Sociology of Education

Catalog description

Schools are the center of major contemporary social questions: Who benefits come from going to college, and is it worth the high cost? Are standardized tests helpful for measuring accomplishment or potential? Are students from particular schools, states, or family backgrounds doing better than others? Sociology of education tackles these kinds of questions by examining the many roles that schools and school actors play, from socializing individuals to reproducing status over generations. This class provides an introduction to American education. Readings focus on primary and secondary education, with a focus on education's role in stratification, namely the way that schools provide advantages or disadvantages to individuals according to particular characteristics, most commonly race/ethnicity, class, and gender.