Schools in Society

3 Credits.

After a consideration of the historical development of modern educational systems as institutions that socialize, select, and allocate children to positions in the adult society, the course examines the origins of alternative explanations for why individuals obtain different amounts and types of educational training, considering how family background, race, and nativity shape modal trajectories through the educational system. The course also considers the particularities of the urban schooling in America since the 1960s, including the foundational literature on the effects of school and community resources on student achievement as well as the development and subsequent evaluation of school desegregation efforts. Debates over the meaning and pursuit of equality of opportunity are considered throughout the course, as they arise from broader concerns about the fairness of society, the prospects for upward social mobility, and the role that educational institutions have played in the production of socioeconomic inequalities across generations.