Answer to Question #227099 in English for Esko

Question

Reflect on the functionalists ways of reasoning and theorising society and education.

A) what are those points of interest to you about the functionalists approach? Write them down

B) what are those arguments you not agreeing with?

C) Reflect on some known examples of functionalism in the south African education.

Answer 1

a) It interests me how functionalists believe that education equips people to perform different functional roles in society. Symbolic interactionists study the dynamics of the classroom, the interactions between students and teachers, and how those affect everyday life. It focuses on how education serves the needs of society through the development of skills, encouraging social cohesion, and sorting of students. According to functionalists, schooling helps each individual to become a functioning part of the cohesive whole society.

b) I disagree with the functionalist's reasoning that It ignores ways in which education may also function to reproduce social inequality. Secondly,  it assumes education is fair and that it rewards the best while that may not be the true reflection of the society and students as well. Lastly, it tends to lead to exaggerated accounts of positive consequences of sports and sports participation however it mistakenly assumes that there are no conflicts of interests between the different citizen groups in society such as women, people with disabilities, racial discrimination.

c) In South Africa, examples of functionalism in education would include the government's urge to push for learning of skills and attitudes in school which encourages socialization. In terms of skills, the South African ministry of education has been encouraging literacy, numeracy, and IT for particular occupations.