Essay Example: Conflict Theory Approach to School Education

The conflict theory notion towards education pays more attention to the functions carried out by school systems in implementing social control. It has presumptions that the perceptions of a society are the ideas of the ruling class. In that, conflict theorists do not believe that public institutions lower social inequality. Instead, they consider that the educational program reinforces and propagates social imbalances that are caused by differences in gender, class, ethnicity, and race. In instances where functionalists view education as serving a beneficial function, conflict theorists view it in a different perspective. According to them, educational systems observe the status quo and push the individuals of lower status into the element of observing the policies set in the education sector.

Nonetheless, the ruling class uses learning institutions in conjunction with the media and other forms of communication to convey ideas that will enhance its continued rule. Given this hypothesis, the conflict assumptions mostly pay attention to the roles played by the school systems in influencing the public view or putting into practice the social control.

How Marx And Collins Frame Educational Social Processes.

Marx believed that the ruling class had the power to dominate the working classes with philosophies. These perceptions explain their governing position in the social processes and obscure the true basis of their power as well as their dominance over the subject class. Therefore, the accomplishment of ones education is directly linked to social class. In that, the learners from low socioeconomic status are not provided the same opportunities as the pupils of higher status irrespective of their academic capability and the desire to learn. Subsequently, Collins notes that the model of education that is spreading all over the universe is as a result of social processes of the relatively latest source. He sheds light on the development of the modern universities although his ideas are based on the extensive application to the development of education in societies. They have both successfully framed the educational, social process by pointing out that the ruling classes had developed and maintained a learning system which favored students from the privileged backgrounds while systematically hindering low-class children from attaining their certifications in comparable measure.

Question 3

The Concepts of "The Hidden Curriculum" And "Cultural Reproduction Theory."

Hidden curriculum refers to the unwritten objectives of schools, for instance, teaching obedience to the authority and conformity to traditional trends. The perception that every school reproduces the social class suggests that all schools are teaching their students to work in ranks similar to that of their parents. It plays an essential task in perpetuating social inequalities since the kids never rise to their positions.

Cultural reproduction theory is mostly considered to explain how cultural forms and cultures themselves are passed from one generation to another. It is a process through which there is endurance of cultural norms that have been transmitted across time hence causing the social reproduction. Reproduction can be used in both the society and culture in a manner that it becomes a process through which cultural perspectives are passed from one community to another. Nonetheless, Bourdieu adds that social inequality is generated in the educational system and legitimized. Therefore, this notion argues that the position of dominant or the ruling class is enhanced by educational success as well as the less fortunate position of the lower class which tends to be legitimated by educational failure. Moreover, this perspective adds that such institutions train students into specific values, personality traits, and attitudes that meet the interest of the dominant social classes way of life. My experiences in school go in line with the Bourdieus work notwithstanding the criticism of his style and complex theatrical formulations. My experience while schooling was full of cultural practices that were taken for granted with the intent of adhering to the interests of the dominant class. Bourdieus contribution to the sociology of education particularly in his account of socially differentiated academic achievement. Children from the middle-class society are armed with skills that are valued by common institutions due to their parents valued cultural wealth and socialization. Moreover, persons with less cultural income are expected to perform at the same standards with the more capitally-endowed colleagues; therefore, we had to work harder to keep up with them.