Deck 13: Education

Question 1

Through the ________ curriculum in school, we learn the type of informal knowledge that is considered important for the smooth functioning of everyday life.

Answer 1

hidden

Question 2

The phenomenon whereby employees work in jobs in which they do not get to use the full extent of the skills, knowledge, and abilities they have acquired through formal education is called:

A) meritocracy
B) employment undermeritocracy
C) employment misalignment
D) credential inflation
E) underemployment

Answer 2

E

Question 3

According to Parsons, who adopted a ________ view of education, a key role of the educational system is to redirect young people from the emotional and person-centered demands of home and family life toward the more formalized, competitive, and achievement-oriented demands of adult life.

Answer 3

functionalist

Question 4

One particularly concerning statistic is that despite provincial efforts integrate multicultural perspectives into school curricula, ________ Canadians have the lowest average level of educational attainment of any ethnic group in Canada.

Question 5

It has been argued that, under recent conditions of globalization, the economies of industrialized nations will need to rely on services and products to be provided by, for example:

A) Sweatshop labourers
B) Manufacturers
C) Consultants, programmers, researchers
D) Assembly-line workers
E) Migrant farmers

Question 6

Integrated into a larger neo-liberal framework, educational reform in recent years has been marked by a ________ ideology and concerns around accountability. This approach is partly driven by provincial and federal governments' struggle to balance spending on education with competing interests (such as health care).

Question 7

From a functionalist perspective, passing through the school system not only prepares individuals for different roles in the workplace and the nature of social life more generally, it also creates conditions by which this role differentiation is accepted as being based on fair and ________ principles.

Question 8

Proponents of ________ argue that students learn better when they are grouped with other students who are academically similar to them.

Question 9

Supposed that a restaurant's hiring practices requires that all hostesses have a college diploma or university degree with specific coursework in the business theory of the hospitality industry, and yet the actual job tasks could be accomplished by a person with no formal post-secondary education. This is an example of ________.

Question 10

A group of Canadian researchers studying playground incidents at elementary schools observed that peer presence was positively related to the persistence of playground ________ episodes.

Question 11

Many now hold the belief that the economic prosperity of nations and successful careers for individuals are related to high levels of formal education, a belief tied to the concept of the ________ economy.

Question 12

With respect to education, the main goal of ________ sociologists is to understand how education, either intentionally or unintentionally, is implicated in the reproduction of social inequalities.

Question 13

________ ________ could be defined as gendered bullying. It has been a problem that girls perceive as more harmful than boys.

Question 14

According to your text, from a sociological perspective the two central functions of education and schooling are ________ and ________..

A) socialization; economic growth
B) socialization; employment preparation
C) redistribution of the social order; economic growth
D) redistribution of the social order; employment preparation
E) institutionalized learning; socialization

Question 15

________ theories propose that there is a direct relationship between educational attainment and labour market outcomes, meaning that as you get more education, you will gain access to better jobs and a higher income.

Question 16

Bordieu used the term ________ to describe the knowledge and skills that we have in understanding and manipulating the dominant culture of the society in which we live.

Question 17

Suppose that during the first 2 weeks of school a grade 2 teacher decides that five of her students are academically lower-achieving than the rest of the class based on the fact that these students tend to be less hygienic and less well-dressed than the other students. Throughout the rest of the school year, the teacher spends less time with the children and tends not to call on them as much during class. This is an example of ________.

Question 18

Which of the following is an example of something a student would learn about through the formal curriculum in Canada?

A) solving problems using the scientific method
B) cooperation
C) following class rules
D) punctuality
E) completing homework on time

Question 19

In his longitudinal study of transitions from school to work, Krahn found that Grade 12 high school students with at least one ________ were more likely to be enrolled in an academic program and had overall higher educational and occupational aspirations than their peers without this characteristic.

Question 20

________ believed that the role of the education system was to impart knowledge to students but also to ensure that society's values are internalized as part of the individual's personality as he/she progressed through the education system.

A) Marx
B) Parsons
C) Durkheim
D) Stein
E) Lehmann

Question 21

School subcultures consist of a hierarchy system in which popularity is strongly related to social class. However, a small minority of students in each grade were perceived as being at the lowest end of the hierarchy, these students tended to display ________ and ________.

A) individualism; economic lack of wealth
B) intelligence; economic lack of wealth
C) intelligence; lack of social skills
D) atypical gender behaviour; perceived unattractiveness
E) lack of intelligence; individualism

Question 22

Suppose that a bright high school student from a working class background has saved money for university or college. She decides to go to college and complete a program in skilled trade that will basically guarantee her a well-paying job upon graduation instead of pursuing a university degree with no practical applied instruction component. This scenario is best explained by:

A) resistance theory
B) rational choice theory
C) correspondence theory
D) rationalization
E) secularization

Question 23

What empirical evidence exists to support the importance of social class as a factor in the level of educational attainment achieved? Briefly describe: resistance theory, rational choice theory, correspondence theory, and habitus and cultural reproduction.

Question 24

________ looks at ways in which education can become more empowering and be a catalyst for social change.

A) educational capital
B) human capital
C) social class theory
D) critical pedagogy
E) critical reflection

Question 25

________ means that through our upbringing and social environment, we come to see the world and our place in it in a certain way, which in turn creates dispositions to act, interpret experiences, and think in a certain way.

A) Labelling
B) Streaming
C) Tracking
D) Cultural capital
E) Habitus

Question 26

Bordieu describes the ways in which working-class students' life experience find little resonance in the school curriculum as ________, which ultimately leads working class students to engage in forms of self-selection and self-censorship.

