EDUCATION 108

The Teacher, Community School Culture and Organizational Leadership

Lesson : FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION

Objectives :

At the end of the unit, the students must have :

1. stated the primary role of education in society

2. discussed the importance of the different learning areas in the curriculum
3. identified the implications of social placement in school
4. given examples of common traits and values that characterize a group or community
5. recognized the importance of social and cultural innovation

Functions of Education

Education serves several functions for society.

(a) socialization,
(b) social integration,
(c) social placement, and
(d) social and cultural innovation.

Socialization can be considered as the most important function of education. If children

are to learn the norms, values, and skills they need to function in society, then education is a
primary vehicle for such learning. Schools teach the three Rs (reading, ’riting, ’rithmetic), as we
all know, but they also teach many of the society’s norms and values. In the United States,
these norms and values include respect for authority, patriotism (remember the Pledge of
Allegiance?), punctuality, and competition (for grades and sports victories).

 Activity 3:

a. In three columns, list down the norms, values and skills that you have learned from
your previous schools (primary , secondary and tertiary). Describe each answer.

b. Based on your own experience, can you consider the school as the primary vehicle
that taught you the norms, values and skills?

The second function of education is social integration. For a society to work,

functionalists say, people must subscribe to a common set of beliefs and values. As we saw, the
development of such common views was a goal of the system of free, compulsory education
that developed in the nineteenth century. Thousands of immigrant children in the United States
today are learning English, US history, and other subjects that help prepare them for the
workforce and integrate them into American life.

 Activity :
c. What do you think are the values and skills that are common and distinguish
teachers in the field from other professions? List down at least five (5) and describe
each one.
 d. Are these values and skills learned only in schools? Explain your answer.

A third function of education is social placement. Beginning in grade school, students

are identified by teachers and other school officials either as bright and motivated or as less
bright and even educationally challenged. Depending on how they are identified, children are
taught at the level that is thought to suit them best. In this way, they are presumably prepared
for their later station in life. Whether this process works as well as it should is an important
issue, and we explore it further when we discuss school tracking later in this chapter.

 Activity :

e. In what other ways are learners in school are being identified or categorized? Do you
think it is fair that learners in school will be identified or categorized? Explain your
stand.

f. Will one’s placement in school affect his or her placement in society? Defend your
answer

Social and cultural innovation is a fourth function of education. Our scientists cannot
make important scientific discoveries and our artists and thinkers cannot come up with great
works of art, poetry, and prose unless they have first been educated in the many subjects they
need to know for their chosen path.

 Activity :

g. Would you agree that subjects to be taught in school shall be reduced to the basic
subjects only? Support your answer.

h. Do you think this fourth function is performed well by schools? Justify your answer.

Education also has latent functions which include :

a. child care,
b. the establishment of peer relationships,
c. and lowering unemployment by keeping high school students out of the full-time labor
force.

Problems in the educational institution harm society because all these functions cannot be
completely fulfilled.

Conflict theory

Education promotes social inequality through the use of tracking and standardized
testing and the impact of its “hidden curriculum.” Schools differ widely in their funding and
learning conditions, and this type of inequality leads to learning disparities that reinforce social
inequality.

Symbolic interactionism
This perspective focuses on social interaction in the classroom, on the playground, and
in other school venues. Specific research finds that social interaction in schools affects the
development of gender roles and that teachers’ expectations of pupils’ intellectual abilities
affect how much pupils learn. Certain educational problems have their basis in social
interaction and expectations
 EDUCATION 108
The Teacher, Community School Culture and Organizational Leadership

Name : Lorielyn R. Gooc Class Schedule : MWF 2:00-3:00

Lesson : FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION

 Activity 3:

1. In three columns, list down the norms, values and skills that you have learned from your
previous schools (primary , secondary and tertiary). Describe each answer.
Norms Values Skills
Primary: Primary: Primary:
 keep the classroom  Cooperation  Team working
clean - sharing and learning - working together as a
- This is what the classroom together. Cooperation team. It should be
common norms, to keep the is working together in developed at the
environment clean for the a team, contributing young age so that the
students to be comfortable in and sharing in a learners will learn how
learning. helpful way. to socialize and work
with their classmates.

Secondary:
Secondary:
 no bullying
- always bear in mind
that bullying is bad
and it's against the law
 Raise hand before
talking
- It shows respect to
the people who are talking.
Tertiary:
Tertiary:
 Respect
- always shows respect
to others. Respect is speaking
to and interacting with others
in a courteous manner.
Secondary:
 Time management
 Empathy - it is taught so that
- Treat others with the learners will learn
care and compassion. how to manage their
Empathy means trying time properly.
to understand other  Good note- taking
people's views or - it is taught to
feelings and being prepare the learners to
supportive and caring college.
towards them.
 Abilities developed Tertiary:
- higher education  Communication skills
always mold the - Higher Education
abilities of the improves the ability
students to prepare to interact face-to-
themselves for their face with others. This
career. is the ability to meet
other people and
socialize.

2. Based on your own experience, can you consider the school as the primary vehicle that
taught you the norms, values and skills?
 Answer: Yes, I can consider the school as the primary vehicle that taught me these three
( norms, values, and skills) because through the school I learned some norms, values,
and skills. There are also values that I learned in home. School is the bridge in
learning things.
3. What do you think are the values and skills that are common and distinguish teachers in
the field from other professions? List down at least five (5) and describe each one.
Answer:
Time management- taught to manage time properly
Cooperation - working together
Good note taking- improves ability to take good note
Good study habits- study always
Organizational skills- improves ability to organize things well

4. Are these values and skills learned only in schools? Explain your answer.
Answer: No, because some of it can be learned also in home. Like cooperation, it can also
be learned in home, like working together with your family in doing household chores and
other things.

5. In what other ways are learners in school are being identified or categorized? Do you
think it is fair that learners in school will be identified or categorized? Explain your
stand.
Answer: For me, learners are identified/ categorize through sections because mostly, the
school separate learners base on their grades. For me it is not fair because they underestimate
the capabilities of the learners. We all know that there are many types of learner and as a
teacher someday we should consider this aspect to be fair to our learners.

6. Will one’s placement in school affect his or her placement in society? Defend your
answer.
Answer: For me no, because I believe that what we do in school is separated in what we
do in society. We should be professional always. We should separate school from
society but what we learned in school can still be applied in society/real life.
7. Would you agree that subjects to be taught in school shall be reduced to the basic
subjects only? Support your answer.
Answer: No, because I think it's better to learned many things and not only the basic
because most learners nowadays like to explore and learned many things in the world.
8. Do you think this fourth function is performed well by schools? Justify your answer.
Answer: No, because though we can be influenced by classmates or others by
interaction but still it's up to us if we let them affect us. It's our own decisions that will
matter most at all. Yes, we can learn through interacting but we should chose what
learning to keep and what to forget. With this, it cannot affect anymore the
development of gender roles and the learning of the child.