EDUCATION

Social scientists view learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior or capability that results
from experience. Because learning is so vital to social life, societies seldom leave it to chance. Most
societies undertake to transmit particular attitudes, knowledge, and skills to their members through
formal, systematic training—what sociologists call the institution of education.

Education is one aspect of the process of socialization, by which people acquire behaviors essential for
effective participation in society. It entails an explicit process in which some individuals assume the
status of teacher and others the status of student and carry out their associated roles.

In brief, they are bureaucracies—social structures made up of a hierarchy of statuses and roles
prescribed by explicit rules and procedures and based on a division of function and authority.

Schooling refers to the formal process through which certain types of knowledge and skills are delivered,
normally via a predesigned curriculum in specialized settings: schools. • Due to industrialization and
urban population boom, schools operate in a bureaucratic structure i.e., standardized tests, rules for
formal operating and administrative procedures.

The formal organization of American schools and colleges typically consists of four levels: (1) the board
of education or trustees, (2) administrators, (3) teachers or professors, and (4) students