13.1.3: Education in the Industrializing Nations:

 13.1.3: Education in the Industrializing Nations: Russia Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, the czar had been expanding Russia’s educational system beyond the children of the elite (Peretyatko and Zulfugarzade 2019). The Soviet Communist party continued this expansion until education encompassed all children. True to the sociological principle that education reflects culture, the new government saw education as a way to undergird the new political system and made certain that socialist values dominated its schools. Schoolchildren were taught that capitalism was evil and communism was the salvation of the world. Every classroom was required to prominently display photographs of Lenin and Stalin. Under the Soviets, education, including college, was free. Just as the economy was directed from central headquarters in Moscow, so was education. Each school followed the same state-prescribed curriculum, and all students in the same grade used the same textbooks. Schools stressed mathematics and the natural sciences. To prevent critical thinking, which might lead to criticisms of communism, under Stalin sociology was banned, replaced by mandatory studies of Marxism. Students were taught not to think but to memorize course materials and repeat lectures on oral exams (Karady and Nagy 2019). Russia’s switch from communism to capitalism brought a change in culture—especially new ideas about profit, private property, and personal freedom. This, in turn, meant that the educational system had to adjust to the country’s changing values and views of the world. Not only did the photos of Lenin and Stalin come down, but also, for the first time, private, religious, and even foreign-run schools were allowed. For the first time as well, teachers were able to encourage students to think for themselves. The problems that Russia confronted in “reinventing” its educational system were mind-boggling. Tens of thousands of teachers who had been teaching students to memorize Party-dictated political answers had to learn new methods of teaching. As the economy faltered during Russia’s early transition to capitalism, school budgets dwindled. Some teachers went unpaid for months; instead of money, at one school, teachers were paid in the strange combination of toilet paper and vodka (Deaver 2001). Teachers are now paid regularly (and in money), but the salaries are low, and tens of thousands of academics have left Russia (Grove 2015; Lazareva and Zakharov 2019). With teachers and texts able to shape minds, politicians around the world are interested in their country’s educational system. Russia is no exception. After Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, declared that the new history books did not do justice to Russia’s glorious past (Rapoport 2009), he eliminated most of the publishing competition and arranged for his old friend and judo partner to become the publisher of “patriotic” texts that “match Russian values” (Becker and Myers 2014). With or without Putin, we can be certain that Russia’s educational system will glorify Russia’s history and reinforce its values and world views—no matter what direction those values and views may take. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, detests the blow to Russia’s prestige that followed the breakup of the Soviet empire. To make up for this humiliation, he ordered Russia’s textbooks revised to glorify the country. He also projects an image of strength to Russian citizens and to the world through confrontations with the West and, as you can see, by publicity photos of his own macho persona. Credit: SPUTNIK/Alamy Stock Photo

13.1.2: Education in the Most Industrialized Nations:

 13.1.2: Education in the Most Industrialized Nations: 

Japan Japanese students outscore U.S. students. Why? One reason is that hardly any nation takes education as seriously as Japan does. One of five grade school students and two of three ninth graders in Japan attend a cram school (juku) (Kim and Jung 2019). These schools operate after the regular school day. 420 Another unique aspect of Japanese education is that during the regular school day, all grade school children study the same page from the same textbook (“Less Rote …” 2000). This vast uniformity is accompanied by a personal touch: Teachers are required to visit each student’s home once a year (Yamamoto and Brinton 2010).

These high school students in Fukuoka, Japan, who are completing their cram school courses, are raising their fists in enthusiastic hope of success in their coming university entrance exams. Credit: The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images A central sociological principle of education is that a nation’s education reflects its culture. Studying the same materials at the same time reflects the core Japanese value of solidarity with the group. In the workforce, people who are hired together are not expected to compete with one another for promotions. Instead, they are promoted as a group (Inatsugu 2011). Japanese education reflects this group-centered approach to life. In a fascinating cultural contradiction, admission to the best high schools and colleges is highly competitive, and this is where the cram schools come in. All ninth-grade students take national tests and then attend high schools that match their test results (Matsuoka 2019). The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), taken by college-bound high school students in the United States, is voluntary, but Japanese seniors who want to attend college must take a national test. U.S. students who perform poorly on their tests can usually find some college to attend—as long as their parents can pay the tuition. Until recently, in Japan, only the top scorers—rich and poor alike—were admitted to college. Because Japan’s birth rate has dropped, more space is available, and it is now easier for students to get into college. Competition for entrance to the best colleges, however, remains intense, and the juku have adjusted by reducing the size of their classes (Entrich 2018). As in the United States, children from Japan’s richer families score higher on college admission tests and are more likely to attend the nation’s elite colleges (Matsuoka 2019). In both countries, children born in richer families inherit privileges that give them advantages over others. Among these privileges, which sociologists call cultural capital, are having more highly educated parents, encouragement and pressure to bring home top grades, and cultural experiences that translate into higher test scores. A major change is occurring in Japan’s colleges and universities, one that mirrors the community college debate we discussed earlier. For its lower-tier schools, government officials have decided to de-emphasize arts, literature, history, and the social sciences and stress preparation for jobs (Obe 2015). For the upper-level universities, they are increasing funding for research, with the goal of increasing from two to ten the number of Japan’s universities that are in the world’s top one hundred.

