Deck 1: Introduction: Understanding School and Society

Question 1

The text outlines the necessity for teachers to understand the social and cultural contexts surrounding their schools and classrooms. In your opinion, what will happen if teachers fail to understand these factors? Explain with examples.

Answer 1

No answer

Question 2

Although the Athenian citizen was expected to participate directly (not just through representation) in forming the laws of the city-state, this citizenship excluded women, slaves, and metics. Was the Athenian view of democracy less restricted or more restricted than our contemporary view? Explain.

Answer 2

No answer

Question 3

What do you remember from your own elementary or secondary schooling about how the understanding of democracy and feelings of citizenship were fostered, or not, by the school you attended? In your opinion, how do you think students should be prepared, by the educational institutions they attend, to become involved, knowledgeable citizens in a democracy?

Answer 3

No answer

Question 4

Social theory is an important analytical tool because it

A) shows the differences between abstract ideas and practical reality.
B) leads to the discovery of the truth.
C) contributes to an interpretive understanding of how or why something occurs.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 5

Explaining why children from certain social and economic groups tend to perform better than others in schools

A) is a part of commonsense knowledge.
B) relies on arguments that most editorial writers have at hand.
C) is beyond the scope of a teacher's professional expertise.
D) may need to rely on many historical, sociological, and theoretical arguments.

Question 6

Schooling includes

A) planned instruction and programs of study.
B) learning achieved through the school's hidden curriculum.
C) extracurricular activities, such as sports, clubs, and school newspapers.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 7

Training differs from education in that training

A) has no value for one's individuality.
B) attempts to get people to perform specific tasks in a predictable manner.
C) is always used for achieving social control.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 8

A major goal of teaching is to

A) help students understand the meaning of democracy.
B) prepare citizens for life in a democratic society.
C) equip people to think critically about the degree to which their society is democratic.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 9

A democratically oriented classroom is often characterized by

A) student obedience and unquestioning demeanor.
B) student participation in problem solving and shared decision making.
C) teacher-centered pedagogy.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 10

In order to understand and nurture the learning potential of all students, teachers must also understand

A) the influence that culture and social classes exert on students.
B) the influence that culture and social classes exert on schools.
C) that differences in academic performance between ethnic groups have historical and sociolinguistic dimensions.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 11

To understand and nurture the learning potential of all students, teachers must understand that

A) culture and social class exert influences on both students and schools.
B) students' use of local English vernacular is indicative of their impaired intellectual ability to learn standard English.
C) resistance strategies by students from lower socioeconomic classes should be treated as behavior problems.
D) problems in classroom learning are independent of the broader social and cultural contexts that surround their schools and classrooms.

Question 12

If you are able to describe the dominant ideology of your society, you

A) have overcome its effects on your own analytical ability.
B) can easily identify the people that are blinded by it.
C) are better able to understand and evaluate it.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 13

The "hidden curriculum"

A) no longer exists as an element of schooling.
B) teaches students powerful lessons about the functions and expectations of society.
C) is another term for "extra-curricular activities."
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 14

Which of the following statements is true of ideology?

A) Various segments of society develop entirely different ideologies and do not share important parts of the dominant ideology.
B) It primarily refers to how individuals think.
C) It primarily refers to the material components of a culture.
D) A society's dominant ideology is almost always articulated by those who derive the most power.

Question 15

The analytic framework presented in this chapter suggests that schooling policies are

A) directly caused by changes in the political economy.
B) a product of a society's political-economic and ideological forces.
C) generally a primary cause of any society's ideological commitments.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 16

Schooling

A) can play a role in legitimating a society's ideology.
B) can serve to blind people to problems within their society.
C) can prepare people to participate in the society's political economy.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 17

If educational theories are fallible interpretations of social phenomena, then these theories

A) are no more reliable than any other interpretations.
B) need to be investigated carefully in order to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
C) should be ignored in favor of practical knowledge.
D) are no more reliable than any other interpretations, and they need to be investigated carefully in order to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Question 18

Athenian citizens were able to justify the exploitation of metics and slaves for productive labor because

A) their warlike society frequently enslaved vanquished soldiers.
B) the dominant ideology of Athens supported such a hierarchical division of labor and rights.
C) everyone believed that slaves were supposed to be manual laborers.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 19

Countries that provide public schooling

A) are committed to democratic political institutions.
B) may have either democratic or nondemocratic political institutions.
C) use schools simply to control their populations.
D) may have either democratic or nondemocratic political institutions and use schools simply to control their populations.

Question 20

For Athenians, living in accord with the notions of virtue and reason allowed one to

A) perceive the true realities of the universe.
B) live in harmony with the universe.
C) live a life of freedom.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 21

The authors believe that study in social foundations of education

A) trains teachers in important classroom methods fundamental to teaching at any level.
B) helps teachers understand the social underpinnings of teaching and learning processes.
C) won't particularly contribute to making teachers more effective in their work.
D) trains teachers in important classroom methods fundamental to teaching at any level and helps teachers to understand the social underpinnings of teaching and learning processes.

Question 22

The authors' treatment of the importance of democracy to educational practice implies that

A) an important role for teachers is to teach students the importance of voting.
B) people who are preparing to be teachers typically have a good understanding of democracy but need to examine how it relates to teaching.
C) those preparing to be teachers need to reconsider the fundamental meanings of democracy and the consequence of those meanings for classroom practice.
D) people who are preparing to be teachers typically have a good understanding of democracy but need to examine how it relates to teaching and also that an important role for teachers is to teach students the importance of voting.

Question 23

Aristotle's notion that a democratic society provides the same basic education to all of its citizens

A) was naïve and impractical.
B) implies that all kinds of education are suitable for all kinds of people.
C) is reflected in our system of education today.
D) None of these answers is correct.