CHAPTER 1

PSB 1004 SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

The contents of this chapter are based on the concepts and theories found in the main
reference text for this course written by Ballantine, Jeanne H. (2001) The Sociology of
Education – A Systematic Analysis (5th Edition). New Jersey:Prentice Hall. The
examples and explanations given are mine. Please read the notes and understand and
analyse the contents for a deeper understanding. You can discuss them during tutorial
sessions as well as in the forum.

INTRODUCTION

Education is changing rapidly almost in every country in our ‘shrinking’ world. It is not
an easy task to comprehend it fully, and it is more difficult to cope with the demands of
those changes. Let us probe our education system which is unique in the sense that we are
using at least three major languages; Malay, Chinese, and Tamil as the medium of
instruction at the primary level. Although the Malay language has become the medium of
instruction at secondary and tertiary levels, English plays a dominant role for
mathematics and the sciences. Secondary education with Mandarin as the medium of
instruction also exists in Malaysia at independent Chinese secondary schools. These
different types of schools with different languages sometimes baffled foreigners.

Sociology of Education plays an important role in probing into the various educational
organizations and institutions of society, the family, religion, economics and politics. The
studies in those areas will enable sociologists of education to understand the factors that
influence educational outcomes, school performance, family values that influence
academic performance, the role of socio-economic background on academic success, as
well as the role and influence of other variables in the development of our education
system.

WHAT DO SOCIOLOGISTS OF EDUCATION STUDY?

Sociologists of Education asked probing questions about the institution of education and
the structure, processes, and interaction patterns within it. The questions such as “who
designed the school curriculum and what are its contents and who benefits from such
contents?” are the types of questions of interest by sociologists of education. By
analyzing the curriculum contents and by making a survey regarding who benefits the
most from it they might be able to get a picture of the schooling process. The next

1
question they might asked is “Do the schools in the rural areas have the same facilities as
the schools in the urban areas?” The answer might provide a glimpse of the differences
and similarities between both categories of schools. Other interesting questions with
regards to educational opportunities provided by the Ministry of Education would be:

• Do the children of the poor have equal excess to residential schools?

• Do the city dwellers have more advantage than their rural counterparts in studying
in effective schools?
• What are the characteristics of effective schools?
• What are the family values that help a student to be academically successful?
• Is it the home or the school that determines academic success?
• Are residential schools more effective than day schools?
• Is our education system providing opportunities for integration?
• Why are some students not interested in schooling?
• What are the factors that caused truancy among students in schools?
• Why are fights among students in schools becoming more rampant?
• Why is indiscipline among students, whether in rural or in urban areas, becoming
more common?
• Are children of parents who are involved in their schooling more successful in
schools?
• How effective are the different teaching techniques, styles of learning, and
classroom organizations in teaching students of various types and abilities
• What are some community influences on the school, and how do these affect
decision making in schools, especially as it relates to socialization of the young.
• How does professionalization of teachers affect the school system? Do teacher
proficiency exams increase teaching quality?
• How do issues such as equal opportunity and integration affect schools? Can
minority students learn better in an integrated school?
• Are some students overeducated for the employment opportunities that are
available to them?
• How does education affect income potential?

The above questions are some of the questions that interest sociologists of education.
There are countless other questions that they can ask to unravel the mysteries of the
education process. You, as students of sociologists of education, can use some of the
questions to probe into the processes of our education system through research.

THE PARAMETERS OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

2
The sociology of education is restricted within a certain boundary that covers
organizations that deal with learning and teaching and their related activities. For this
course, we intend to cover the following areas:

Teacher-student interaction
This is a very important component in the study of sociology of education. The
interaction between students and teachers in the classroom is the primary role of the
learning process. Teachers’ interactions with students open up their minds to new
information, new findings, new logical thinking, and new interests.

Teachers are mentors to students where they play an important role in guiding and
helping students through the process of schooling. Teachers do not only teach the lessons
in the classroom but they also become their mentors, counsellors, academic advisors as
well as their friends. The interactions could create a healthy climate for teaching and
learning to take place.

• Teachers as mentors – students need someone to model and teachers are closest
to them because they interact with teachers at least five days in a week. Teachers
play the role of mentors to the students where they emulate what the teachers do,
their beliefs, their values as well as their style of dressing. Teachers become very
important agents of change for these students.

Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think that the mentor system in schools important?
2. How do you suggest the mentor system should be implemented?

• Group dynamics in classroom – Students among them should have the feelings
of comradeship towards each other to create positive vibes and feelings for each
other. This positive outlook results in the feeling of loyalty between the students,
between the teachers and the students, between the teachers themselves. This
positive feeling can lead to dedication in the march towards achieving the mission
and vision of the school.

Discussion Questions
1. How do you create the feelings of comradeship among students?
2. How do you capitalize these feelings to develop an effective school?

