EDUCATION

Laura Solano
Sociology 1

HOW DID EDUCATION

EMERGE IN USA?

Education was a private practice in private institutions or through

home schooling prior to the late 1800s.
Timeline of Education:
1796-1859 ---- Horace Mann worked to create a statewide system
of professional
teachers in Massachusetts
1852
law

---- Massachusetts passes first mandatory attendance

1902
board.

---- John D. Rockefeller created the general education

1918
---- Every state requires students to complete
elementary school

EARLY EDUCATION IN
AMERICA
Academic Curriculum
Early curriculum did not focus on modern day academics (math, English,
science), but family, and religion.
Girls were only taught how to read, not write.

Racial Conflicts in American Education

In the 1960s, America had a racially segregated school system.
Despite the 1954 Brown vs. Board Supreme Court ruling.
In 1970, segregated schooling in the US was eliminated.

1954 BROWN VS BOARD

What was the Brown vs. Board case?
Was one of the most important supreme court cases in the United States.
Declared that the separation in public schools for white and black students is
unconstitutional.

How did the case emerge?

Brown vs. Board consisted as 4 individuals cases, grouped together.
Problem in the cases:
African American minors were denied admittance to certain public schools
due to the laws allowing segregated of race in public education.

MODERN DAY MAJOR

PARTICIPANTS IN
EDUCATION?
Every since 1918, every state required students to complete
elementary school.
Now, education is required for grades -12 in American public
schools.
Thus, all minors living in the United States participate in
education.
From low income to high income students, everyone participates in education.
Equal access of education

HOW DOES SOCIETY

PERCEIVE EDUCATION?
Equal access of education Is it truly equal after all?
New problem:
Inequality and unequal access to education.
Inequalities in education access all comes down to income!
The wealthy have better access to education than the poor.

Society sees equal access as a problem!

STUDENTS SEE UNEQUAL

ACCESS AS A PROBLEM:
From Savage Inequalities: Children in Americas Schools by Jonathan Kozol:
Two schools were compared to each other:
East St. Louis High School
Low income community
No water supply in the science laboratories.
Short hand of staf
Outdated physics and chemistry labs
Mostly African American students

Private school in Rye, New York

Higher class community
$400,000 auditorium renovation
White and Asian students

Students in East St. Louis asks, Are we citizens of East St. Louis or America?
Wake up call, America! Students in low income communities feel denied of equal access to
education.

HAS EDUCATION CHANGED

OVER TIME?
From segregated schools in the 1960s, to unequal access of
education in low income communities.
Problem then: segregation
Problem now: unequal access

The change is occurring gradually, but disparities are still present

in education.
Reported by the U.S Department of Education:
Out of 7,000 school districts, 3,000 do not ofer Algebra II, and more than 7,300
high schools do not ofer calculus classes.
No equal access to these classes, that students need to be successful.

WHAT HAS CAUSED

EDUCATION ACCESS THIS TO
CHANGE?
Although the change is extremely gradual, change began
occurring decades ago.
The Equal Educational Opportunities Act, 1974:
A federal law that prohibits discrimination against students, and faculty,
including racial segregation.
Goal is to have equal participation of education with students in America.

What has not changed?

Although racial segregation is eliminated, unequal access to
education is still present.
Unequal access is also seen with undocumented students.
Gradual change is coming with the DREAM Act.

WHAT WOULD I DO TO
IMPROVE EDUCATION
ACCESS IN AMERICA?
Questions I ask myself?
Why do the low income communities have less resources than the wealthier?

How I would address this current issue?

Government funding is KEY
Taxes paid by the wealthy, will be EQUALLY spread over low income schools, to
high income schools.
Equal funding in schools, will allow students to have equal access, meaning
equal opportunities for all.

Question for society/professor:

Why is this hard to overcome? Why cant education be equally spread between
the wealthy and the poor communities?

DOES EDUCATION WORK

BETTER FOR SOME
MEMBERS OF SOCIETY AS
OPPOSED
TO
OTHERS?

As explained before, the

wealthy
clearly benefit much more than
the poor.
The wealthy has more funding, from the government AND
donations from wealthy families.
The lower income communities face less resources, due to lack of
funding.
Personal experience:
Low income charter high school in my neighborhood:
Lack of staf
AP Calculus class, does not have a formal classroom setting.

FUNCTIONALIST
PERSPECTIVE
Functionalists focus on the order that is in society, in which would
focus on social stability.
The problem with functionalist is that they neglect the negative
consequences of social order.
Functionalist do not believe in taking action in changing the social
environment, even if the outcome benefits society!
In other words, functionalist would not care about the inequality in
education, and they wouldnt care about making a change in order
to better education.

CONFLICT THEORY
PERSPECTIVE
The reasoning conflict theory, is that problems rise when
resources are unevenly distributed between groups in society.
Thus, conflict theory then leads to changes in society.
Conflict theory originated from Karl Marx, and mentioned that
there was conflict due to the unequal distributed resources among
the wealthy and the poor.
Thus, the unequal education access present now, would be
alarming for people who follow conflict theory like Marx.
It is seen that socio-economic factors influence the unequal
access to education in our society further leading to influence
individuals who follow conflict theory to step up, and take a stand,

SOURCES
1. Walia, Arjun. "The Origin Of Education And Mandatory Schooling." CollectiveEvolution RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr.
2016. <http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/01/07/the-origin-of-education-and-mandatory-schooling/>.
2. Frederick
T. Gates, The Country School of Tomorrow, Occasional Papers, no.1 (New York: General Education Board, 1913), p.
6.
3. "EDC." Codes: Code Search. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
<http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayexpandedbranch.xhtml?
tocCode=EDC&division=&title=1.&part=&chapter=&article=>.
4. FIORIELLO, PATRICIA, Dr. "The Educational System in America: Modern Day Problems." N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://k12educationsystem.com/the-educational-system-in-america-modern-day-problems/>.
5. By, and Antonella Corsi-Bunke. GUIDE TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
http://www.isss.umn.edu/publications/USEducation/2.pdf
6. School desegregation: An evaluation of predictions made inBrown v. Board of Education..Stephan, Walter G.
Psychological Bulletin, Vol 85(2), Mar 1978, 217-238.http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.85.2.217
7. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, by Jonathan Kozol, 1992.
8. "Types Of Educational Opportunities Discrimination." U.S. Department of Justice. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
9. Martin Carnoy (1983) Education, Democracy, and Social Conflict. Harvard Educational Review: December 1983, Vol.
53, No. 4, pp. 398-402.