SOCI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Divergent Thinking, Human Capital
6 Nov 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Education - part 1
"schooled" Canada
Term used to describe education in modern society
How mass education has expanded from elementary schools,
high schools, post secondary schools and how this formalized
education has expanded
○
Describes how schooling has become increasingly integral to
modern life
Emergence of a knowledge society/economy
§
○
Increasing and diversifying education
We have higher expectations of what will be taught
§
○
•
Canada appears to be a very schooled society
51% of adults (18-24) had completed post-secondary education
in 2010
○
Went up to 64% in 2011
○
•
Financing
Majority by government funding, however it has been
decreasing since 1979
○
Due to the decrease in government funding, tuition has
increased
○
2016-2017: undergraduate fee 6,373$. Graduate fee 6,703$
○
How are people covering this?
○
Average student debt has been rising
1990: borrowers with BA: 12,900$
§
2000: borrowers with BA: 24,700$
§
2011: borrowers with BA: 24,600$
§
Currently ~25,000$
§
○
Individuals are expected to cover a larger portion of the tab
○
We do this because we have been told that post-secondary
education increases our chances at getting higher paying jobs
Reduces unemployment also
§
○
•
Due to the unequal distribution, economically, post-secondary
education is becoming less accessible
•
Functions of education
Manifest versus latent functions
Manifest Something that is obvious and intended
Latent Something that is present but not apparent, visible,
or intended
○
•
3 main functions
Socialization
Durkheim
The systemic socialization of the younger
generation
□
§
Socializes individuals that lead to solidarity and social
cohesion
§
Does this through schools
§
Conveys basic knowledge and skills
§
Gives individuals specialised training and skills for
occupational roles
§
Teaches individuals norms and values that can foster this
sense of social cohesion
§
Rituals that occur in schools
§
1.
Selection
Weber
§
Function of the school is to differentiate individuals
§
Not in individual cases but rationalized in evaluation
schemes
§
We rationalize this function
§
Give people marks and credits, rank them, then send
them out into the workforce
§
Helps affect social closure
§
Protect some high status occupations from a flood of new
people
Why law and medical school is so competitive□
§
2.
Legitimation
Marx
§
Education systems are there to legitimize knowledge and
divisions in society
§
Mass education system was invented as an institution to
serve the interests of the ruling class
Teaches all these members of the working class
certain behaviours that make them good and docile
workers for the ruling class
Teaches the masses conformity to authority
®
□
Feeding the working class a particular ideology that
keeps people from revolting
□
§
We save the courses that are good for critical thinking for
post-secondary education
It is removed from the masses (elementary schools
and high schools)
□
§
3.
•
University degrees today
Beaver excerpt
Tension between the human capital model of education and the
credential model of education
○
Human capital vs. 'credentialing'
○
Two phenomena of how human capital is not exactly what is
happening
If we follow the capital model, we will end up with
workers with the highest level of productivity
We see this in fields where people with matching
educational credentials don't always get the job
□
May not determine how good a person is at the job□
§
There is no real return in investment of incomplete
degrees
It's the degree that matters, not the years that it
took to get to the degree
□
§
○
Credentialing: certificate of competence to an individual
Credentials are mainly used as a heuristic to rank
individuals
§
These certificates are only symbols
§
Defensive credentialing
When students attend university or college to get a
qualification that they don't really want or need for
the job they want in the future, thinking that
obtaining higher education will be important
□
§
○
•
Video
Divergent thinking: an essential capacity for creativity
We all have this capacity but it deteriorates as we age
○
•
Lecture 18
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
10:03 AM
Document Summary
Term used to describe education in modern society. How mass education has expanded from elementary schools, high schools, post secondary schools and how this formalized education has expanded. Describes how schooling has become increasingly integral to modern life. We have higher expectations of what will be taught. Canada appears to be a very schooled society. 51% of adults (18-24) had completed post-secondary education in 2010. Majority by government funding, however it has been decreasing since 1979. Due to the decrease in government funding, tuition has increased. Individuals are expected to cover a larger portion of the tab. We do this because we have been told that post-secondary education increases our chances at getting higher paying jobs. Due to the unequal distribution, economically, post-secondary education is becoming less accessible. Something that is present but not apparent, visible, or intended. Socializes individuals that lead to solidarity and social cohesion. Gives individuals specialised training and skills for occupational roles.