13.1.1: Education and Industrialization

 13.1.1: Education and Industrialization

 Let’s look at how the universal education that we take for granted came about. Industrialization and Mandatory Education In the early years of the United States, most people worked on farms, and there was no free public education. But by 1918, all U.S. states had mandatory education laws requiring children to attend school, usually until they completed the eighth grade or turned 16, whichever came first. Graduation from the eighth grade marked the end of education for most people. “Dropouts” at that time were students who did not complete grade school. It is no coincidence that universal education and industrialization occurred at the same time. The economy was changing from farm to factory, and as political and civic leaders observed this transformation, they recognized the need for an educated workforce. They also feared the influx of “foreign” values and looked at public education as a way to “Americanize” immigrants (Ramsey 2019).

A primary purpose of early public education was the “Americanization” of immigrants. This meant turning immigrants into Americans, that is, assimilating them into dominant values and orientations. This photo from 1926 was taken in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where 98 percent of the students were children of immigrants. SZ Photo/Scherl/The Image Works The Expansion of Education As industrialization increased, fewer people made their living from farming. Even more years of formal education then came to be regarded as essential to the well-being of society. As more and more students graduated from high school, the demand for a college education grew. Free education stopped with high school, however, and with the distance to the nearest college too far and the cost of tuition and lodging too great, few high school graduates were able to attend college. As discussed in the following Down-to-Earth Sociology, this predicament gave birth to community colleges. Down-to-Earth Sociology Community Colleges: Facing Old and New Challenges I attended a junior college in Oakland, California. From there, with fresh diploma in hand, I transferred to a senior college—a college in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that had no freshmen or sophomores. I didn’t realize that my experimental college matched the vision of some of the founders of the community college movement. In the early 1900s, they foresaw a system of local colleges that would be accessible to the average high school graduate—a system so extensive that it would be unnecessary for universities to offer courses at the freshman and sophomore levels (Handel 2013). A group with an equally strong opinion questioned whether preparing high school graduates for entry to 4-year colleges and universities should be the goal of junior colleges. They insisted that the purpose of junior colleges should be vocational preparation, to equip people for jobs such as electricians and other technicians. In some regions, where the proponents of transfer dominated, the admissions requirements for junior colleges were higher than those of Yale (Pedersen 2001). This debate was never won by either side, and you can still hear its echoes today (Bahr 2019). The name junior college also became a problem. Some felt that the word junior made their institution sound as though it weren’t quite a real college. A struggle to change the name ensued, and several decades ago, community college won out. The name change didn’t settle the debate about whether the purpose was preparing students to transfer to universities or training them for jobs, however. Community colleges continue to serve this dual purpose.

Community colleges have opened higher education to millions of students who would not otherwise have access to college because of cost or distance. Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision/Getty Images Community colleges have become such an essential part of the U.S. educational system that 6 million students, 31 percent of all undergraduates in the United States, are enrolled in them (Statistical Abstract 2019:Table 294). They have become the major source of the nation’s emergency medical technicians, firefighters, nurses, and police officers. Most students are nontraditional students: Many are age 25 or older, come from the working class, have jobs and children, and attend college part-time (J. C. Chen 2017). To help students transfer to 4-year colleges and universities, many community colleges and 4-year public and private universities are working closely together (Forbeset al. 2019). Some community colleges coordinate courses with universities, making sure they match the university’s title and numbering system, as well as its rigor of instruction and grading. Many offer honors programs that prepare talented students to transfer with ease into these schools. An emerging trend is for community colleges to become 4-year colleges without changing their names (Elfman 2016). Some are now granting work-related baccalaureate degrees in such areas as teaching, nursing, and public safety. This raises the question: Will these community colleges eventually develop into full 4-year colleges, perhaps even creating the need to establish 2-year community colleges to supplement them? Community colleges face continuing challenges. They must secure adequate funding in the face of limited resources, adjust to changing job markets, and maintain quality instruction and campus security. Other challenges include offering financial aid, remedial and online courses, and flex schedules. Then, too, there is the need to teach students for whom English is a second language and international students who struggle to adjust to American culture (Lau et al. 2019). There also are challenges of providing on-campus day care for parents and meeting the needs of veterans who have returned to campus (Caton 2019). Always, there is the need to stay current with the ever-changing technical specialties and computer sciences (Forbes et al. 2019). Laid over the specific situations is an urgency to increase graduation rates. One of the promising course of action is guided pathways: focused first-year orientation, helping students select end goals, more personalized advising, faculty mentoring, and closer monitoring of students’ progress (Wheeler 2019). For Your Consideration Do you think the primary goal of community colleges should be to train students for jobs or to prepare them to transfer to 4-year colleges and universities? Why? 419 The expansion of education marched hand in hand with the advance of industrialization, a pace it has continued during our postindustrial society. The pace has even picked up, and today 70 percent of high school graduates enter college (Statistical Abstract 2019:Table 292). As you can see from Figure 13.1, receiving a bachelor’s degree is now more than twice as common as completing high school used to be. 

