We are judged in terms of what we achieve and schools prepare us for this. At school, our conduct is measured against the universal school rules and our status is achieved through examination and the type of school we attend. Parsons believes that education reinforces norms and values, such as individual achievement is rewarded with praise, good grades and a good job. Durkeheim agrees with the idea that shared norms and values create social solidarity. This involves a commitment to society, a sense of belonging and a feeling that the social unit is more important to the individual.
He believed that all students should have the opportunity to take part in their own learning. Education was not only a place to gain content knowledge, but was a place to learn how to live. Schools shouldn’t just be a place to learn a pre-determined set of skills but rather to realize one’s full potential and their ability to use these skills. He said, “An ounce of experience is better than a ton of theory, simply because it is only in the experience that any theory has vital and verifiable significance.” In Dewey’s opinion the role of teachers are social servants. They are there to assist children on how to act appropriately on ideas they form themselves.
According to Durkheim, one of the main functions of education is to develop these similarities to bind members of society together. Durkheim sees a common history as vital for uniting members of society. With a shared history, people feel part of a wider social group – it is their country, made up of people like themselves. In this way, education contributes to the development of social solidarity. Industrial society has a specialised division of labour – people have specialised jobs with specific skill and knowledge requirements.
On top of this, the child’s status within the family is ascribed because it’s what they’re born in to. However, in society there are universalistic standards which mean the child is judged against standards which apply to all of society. These are essentially the laws of the country. Furthermore, the child’s status in wider society is achieved through merit. Parsons argues therefore that the role of education eases the transition between the family and wider society.
Education is in the middle of the bridge. Education is an agency of secondary socialisation, it teaches us the norms and values within wider society and it also teaches us the skills we need for future occupational roles as well as providing us with qualifications. Functionalists argue that society is an organic analogy, meaning that society works like a human body and that everything is in consensus with each other. For example, the human organs work together to achieve consensus, just like society does with citizens, authority, norms, values etc. Durkheim argues that there are two main functions of education, these are social solidarity and specialised skills.
Assess the view that the function of the education system is to select and prepare individuals for their future work roles. Both Marxists and Functionalists agree that education is an institution of socialization to prepare individuals for future work roles, however they both have very different views on the extent to how well it works. This essay will explore those ideas. Functionalists say education is like training for working life, it is based on universalistic standards that will prepare children for their future by channeling norms and values to them through schooling. Parsons used the metaphor of education as a ‘bridge’ to work based on meritocratic principles.
'Assess the view that the education system serves to maintain consensus in society?' Functionalists believe in a consensus. A consensus in society is the idea that everyone shares the same norms and values. Functionalists believe that maintaining the shared norms and values is the job of education. Education acts as a bridge between primary socialisation and secondary socialisation, therefore teaching us to adopt the same norms and values and socialising young people into the basic values of society.
Outline and explain the Functionalists view of education Functionalism is based on the view that society is a system of independent groups held together by a shared culture or value consensus. This is an agreement in society among its members about what values are important. Each part of society such as the family and education system performs functions that help to maintain society as a whole. Functionalists see the education system as acting in a more positive way to keep society running in the way it should. Many sociologists have studied the role of education and argued that the education helps its members in ways such as language and academic skills.
In combination with each other the person starts to resent school at the earliest point. This resentment also hinders the continuation of further education. This comes full circle to the lower class standard of living for generations to come. Next is commitment, this can be described as the level of commitment that an
there are different theories that have different ideas on socialization. Functionalists have explained the process of socialization is by arguing that it is needed for value consensus. This is the idea that in order for a society for function correctly, everyone must have the same norms and values. A norm can be defined as an unwritten rule that is followed by a group of people. values are what people regard as desirable e.g.