The first eight pages….

I have to admit that this is the second time I read these first eight pages. The first time I read them, nothing really stuck. I came to class last Tuesday thinking “what were in those eight pages that I remember” and the answer was “not much!” so I determined that before I attempted to blog about my reading I would have to re-read those pages to fully understand what I read.

The first couple of pages focus on defining sociology, sociology of education and many other terms that I believe will help to further my understanding of the course material. The remainder of the first eight pages is dedicated to defining the function of school, both intended functions and unintended functions. While defining the intended functions of school, Barakett and Cleghorn (2008) outline common myths associated with popular beliefs associated with the school system. For example, “one myth states that those who achieve well in school have done so through hard work and by being evaluated according to objective and “fair” (universalistic) principles. (Barakett and Cleghorn, 2008)” This means that an individual’s effort will lead to higher academic success and ultimately a higher social status (Barakett and Cleghorn, 2008). I believe this can be true, however it can also be very false. I personally have worked hard and in turn received a high grade on an assignment or test. However, I have also experienced times in my school career when I have heard someone say “I barely studied at all”, or “I didn’t even look at the material” and those students have received very high marks on their tests, whereas other students that had spent hours looking over the material barely scraped by with a passing grade or did not even pass the test. Therefore, there must be other underlying issues. There is not simply one thing that dictates academic success, but a multitude of items that contribute to one’s success. Race, gender and social class all have an influence on the success or failure of a student.

I also enjoyed the discussion of the unintended functions of schools. I think it is important to be aware of the activities that occur in a school that are not directly linked to the formal purpose of the school. These unintended functions include social control, custodial, establishment of social relations, and promotion of critical analysis. The first three of these functions occur regularly. Teachers establish rules and procedures to help mould students into functioning members of society (social control and establishment of social relations). The custodial function means that students are looked after while they are at school; they have a safe environment where they can learn and grow. The fourth unintended function, critical analysis, may not be as common of a function as the other three. Although I think most teachers have a desire for their students to think critically about what they are learning, I would doubt that many students enter into this type of analysis. I would argue that not too many students think about what they are learning and how it might impact their lives or the lives of others or the environment. I wonder how many teachers strive to engage their students into higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy or whether teachers are more focused on completing the knowledge and comprehension components of Bloom’s to fulfill the curriculum components. One of my goals as a student teacher is to increase my students’ ability to think beyond the knowledge and be able to analyse, synthesize and evaluate what they are learning.

Reference: Barakett, J. & Cleghorn, A. (2008) Sociology of Education: an Introductory View from Canada. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada