Sociology of Education 104

SOCIOLOGY 104: The Sociology of Education

Mandel Center forHumanities G12

Brandeis University

Spring 2018

Rocío Sánchez Ares, Lecturer

Class Meeting: Tuesdays & Fridays 9:30am-10:50am

E-mail:

Office hours: Tuesdays 12:30pm-1:30pm and by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Jillian LaBrance

E-mail:

“We don’t see the world as it is; we see it as we are.” Anais Nin

“I, a mestiza, continually walk out of one culture into another, ‘cause I’m in all cultures at the same time.”Gloria Anzaldúa

“We are capable of bearing a great burden, once we discover that the burden is reality and arrive where reality is.”James Baldwin

Course Description

This course will examine the relationship between education and society through the lens of sociological research and theories that are useful for examining the roles of educational institutions and practices in the United States. We will critically examine the place and role of schools and schooling in the wider society, both through a brief historical overview as well as modern perspectives and current debates on the role and function of schools and education. Students will investigate the ways in which schools reinforce, and/or challenge prevailing social, economic, and political relationships.Sociology of Education considers questions such as: what is the purpose of schooling for self and society? What types of individuals do and should schools produce? How, and to what extent, do schools contribute to social equality? Are schools sites of liberation or social control? How do race, gender, class, sexuality, citizenship, and ability affect educational outcomes? Of what function are the histories of settler colonialism, enslavement, economic exploitation, segregation and imprisonment in the contemporary social order? Which constituencies have power to evaluate and restructure schooling? What does meaningful activism in the field of education entail? These and related questions will be explored through readings, course discussions, campus events, guest lectures, student-led research and reflexive analyses. This course is geared towards students interested in the issues of power, justice, and social change in educational institutions and the wider society.

“Trigger” Warning: Brandeis University values and encourages civil expression and respectful personal behavior. However, you may at any moment, and without further notice, encounter ideas, expressions and images that are mistaken, upsetting, dangerous, prejudiced, insulting or deeply offensive. I cannot offer a trigger warning for all that emerges in this class. Moreover, it is essential that we have difficult conversations for they form the basis of what I call an education.

Main Assignments (Overview)

  • Attendance:15 points
  • Participation: 15 points
  • Response Papers:30 points(10 papers—3 points each: see schedule below for deadlines)
  • Autobiography: 20 points (2 parts: first draft due January 30; final paper due April 24)
  • Midterm Essay: 20 points (in class March 13)

Grading scale

  • A=100-93 points
  • A-=90-92 points
  • B+=87-89 points
  • B=83-86 points
  • B-=80-82 points
  • C+=77-79 points
  • C=73-76 points
  • C-=70-72 points
  • D=60-69 points
  • F=below 60 points

Attendance (15 points)

Participation constitutes a substantial portion of your learning and grade in this course. You are allowed to have 2 absences for any reason this semester.Beyond these 2 absences, an additional absence will result in a lower final attendance grade; each absence lowers the attendance grade by one “notch” (from A- to B+). Moreover, 3 tardiness equal one absence. I will pass around a sign-IN sheet during each class session to check on attendance. Please note that it is vital that you communicate with me if you have to miss a classin advance.

Participation (15 points)

In-class contributionsrepresent a significant part of our shared learning experience in this course. Participation includes small groups work, whole class discussion, and mindful and respectful interactions with peers, the instructor, and the TA. Here are some guidelines for you to consider when it comes to successfulparticipation:

  • Advance the discussion by contributing insightful comments, questions, and examples.
  • Practice active listening (do not interrupt others’ talk and mindfully listen to their ideas/experiences).
  • Collaborate with peers creating a safe environment in which respectful and honest dialogue can occur.
  • Turn off phones and other devices during all class sessions.
  • Laptops are emphatically discouraged and require my permission for note taking.

Response Papers (30 points)

In these ten short response papers, you will discuss the week’s readings, interpreting key themes, commenting upon the relationship of the themes to your own social contexts background, experiences, and extending upon the class discussion and presentations.

I suggest writing the bulk of the paper before class and once you have completed the assigned reading. Then, you can add an after-class session commentary. The response papers should be at least2 pages double-spaced, and should be submitted via e-mail the Saturday directly following our Friday class. See the schedule below for response papers deadlines.Class readings will be available on-line in Latte or as handouts in class or links in the syllabus.