A) disinhibition
B) desensitization
C) cultural capital
D) habitus
E) symbolic violence

Question 27

What social factors contribute to the occurrence of bullying on school grounds? How has bullying changed in the past decade?

Question 28

________ is an often taken-for-granted school practice in which students are grouped together with other students who are considered to be like them academically.

A) Labelling
B) Streaming
C) Tracking
D) Cultural capital
E) Habitus

Question 29

________ is the principal that persons are selected for social positions based on merit, or achievement in accordance with universal standards and criteria such as talent, motivation, tenacity, and hard work.

A) human capital
B) logical rewards
C) standardization
D) aristocracy
E) meritocracy

Question 30

Which of the following statements about involuntary minorities is NOT true?

A) People belonging to the group are least likely to see their cultural values reflected in the education system
B) The most successful students from involuntary minorities, according to Ogbu, are those who overtly oppose the system
C) Opposition to the mainstream system may be expressed through membership in gangs
D) Members of involuntary minority groups may feel pressured to deny their ethnic identity to improve their chances of success within the mainstream culture
E) Members of involuntary minority groups may feel pressured to deny mainstream values and norms to remain true to their ethnic identities

Question 31

What kinds of suggestions have been made for educational reform in the future? Are such changes necessary? What criticisms of these suggestions have been made?

Question 32

Describe the purpose of the education system from a functional perspective. Include the following terms in your discussion: Parsons, role differentiation, and meritocracy.

Question 33

Do students learn better in an education system that uses streaming? Provide empirical evidence to support your position.

Question 34

Despite some sociologists arguments that traditional structural factors have lost their significance in shaping individual lives, empirical studies persistently show that ________ continues to be the most important predictor of educational and occupational attainment.

A) age
B) social class
C) religion
D) having experienced teachers
E) standardized test scores

Question 35

Define the terms: autonomous minority, voluntary minority, and involuntary minority. Describe how each of these groups experiences the education system in Canada. Use examples where applicable.

Question 36

Despite Canadian students' high achievement on tests such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), critics from the left, teachers, and teacher federations, have voiced concerns that curriculum content and teaching are increasingly driven by the demands of ________.

A) standardized testing
B) ethnocentric groups
C) self-directed learners
D) the global economy
E) irate parents

Question 37

________ arose out of the Marxist school of thought and stated that the role of schools was to legitimatize class differences and socialize individuals to accept their future exploited status in society.

A) resistance theory
B) rational choice theory
C) correspondence theory
D) rationalization
E) secularization

Question 38

The premise of Willis's ________ is that people's actions reinforce their social position and lead to the reproduction of existing inequalities. For example, working class young men will act in ways that lead to their positioning in working-class jobs.

A) rational choice theory
B) irrationality theory
C) resistance theory
D) correspondence theory
E) social classism theory

Question 39

Which of the following has NOT been a concern of feminists with respect to education?

A) Accessibility to post-secondary education
B) Unequal gender distribution of teachers in the education system
C) The emergence of critical pedagogy
D) Gender stereotyping in the curriculum
E) Gender interactions in the classroom

Question 40

According to Ogbu, ________ make up only a small portion of the total population but then are largely integrated into the culture of mainstream society.

A) voluntary minorities
B) involuntary minorities
C) autonomous minorities
D) Aboriginal Canadians
E) religious sects

Question 41

The main goal of conflict sociologists is to understand how education, either intentionally or unintentionally, is implicated in the reproduction of social inequalities.

Question 42

Strong support for the success of streaming at an early age comes from the high scores obtained by 15-year olds from Germany compared to other industrialized countries on various standardized tests administered by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Question 43

Most government policies aimed at reducing unemployment focus on human capital deficiencies, offering programs such as internships, co-op placements, and youth apprenticeship programs.

Question 44

From a functionalist perspective, the role of schools is to reproduce social class inequalities through the legitimization of class differences and through socializing individuals to accept their future exploited status in society.

Question 45

Lifelong learning is a catch phrase describing the necessity for people in a knowledge economy to engage in constant learning and upgrading of skills and knowledge.

Question 46

Recent data have demonstrated that older faculty members in most Canadian University departments are now mostly women.

Question 47

Compared to involuntary and autonomous minorities, voluntary minorities are least likely to see their cultural values reflected in the education system and curriculum.

Question 48

Despite incidents like the shootings in Columbine (1999) and Montreal (2006), experts on crime and violence agree that most young people are safer in schools than they are in their respective neighbourhoods, the park, on the street and even in their own homes.

Question 49

Credential inflation describes the situation in North America where tuition costs have risen so much in the past few decades that is substantially more expensive to finance one's post-secondary education.

Question 50

Ethnocentric schools have been criticized for potentially perpetuating and even increasing racial stereotypes through racial segregation.

Question 51

Through the hidden curriculum in schools we learn about subject matter that society doesn't want us to know is still taught.

Question 52

Meritocracy is the principle that persons are selected for social positions based on achievement in accordance with universal standards and criteria, such as talent, motivation, tenacity and hard work. .

Question 53

The trend toward longer periods of schooling observed in the past few decades have allowed the formation of various peer subcultures with separate norms, expectations and strategies, which permit youth the freedom to experiment with different social interactions and roles.

Question 54

In correspondence theory, different type of education for different social classes are achieved through streaming and tracking students in ways that largely reflect their social class backgrounds and provide them with a different curriculum focus and educational experience based on the types of employment sectors they are expected to enter in the future.

Question 55

Willis's resistance theory dictates that working class youth will resist the familial pressures to drop out of school and begin working in manual, working-class types of jobs so that they can start bringing in income, choosing instead to pursue higher education with the goal of improving their social class and long-term employment prospects.