Answer to Question #240375 in Sociology for barbie

Question

In study unit 3, we discussed the Conflict Theory perspective on education. Explain your understanding of each of the points below by using examples from the South African context: § Inequality is evident in and perpetuated by education and/or educational institutions. § The highest drop-out rates are to be found in low-income schools and/or communities. § Schooling for capitalism is the idea that educational institutions “[produce] the right kind of workers for capitalist economies”

Answer 1

In South Africa, poverty and inequality are perpetuated by a dysfunctional and unequal education system. With its aging infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, and generally poor educational performance, the South African education system is perpetuating inequality and failing far too many of the country's youngsters. It emphasizes, for example, that many schools and the communities they serve are still struggling with the ramifications of apartheid-era political and economic decisions. Because of this, a child's educational experience is still highly influenced by where they were born, their social standing, and their skin color in modern-day South Africa. To comply with both its own constitutional and international human rights commitments in the sphere of education, South Africa must make significant changes.

Around the world, education is one of the most powerful markers of health. In South Africa, school dropout is a crisis, with only 52% of the age-appropriate population remaining enrolled by Grade 12. Survival analysis was used to detect the risk of dropping out of secondary school for male and female teenagers, as well as to evaluate the influence of substance use and leisure experience variables while correcting for demographic and known predictors, using secondary, longitudinal data. Being male, not living with one's mother, smoking cigarettes in the previous month, and having lower levels of leisure-related intrinsic drive were all significant predictors of dropout.

Schools are critical institutions in today's economic environment. We must reject the idea that they are eternal and immutable, and that the “natural” manner of learning takes place within the four walls of a classroom with predetermined periods, grade levels, and scores, among other things. Schools are relics of the past. They only appear for a short time and hence are neither natural nor eternal. Educational institutions today are condemned to disappear or change in lockstep with the culture that gave birth to them. Public education is an important strategy for creating social agreement since it is based on the notion that school gives "equal chances" for all individuals. Capitalism's legitimacy is bolstered by the concept of education. In the capitalist system, the concept of equal opportunity is a fallacy in and of itself. Teaching has a third purpose: it helps students socialize. It's a means of instilling in children the values, ideas, and attitudes of the prevailing society. Educational institutions are especially effective at legitimizing the current social order because they play a role not only in training workers in the strict sense of providing them with the skills needed to participate in the productive labor force, but also in the naturalization of production relations.