- April 25, 2020
1FUNCTIONALISTperspective stresses stability and consensus regarding schoolsystems: schools are not equipped to deal with students and variousgroups’ failure to cope with generally accepted norms ofachievement. Education social problems are considered symptoms ofsocial disorganization. Schools should focus on the 2 VALUE ofeducation. Technological 3 ESSENTIALS and improvements in teachingand 4 CURRICULUM had positive consequences. Educational institutionshave a tendency 5 BUILT-IN to resist 6 CHANGE. Schools tend topreserve society’s 7 VALUES and do not yield easily to educationalfads. Due to increases in 8 BUREUACRATIZATION, there are increases in9 ORGANIZATIONAL size and complexity. There is an elaborate hierarchyof 10 AUTHORITY, and administrators tend to place a high priority inmaintaining their authority. The decline in SAT 11 SCORES hasparalleled declines in scores on other examinations in the final 12HIGH-SCHOOL years, pointing to a general decline in the cognitiveachievements of American high school students. 13ADULT perspectiveeducational problems stem from14 INTER-GROUP views of the goals ofeducation. Marxist conflict theorists stress the goal of reducingsocial 15 CONFLICT and increasing 16 EQUALITY. 17 SEGREGATIONtheorists or the 18 NON-MARXIST conflict approach focuses on 19CULTURAL conflicts, conflicts arising out of the desire to maintainor defend a group’s status in a particular community with respectto 20 STRATIFICATION, organization, administration, and othertechnicalities. Schools should promote the maximum 21SELF-DEVELOPMENT of each individual learner. 22 BILINGUAL educationis necessary to improve the ability of Hispanic students to useEnglish. The gap in education attainment between blacks and whiteshas 23 NARROWED considerably, mainly as a result of the 24 INCREASEin the minimum amount of education received by almost all Americans.25 EQUIPMENT tends to increase disparities between groups, not onlybecause 26 MINORITY schools have fewer available resources, but alsobecause students in those schools do not learn the values, workinghabits, and skills that they need to compete. The 27 CONFLICTINGargument believes that there are 28 DROP-OUT rates among minoritystudents because they do not receive enough help at home. Pooracademic performance, however, might be explained in terms ofdifficulties students encounter in trying to cope with school and 29FIX family and work roles at the same time. 30 INTERACTIONISTperspective holds that schools label students as achievers,underachievers, or rebels and those labels follow them throughouttheir lives with prejudice.