooling that are difficult to quantify, such as cre- Deadly school shootings—including the deaths of ativity and enthusiasm. thirty-three students at Virginia Tech University in 2007, 3. Rigid expectations. Officials expect fifteen-year-olds the 2010 death of a student who entered the library at the to be in the tenth grade and eleventh graders to score University of Texas at Austin and shot himself with an at a certain level on a standardized verbal achievement AK-47 assault rifle, the 2012 deaths of six students and test. Rarely are exceptionally bright and motivated one employee at Oikos University in California, and the students permitted to graduate early. Likewise, poor deaths of twenty first graders and six adults at the Sandy performers are pushed from grade to grade, doomed Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in to fail year after year.  CHAPTER 15 Education, Health, and Medicine 463 4. Specialization. High school students learn Spanish from one teacher, receive guidance from another, and are coached in sports by still others. Students shuffle between fifty-minute periods throughout the school day. As a re- sult, no school official comes to know the child well. 5. Little individual responsibility. Highly bureaucratic schools do not empower students to learn on their own. Similarly, teachers have little say in how they teach their classes; any change in the pace of learning or other deviation from the set curriculum risks dis- rupting the system. Of course, with 56 million schoolchildren in the United States, schools have to be bureaucratic to get the job done. But Sizer recommends that we “humanize” schools by eliminating rigid scheduling, reducing class size, and train- ing teachers more broadly to make them more involved in the lives of their students. Overall, as James Coleman (1993) has suggested, schools need to be less “administratively driven” and more “output-driven.” Perhaps this transfor- mation could begin by ensuring that graduation from high For all categories of people in the United States, dropping out of school depends on what students have learned rather than school greatly reduces the chances of getting a good job and earning on how many years they have spent in the building. a secure income. Why is the dropout rate particularly high among Hispanic students? COLLEGE: THE SILENT CLASSROOM Passivity is also common among college and university students. Sociologists rarely study the college classroom—a curious whom are disadvantaged to begin with) unprepared for fact, considering how much time they spend there. One the world of work and at high risk of poverty. For example, exception was a study of a coeducational university where school dropouts account for 39 percent of all people receiv- David Karp and William Yoels (1976) found that even in ing welfare assistance and about 70 percent of the prison small classes, only a few students speak up. Thus, passivity population (Davis et al., 2013; U.S. Department of Health is a classroom norm, and students even become irritated if and Human Services, 2016). one of their number is especially talkative. The good news is that the high school dropout rate for Acc