Autobiography(20 points)

You will use your own history as a student and educator to apply sociological analyses you will learn in the course. You will write this paper in stages, starting late January with a short draft. You will write the autobiography paper in two stages. 1) First, you will write about one snapshot from your own schooling and sociological background that holds some meaning for how you think about education. For your snapshot, you can choose an event or episode from your background that is salient or representative about your schooling. The first draftwith the event/episode description will be written in class, edited outside of class, and turned in via e-mail on TuesdayJanuary 30. This first draft should be no more than three pages double-spaced.

2) You will thicken your sociological analysis in a final paper due at the close of the semester. For this final paper, you will revisit the educational episode/event you wrote about in the first month of the course, and deepen your analysis of the social contexts of education incorporating some of the theories learned in our class.

You will add depth to your analysis of your own social contexts background, make connections to the larger field of education, and integrate or cite relevant research that you’ve read throughout the course. You will need to include at least 8 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters, which can be class readings, but can also include external sources. This paper represents a culmination of your intellectual growth in the course. Due via e-mail on Tuesday April 24.

Midterm Essay (20 points)

In class, you’ll write a short essay grappling with some of the sociological concepts learned during the semester to analyze a current event. The topic of the essay will be disclosed the day of the midterm on Tuesday, March 13. Students will be able to use their notes to write their essays, but they will not be able to use their laptops.

Important Notes for All Assignments

  • Students need to bring hard copies of all readings to every class.
  • No late assignments will be accepted unless you have arranged for an extension before the deadline passes.
  • All assignments should be typed, double-spaced, in font no smaller than 12 point.
  • If you need help with your writing, see either myself and/or the TA. I highly recommend the writing center, a valuable campus resource you should familiarize yourself with, if you haven’t already.
  • Our class is large and it will take time for us to properly read and comment on your papers. Please allow at least two weeks before they are returned to you.

Academic Accommodations

If you are a student who needs academic accommodation because of a documented disability, please contact me and present your letter of accommodation as soon aspossible. Undergraduates and graduate students with questions about documenting adisability should contact the Director of Disabilities Services and Support Office of Academic Services, 6-3470. Letters of accommodation should be presented at the start of the semester.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently. It is not acceptable to usewords or ideas of another without proper acknowledgment of the source. Violations of university policies on academic integrity available at

result in failure in the course. You should cite all the work that is not yours.

COURSE SCHEDULE

SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION, SOCIOLOGICAL THEMES AND PERSPECTIVES

Course Overview: What is Sociology of Education? Friday, January 12

  • Overview and Introductions

Course Overview (continued): The Utility of Sociology in the Study of Education Tuesday, January 16

  • Review Syllabus and Course Expectations
  • Raising Sociological Questions: Themes of the Course
  • READ:Gewirtz, S. (1998). “Conceptualizing Social Justice in Education: Mapping the Territory.” Journal ofEducational Policy. 13(4): 469-484.
  • READ: Mills, C. W. (1959). “The Promise” The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.

Reflexivity & The Role of Schooling: Thinking like a Critical Sociologist Friday, January 19

  • READ: Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed,(Ch. 2). “The banking concept of education”. Accessed online from:
  • READ: DiAngelo, F. (2011). ‘White Fragility.” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy. 3(3): 54-70.
  • READ: Anzaldúa, G. (2012). “La conciencia mestiza.” (Ch. 7). In Borderlands La Frontera.
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 1 via e-mail onSaturday 1/20.

Historical Overview: The Common School Tuesday, January 23

  • READ: Kaestle, C.F. (1983). "Prologue: The Founding Fathers and Education."Pp. 3-12 in Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, 1780-1860. New York: Hill and Wang.
  • READ: Bartolomé, L. I. (2004). Critical pedagogy and teacher education: radicalizing prospective teachers. Teacher EducationQuarterly, 97-122.

For reference only (not required), written companion to film: Kaestle, Carl. 2001.“Part One: 1770-1900 The Common School.” Pp. 1-58 in Mondale,Sarah and Sarah B. Patton, eds.School: The Story of American Public Education. Boston: Beacon Press.

SECTION 2. THE ORIGINS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLING IN THE UNITED STATES: MODELS OF SCHOOL STRUCTURES, AIMS & IDEALS OF EDUCATION

Models of Schooling Friday, January 26

  • READ: Tyack, D. (1974). “Some Functions of Schooling” and “Inside theSystem: The Character of Urban Schools.” Pp. 72-77, 177-198, 229-254 in One Best System: A History of American Urban Education.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • READ: Dewey, J. (1916). “Education as a Social Function.” Pp. 10-22 in Democracy and Education. New York: The Free Press.