• Teachers’ organization - Teachers have their own culture, value and belief
system. They are alert and aware of the changes in the educational system. In fact

3
 their self-esteem influences the students’ achievement. The more enlightened and
motivated the teachers are the more the students love their school and schooling.
To ensure the dedication of the teachers is intact, the teachers’ welfare should also
be taken care of. The teachers’ prestige in the public eyes should be positive and
this should commensurate with a respectable salary. These two factors are vital in
ensuring the most dedicated and talented people will be attracted to the profession
and they will remain in it.

Discussion Questions
1. Describe the culture of the teachers in school that you think will make teaching a
noble profession?
2. What are the other factors that can attract talented people to join the teaching
profession?

• The structure and functioning of educational systems - The educational

systems of countries the whole-wide world are very similar to each other due to
the “shrinking world” effect. Some countries like Malaysia and France are very
centralized, while countries like the United States of America and Canada are
decentralized administratively. The Malaysian system of education is highly
centralized. All schools follow the same curriculum irrespective where the
schools are situated. The Inspectorate of Schools is to ensure that all schools
adhere to the same curriculum. The Ministry of Education is responsible in the
administration of all schools in all parts of the country.

Discussion Questions
1. Do you favour the centralized or the decentralized system of education for
Malaysia? Rationalize your answer.

• Societal and world systems of education - Schools are built to cater for the
needs of society. In Malaysia the primary/elementary schools uses different
mediums of instruction while our neighbour Thailand uses only one. Although
these countries are at different levels of economic development they share a
similar curriculum especially in mathematics and the sciences. The similarity is so
great that students with SPM are considered as equivalent to the students with O
Level of the UK. We will look at the similarities and differences of the education
systems of some countries to have a better understanding of the education process
at later stages of the course.

Discussion Questions

4
 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a multilingual education with
Malaysia as an example?

FUNCTIONALIST THEORY

In understanding natural as well as societal phenomena scientists have developed theories

to generalize them. This way we can understand those phenomena and relate them to
other similar occurrences. People use to relate the phenomena of nature to the phenomena
of human behaviour. To explain the education system and its processes they made
assumptions which were based on nature. One of the explanations of the phenomenon of
education is the Functionalist Theory.

 The assumption of this theory is that society and institutions within society, such
as education, are made up of interdependent parts all working together, each
contributing some necessary activity to the functioning of the whole society. All
parts have their role to play and if one of the parts is dysfunctional, it affects the
whole system. Therefore we have to ensure that all parts of the system must
function to maintain the status quo.

 In the school system, the primary function of the school is the passing on of
knowledge and behaviours necessary to maintain order in society. Therefore
schools must ensure that knowledge which had been passed from the past
generations remains the same because any adulterations will denigrate the purity
and the quality of education. The values that are reflected in the behaviours of the
members of society must be passed on to the younger generations through the
school system.

Maintaining the status quo and passing on valuable knowledge to the younger generations
are the main functions of our schools. The functional theory is supported strongly by our
school system because we can observe the two functions of our education.

CONFLICT THEORY

Some people were not satisfied at the explanations of the supporters of the Functionalist
Theory. They criticized them saying that Functional Theory was able to explain only a
part of the phenomena of education. Many changes have been made in education due to
conflicts in society. These conflicts resulted in fundamental changes and innovations in
society. The assumption and rationale of those supporting this theory are explained
briefly below:

5
 • Conflict theory assumes that there is a tension in society and its parts created by
the competing interests of individuals and groups. Parties that create the tense
situation have to prove to their opponents that theirs are the best. This situation
leads to innovations and creativity which result in changes either planned or
coincidental.

• The struggle for power helps determine the structure and functioning of
organizations and the hierarchy that evolves as a result of power relations. This
struggle leads to unexpected changes that could either be good or otherwise. The
struggle of the emerging business community in the United States and Western
Europe, as an example, leads to the rise of prestigious institutions of higher
learning such Harvard. It began as a small private university which catered for the
children of the business community but as the community became more
prosperous and trade spread more widely Harvard gained its reputation as a
leading university in the whole wide world.

• This theory implies a volatile system and the ever-present possibility of major
disruption because of the unequal distribution of status, cultural capital,
opportunity, and other resources. In a fast changing modern society major
economic and social disruptions occurred from time to time. Fortunes changed
literally over-night. When the Communists took over power from the Kuomintang
in Chine in 1949, the fortunes of the rich changed overnight. The same principal
applies to education. At one time university programs that were agricultural-based
were sidelined but with the rise of food all over the world, agricultural courses
became more prominent.

Tutorial Activities
 During tutorial activities, students will discuss about the contents of the
topics by answering the discussion questions found at the end of sub-
topics.
 The next activity will be based on the analysis, application and synthesis
of the contents of the topic. They are meant for testing students’ ability in
an in-depth understanding of the facts and processes. The overview
questions below are examples of such questions.
 Facilitators can use their discretion in class discussions by using other
questions that cover the sub-topics of the Main Topic/Chapter.

Overview Questions

6
1. Applying Functionalist Theory please explain how a school plays its role.
2. Supporters of Conflict Theory contended that our existing education system was
the result of struggle of the various ethnic groups. Discuss.
3. Explain how our education system plays its role to integrate ethnic groups in
Malaysia.