Figure 13.1 Educational Achievement in the United States

NOTE: Americans 25 years and older. Asterisk indicates author’s estimate. College graduates are included in both categories (high school and higher, and college graduates). SOURCE: Based on National Center for Education Statistics 1991:Table 8; Statistical Abstract of the United States 2019:Table 255. The horizontal axis represents years and ranges from 1910 to 2020, in increments of 10. The vertical axis represents the percentage and ranges from 0 to 100, in increments of 10. The data are summarized approximately below: 1910: High school and higher, 11%; College graduates: 1%. 1920: High school and higher, 18%; College graduates: 2%. 1930: High school and higher, 19%; College graduates: 3%. 1940: High school and higher, 22%; College graduates: 4%. 1950: High school and higher, 34%; College graduates: 6%. 1960: High school and higher, 41%; College graduates: 9%. 1970: High school and higher, 51%; College graduates: 11%. 1980: High school and higher, 68%; College graduates: 16%. 1990: High school and higher, 77%; College graduates: 20%. 2000: High school and higher, 80%; College graduates: 23%. 2010: High school and higher, 87%; College graduates: 30%. 2020: High school and higher, 91%; College graduates: 32%. Note: For the year 2020 the numbers are author’s estimates. To place our own educational system in global perspective, let’s look at education in three countries at different levels of industrialization. This will help us see how education is related to a nation’s culture and its economy.

13.1: Education in Global Perspective

 Education: Transferring Knowledge and Skills To understand how education is related to a nation’s culture and economy, let’s trace the development of universal education and then compare education in three countries at different levels of industrialization. Education in Global Perspective 

13.1 Understand how education is related to the culture and economy of a nation, and compare education in Japan, Russia, and Egypt. Have you ever wondered why people need a high school diploma to sell cars or to join the U.S. Marines? You will learn what you need to know on the job. Why do employers insist on diplomas and degrees? Why don’t they simply use on-the-job training? In some cases, job skills must be mastered before you are allowed to do the work. On-the-job training was once adequate to become an engineer or an airline pilot, but with changes in information and technology, it falls far short of what is needed today. This is precisely why doctors display their credentials so prominently. Their framed degrees declare that an institution of higher learning has certified them to work on your body. 418 But testing in algebra or paragraph construction to sell sheets at Target or to serve burritos at Chipotle? As sociologist Randall Collins (1979) said, industrialized nations have become credential societies. By this, he meant that employers use diplomas and degrees as sorting devices to determine who is eligible for a job. Because employers don’t know potential workers, they depend on schools to weed out the incapable. For example, when you graduate from college, potential employers will presume that you are a responsible person—that you have shown up for numerous classes, have turned in scores of assignments, and have demonstrated basic writing and thinking skills. They will then graft their particular job skills onto this foundation, which has been certified by your college. The cartoonist captures a primary reason that we have become a credential society. Watch South Africa School Offers Migrant Children Rare Lifeline Play 

Watchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gjmgUAJtWA

South Africa School Offers Migrant Children Rare Lifeline

other source for reference : https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Book%3A_Sociology_(Boundless)/13%3A_Education/13.01%3A_Education_and_the_Global_Perspective

research paper : http://a-research.upi.edu/operator/upload/pro_2009_criced_arifin_education_in_global_perspective.pdf