READ: Camangian (2011)

  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 2 on Saturday 1/27.

The U.S. Expands – Immigration & Assimilation Tuesday, January 30

  • READ: Patel, L. (2013). Youth held at the Border(Ch. 8).
  • READ: Patel Stevens, L., & Stovall, D. (2010).“Literacy for Xenophobia: A Wake up Call.”Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54 (4): 295-298.

Settler Colonialism & Indigenous Knowledges Friday, February 2

  • READ: Grande, S. (2007). RedPedagogy. (Ch. 2)
  • READ: Glenn, E. N. (2015). “Settler Colonialism as a Structure: A Framework for Comparative Studies of U.S. Race and Gender Formation.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. 1(1): pp. 54-74.
  • READ: Szasz, M. C. (2005). “I Knew How to Be Moderate. And I Knew How to Obey”: The Commonality of American Indian BoardingSchool Experiences, 1750s-1920s. American Indian Culture andResearch Journal. 29(4): 75-94.
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 3 on Saturday 2/3.

SECTION 3. PERSPECTIVES ON THE AIMS AND IDEALS OF EDUCATION

On the Sorting Function of Schools Tuesday, February6

READ: Durkheim, E. (1961). “On Education and Society.” Pp. 23-34 in Sociologyof Education: A Critical Reader. A.R. Sadovnik, (ed.) New York:Routledge.

OPTIONAL (Good reference, overview of field): -Sadovnik, A.R. 2007.“Theory and Research in the Sociology of Education.” Pp. 3-20 in Sociology of Education: A Critical Reader. A.R. Sadovnik, editor. NewYork: Routledge.

Theoretical Perspectives on the Social Function of Schools Friday, February 9

  • READ: Parsons, T. (1959). “The School as a Social System.”HarvardEducational Review,29:297-318.
  • OPTIONAL-McMannon, Timothy. 1997. “The Changing Public Purpose of Education and Schooling.”Pp. 1-40 in Goodlad, John andTimothy McMannon.The Public Purpose of Education and Schooling.
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 4 on Saturday 2/10.

SECTION 4. ON SCHOOLING AND THE SOCIAL ORDER

Privilege, Inclusion and Opportunity: Social Class Tuesday, February 13

  • READ: Bowles, Samuel and Herbert Gintis. 1976,1977. “Education andPersonal Development: The Long Shadow of Work.” Pp. 125-150. InSamuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life. NewYork: Basic Books.
  • READ: Lareau, A. 2000. “Why Does Social Class Influence ParentInvolvement in Schooling?” Pp. 97-120 in Home Advantage, Lanham,MD: Rowman& Littlefield

Privilege, Inclusion, and Opportunity (continued) Friday, February 16

  • READ: Patel, L. (2013) Youth Held at the Border. Chapters 1 & 2 & 6
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 5 on Saturday 2/17.

Social Reproduction & Cultural Capital Tuesday, February 27

  • READ: Bourdieu, P. (1973). “Cultural Reproduction and SocialReproduction.” Pp. 487-511 in Karabel, J. & A. H. Halsey (Eds.),Power and Ideology in Education. New York: Oxford University.
  • READ: Nieto, S. (2008). “Nice is not Enough: Defining Caring for Students of Color.” In Mica Pollock(ed.) Everyday anti-racism: Getting real about race in the classroom. NYC: The New Press, pp. 28-31.

Racism and Privilege Friday, March2

  • READ: Sue, D. W. et al. (2007). “Racial Microagressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice.” American Psychologist, 62(4): 271-286.
  • READ: McIntosh, P. (1988). “Understanding white Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies.” Wellesley, MA: Center for Research on women, pp. 291-299.
  • In class viewing: “This American Life” (2000)
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 6 on Saturday 3/3.

SECTION 5. THE TRACKING DEBATE, LANGUAGE AND IMMIGRATION

The Tracking Debate Tuesday, March6

  • READ: Oakes, J. (1985). “Tracking.” Pp. 1-13 in Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality. Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Press.
  • READ: Hallinan, M. T. (1994). “Tracking: From Theory to Practice.”Sociology of Education. 67: 78-90.

