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The purpose of my study is to look at my K12 school, Holland Christian, and compare it
to that of my neighborhood school, Mullick Park Elementary. I will be looking at this study
through a functional and a conflict perspective. When comparing the two, I want to find out,
through looking at social capital, cultural capital, social class, and race, how does the school in
my neighborhood differentiate and relate to my school growing up?
Background:
There are many social sciences that apply to the question I am pursuing. One of the
ways that I want to look at this is through a functionalist perspective. Functionalism explains how
in society we each have a function that together helps to make society stable. Looking at it this
way would show me that even though there are differences between schools both are needed
and have a role in society. Another way I would look at it is with a conflict theory. This would be
looking at the two schools as competing groups and seeing which one has the more power.
When it comes to schooling, social capital is important in terms of a student’s success. This
shows that students are more likely to succeed if they have a stable household and are involved
in a lot of things. This also shows that if you have better social networks than you have more
success. Culture capital also has a big effect when it comes to success in school. This shows
that you are more likely to have a greater success if you are the dominate culture or otherwise
not seen as the minority. Social class could also have a big effect on education because it is a
measure of where you fall on the social hierarchy. Often those with a higher social class receive
better education because they have more money for opportunities. Race is a group you are
associated with based on where the government classifies you. This is done in order to take a
census but it also has an effect on education because of cultural capital. Those who aren’t seen
as a minority then have higher success in the classroom.
Data:
Holland Christian High Mullick Park Elementary
School (Holland, MI) (Grand Rapids, MI)