12.8 Explain the likely future of marriage and family.

 The Future of Marriage and Family

 12.8 Explain the likely future of marriage and family. 

What can we expect of marriage and family in the future? We can first note that marriage is so functional that it exists in every society. Despite its many problems, then, marriage is in no danger of becoming a relic of the past, and the vast majority of Americans will continue to find marriage vital to their welfare. We can catch a glimpse of the future by considering trends that are firmly in place. Cohabitation, births to single women, and the age at first marriage will increase. As more married women join the workforce, wives will continue to gain marital power. As the number of elderly increase, more couples will find themselves sandwiched between caring for their parents and rearing their own children. Our culture will continue to be haunted by distorted images of marriage and family: the bleak ones portrayed in the mass media and the rosy ones perpetuated by cultural myths. Sociological research can help correct these distortions and allow us to see how our own family experiences fit into the patterns of our culture. Sociological research can also help to answer the big question: How do we formulate social policies that support and enhance the quality of family life?

12.9- Summary and Review marriage and divorce

 Summary and Review Listen to the Audio Listen to the Audio Marriage and Family in Global Perspective 12.1 Define marriage and family, and summarize their common cultural themes. What is a family, and what themes are universal? Family is difficult to define because there are exceptions to every element that you might consider essential. Consequently, family is defined broadly—as people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption. Universally, marriage and family are mechanisms for governing mate selection, reckoning descent, and establishing inheritance and authority. Marriage and Family in Theoretical Perspective 12.2 Contrast the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives on marriage and family. What is a functionalist perspective on marriage and family? Functionalists examine the functions and dysfunctions of family life. Examples include the incest taboo and how weakened family functions increase divorce. What is a conflict perspective on marriage and family? Conflict theorists focus on inequality in marriage, especially unequal and changing power between husbands and wives. What is a symbolic interactionist perspective on marriage and family? Symbolic interactionists examine the contrasting experiences and perspectives of men and women in marriage. They stress that only by grasping the perspectives of wives and husbands can we understand their behavior. The Family Life Cycle 12.3 Summarize research on love and courtship, marriage, childbirth, child rearing, and family transitions. What are the major elements of the family life cycle? The major elements are love and courtship, marriage, childbirth, child rearing, and the family in later life. Most mate selection follows patterns of age, social class, and race–ethnicity. Childrearing patterns vary by social class. Diversity in U.S. Families 12.4 Summarize research on families: African American, Latino, Asian American, Native American, one-parent, couples without children, blended, and gay and lesbian. How significant is race–ethnicity in family life? The primary distinction is social class, not race–ethnicity. Families of the same social class are likely to be similar, regardless of their race–ethnicity. What other diversity do we see in U.S. families? Also discussed are one-parent, childless, blended, and gay and lesbian families. Each has its unique characteristics, but social class is important in determining their primary characteristics. Poverty is especially significant for one-parent families, most of which are headed by women. Trends in U.S. Families 12.5 Discuss changes in the timetable of family life, cohabitation, and elder care. What major changes characterize U.S. families? Three major changes are postponement of first marriage, an increase in cohabitation, and having the first child at a later age. With more people living longer, many middle-aged couples find themselves sandwiched between rearing their children and taking care of their aging parents. Divorce and Remarriage 12.6 Summarize problems in measuring divorce, research findings on children and grandchildren of divorce, fathers’ contact after divorce, ex-spouses, and remarriage. What is the current divorce rate? Depending on what numbers you choose to compare, you can produce rates between 2 percent and 50 percent. How do children and their parents adjust to divorce? Divorce is difficult for children whose adjustment problems often continue into adulthood. Consequences of divorce are passed on to grandchildren. Fathers who have frequent contact with their children after a divorce are likely to maintain it. 414 Two Sides of Family Life 12.7 Summarize the dark and bright sides of family life. What are the two sides of family life? The dark side is abuse—spouse battering, child abuse, marital rape, and incest, all a misuse of family power. The bright side is that most people find marriage and family to be rewarding. The Future of Marriage and Family 12.8 Explain the likely future of marriage and family. What is the likely future of marriage and family? We can expect cohabitation, births to unmarried women, and age at first marriage to increase. The growing numbers of women in the workforce are likely to continue to shift the balance of marital power. Key Terms View Flashcards Key Terms View Flashcards Thinking Critically about Chapter 12 Functionalists stress that the family is universal because it provides basic functions for individuals and society. What functions does your family provide? Hint: In addition to the section “The Functionalist Perspective,” also consider the section “Common Cultural Themes.” Explain why social class is more important than race–ethnicity in determining a family’s characteristics. Apply this chapter’s contents to your own experience with marriage and family. What social factors affect your family life? In what ways is your family life different from that of your grandparents when they were your age?