The Tracking Debate (continued) Friday, March 9

  • READ: Richards, B. (2016). “Tracking & Racialization in Schools: the Experiences of Second Generation West Indians in NYC.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. 2(1): 1-15.
  • In Class Viewing: “A tale of Two Schools: History of the Reading Wars” PBS (2003)

MIDTERM ESSAY Tuesday, March 13

Language, Immigration, Cultural Legacy Friday, March16

  • READ: De La Luz Reyes, M. (1992). “Challenging Venerable Assumptions: Literacy Instruction for Linguistically Different Students.”HarvardEducational Review,64(4): 427-446.
  • READ: Flores, N. & Rosa, J. (2015). Undoing Appropriateness: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and LanguageDiversity in Education. Harvard Educational Review, 85 (2): 149-171.
  • LISTEN: -AUDIO SEGMENT: Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo and Carola. “ImmigrantChildren inAmerica.”February 21, 2010 on On Point.
  • In Class Viewing: “Previous Knowledge.” (2011)
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 7 on Saturday 3/17.

SECTION 6. GENDER, RACE, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, RELIGION, (DIS)ABILITY

Sexual Orientation Tuesday, March 20

  • READ: Vaught, S. (2014). “Structural Liberalism and Anti-bullying Legislation.”Equity and Excellence in Education, 47(2): 152-166.
  • READ: McCready, L. (2004). “Understanding the Marginalization of Gay and Gender non-conforming Black Male Students.”

OPTIONAL: -Webpage of Project 10East, a program for LGBT support in high schools.

Gender & Education Friday, March 23

READ: Morris, E. (2007). “Ladies” or “Loudies”? Perceptions & Experiences of Black Girls in Classrooms.”

  • READ: Cammarota, J. (2004). “The Gendered and Racialized Pathways of Latina and Latino Youth: Different Struggles, Different Resistances in the Urban Context.”
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 8 on Saturday 3/24.

Disabilities & Education Tuesday, April 10

  • READ: Artiles, A. J. (2003). “Special Education’s Changing Identity:Paradoxes and Dilemmas in View of Culture and Space.” Harvard Educational Review, 73: 164-202. (Focus on p. 164 to the topof 179.)
  • READ: Blanchett, W. (2006). “Disproportionate Representation of African American Students in Special Education: Acknowledging the Role of White Privilege and Racism.”Educational Researcher, 35 (6): 24-28.

Intersectionality Friday, April 13

  • READ: Hill Collins (1998). It's All in the Family: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Nation. Border Crossings: Multicultural and Postcolonial Feminist Challenges to Philosophy. 13(3): 62-82.
  • READ: Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity

politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review. 43(6): 1241-1299.

  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 9 on Saturday 4/14.

SECTION 7. BUSING AND RACIAL DESEGREGATION OF BOSTON’S SCHOOLS

Critical Race Theory and Education Tuesday, April 17

  • READ: G. Ladson-Billings & Tate, W. “Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education.” 1-29 in in Critical Race Theory in Education: All God’s Children Got a Song. Dixson, Adrienne & Celia Rousseau, eds. NY.
  • READ: Bernal, D. D. (20002). “Critical Race Theory, Latino Critical Theory, and Critical Raced-Gendered Epistemologies: Recognizing Students of Color as Holders and Creators of Knowledge.” QualitativeInquiry.

Separate but Unequal? Busing and School Desegregation in Boston Friday, April20

  • READ: Klugar, R. (1975). “Together Let Us Sweetly Live” pp. 3-26 in Simple Justice Vintage Books: NY.
  • READ: Vaznis, J. (2010). “Area School Segregation Called Rife.” The Boston Globe, September 20. P. B-1.
  • In Class Showing:“The Keys to the Kingdom: 1974-1980”in Eyes on the Prize 1990, 2006. Blackside/PBS Productions.
  • DUE: Reading Response Paper # 10 on Saturday 4/21.

SECTION 8. AUTHORITY IN SCHOOLS, RACISM, CULTURAL DISSONANCE & RESISTANCE

Authority Patterns in Schools: Discipline & Punishment Tuesday, April 24

  • READ: Anyon, J. (2002). “Invisible Inequality: Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum at Work.” JournalofEducation, 162(1): 67-92.
  • READ: Wun, C. (2016). “Against Captivity: Black Girls and Schools Discipline Policies in the Afterlife of Slavery.”Educational Policy, 30(1): 171-196.
  • DUE: Autobiography paper via e-mail

Resistance & Teacher Activism Wednesday, April 25

Brandeis Friday***

  • READ: Picower, B. (2012). Teacher activism: enacting a vision of social justice. Equity and Excellence in Education. 45(4): 561-574.
  • READ:Patel, L. (2016). Pedagogies of Resistance and Survivance: Learning as Marronage.Equity, Excellence and Education, 49(4): 397-401.
  • The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman.

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