Abstract
This well-written and clearly organized compilation of 58 short articles examines many of the core themes of the sociology of education. This reader is divided into 11 chapters: (1) theories in the sociology of education, (2) research methods in the sociology of education, (3) educational environments, (4) schools as organizations, (5) the roles and responsibilities of administrators, teachers, and students, (6) what we teach in schools, (7) race, class, and gender in education, (8) attempts at equality and equity in education, (9) higher education, (10) globalization and education, and (11) educational reform. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction, each article has an abstract and “questions to consider,” and each chapter ends with “projects for further exploration.” I will now discuss the articles that stood out the most for me.
Chapter 1 provides students with an excellent foundation concerning the theories in the sociology of education. “Getting Started: Understanding Education through Sociological Theory” by Jeanne H. Ballantine and Joan Z. Spade offers a comprehensive overview and is nicely organized by micro-level and macro-level theories of education, as well as classical and contemporary theories in the sociology of education.
Chapter 2 examines research methods in education. My students always seem to be drawn to “How to Avoid Statistical Traps” by Gerald W. Bracey. This brief article gives simple yet helpful tips for interpreting statistics. What I like most about this article, in addition to the helpful pointers, is that it makes the compelling argument that statistics are important but must be interpreted with care. In my opinion, some students need to be reminded that statistics can be manipulated, but that does not mean that they are useless.
Chapter 3 looks at schooling in a social context and covers many issues, such as No Child Left Behind, exit exams, school finance, the summer learning gap, and the digital divides. Taken together, the articles in this chapter reveal the many external influences (e.g., the public, the government, the business community, and technology) that affect what happens in schools. “The First and Second Digital Divides” by Paul Attewell is a favorite among students since many of them never realized that the poor usually have less access to computers and the Internet. Moreover, students are very surprised to learn from this article that low-income and minority students, compared to advantaged students, typically use computers for different purposes.
Chapter 4 analyzes the formal and informal elements of educational organizations. “School Boards in America: Flawed, but Still Significant” by Gene I. Maeroff provides a balanced look at school boards by offering critical commentary along with practical recommendations. “Learning the Student Role: Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp” by Harry L. Gracey is a real eye-opener for students because most of them never thought of the various ways in which kindergarten socialized them.
Chapter 5 examines the roles and responsibilities of administrators, teachers, and students. Several articles in this chapter are noteworthy. “School Principal: Complications and Complexities” by Dan C. Lortie reveals the many challenges that elementary principals face. “Teacher Influences on Students’ Attachment to School” by Maureen T. Hallinan offers a simple but important reminder that teachers have a huge impact on how students feel about school. Although school shooting sprees are headline grabbers, “Low-level Violence: A Neglected Aspect of School Culture” by David R. Dupper and Nancy Meyer-Adams illustrates that high-level school violence is relatively rare compared to low-level school violence such as bullying, peer sexual harassment, and psychological maltreatment of students by teachers.
Chapter 6 looks at the social construction of knowledge and how social forces influence what is taught in school. “Romeo and Juliet Were Just Good Friends” by Joan DelFattore provides an informative look at textbook censorship. Students are amazed that some versions of Romeo and Juliet have more than 300 lines missing, in the name of censorship. “America in World War II: An Analysis of History Textbooks from England, Japan, Sweden, and the United States” by Stuart Foster and Jason Nicholls reveals the role of culture in generating knowledge. It is fascinating, both to my students and to me, that history textbooks in these four countries offer such different portrayals of World War II.
Chapter 7 examines race, class, and gender in education. “Tuck in That Shirt! Race, Class, Gender, and Discipline in an Urban School” by Edward W. Morris illustrates how race, gender, and social class intersect and reinforce stereotypes. Similarly, “Rednecks, Rutters, and ’Rithmetic: Social Class, Masculinity, and Schooling in a Rural Context,” also by Edward W. Morris, reveals that race, gender, and social class must all be considered if we want to make sense of students’ school behavior.
Chapter 8 looks at the many attempts to bring equality and equity to education. “Learning through Experience: What Graduates Gained by Attending Desegregated High Schools” by Jennifer Jellison Holme, Amy Stuart Wells, and Anita Tijerina Revilla describes the findings of their study of graduates from six high schools in six states that desegregated because of Brown v. Board of Education and other court rulings. This wonderful article gives voice to those who were most affected by desegregation. “The Achievement Gap: A Broader Picture” by Richard Rothstein makes a convincing argument that the achievement gap between white and minority students is not so much a failure of the education system but that the problems of poverty inevitably affect learning and achievement.
Chapter 9 examines the variety of issues confronted by higher education institutions. “Changes in the Status and Functions of Women’s Colleges over Time” by Leslie Miller-Bernal discusses the origins of women’s colleges, opposition to women’s higher education, women’s educational options over time, enrollment trends over the twentieth century, justifying the need for women’s colleges, and women’s colleges today. “The Community College: The Impact, Origin, and Future of a Contradictory Institution” by Kevin J. Dougherty looks at the past, present, and history of these “contradictory institutions.”
Chapter 10 looks at globalization and education. “Educating All Children: A Global Agenda” by Joel E. Cohen and colleagues examines “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of the current state of universal education. The authors also discuss the obstacles of universal education.
Chapter 11 discusses education reform and change. “The Perennial Reform: Fixing School Time” by Larry Cuban describes efforts to change the amount of time that students spend in school. This article is timely, indeed; five states recently announced that they will begin adding a minimum of 300 hours of schooling to the calendar in certain schools. “Progressive Social Movements and Educational Equity” by Jean Anyon examines social movements, starting in the nineteenth century, that led to educational reforms. One of the merits of this article is that many students may not realize the connection between social movements and school reform.
It should be clear by now that this book covers a lot of ground, but it also covers the basics, such as theory and methods, as well as the core issues in the sociology of education. Therefore, this reader could be used as the primary textbook for a course in the sociology of education, or it could be used to supplement a more formal textbook (i.e., not a reader). Parts of the book could also be incorporated very easily into courses on theory, methods, organizations, race, class, gender, inequality, globalization, and social movements. In my opinion, the writing style is appropriate for any undergraduate-level course. Lower-level undergraduates will find the short articles easy to consume and comprehend, while upper-level undergraduates will still find the content deep enough to encourage critical thinking. Furthermore, teachers could use this book in a variety of ways. For example, the structure and content of the book lend themselves well to student debates or student-led discussions in addition to group presentations and essay papers. Also, the “questions to consider” for each reading as well as the “projects for further exploration” for each chapter give teachers numerous pedagogical opportunities. To name a few, teachers could ask students to create a PowerPoint presentation, perform a skit, make their own YouTube video, create a brochure or poster, or design an awareness campaign. However instructors choose to use this book, I think that students will greatly enjoy it; it is accessible, informative, and most importantly, it is clearly relevant to students’ educational experiences.