Structural Functional of Education

The functionalist perspective on education is that education has five major manifest functions within society. Those functions are:

·         Socialization – each level of education teaches acceptable and unacceptable behaviors

·         Transmission of culture – each generation is taught societal norms, cultural values, attitudes, and behavior

·         Social control – teaching values such as discipline, respect, obedience, punctuality, and perseverance

·         Social  placement – training and identifying qualified people to fill available positions in different parts of society to keep the machine running

·         Change & innovation – schools are a place for one to grow and learn new programs and ideas that would ultimately assist in the growth of society.

In addition to the manifest functions are latent functions, which are equally important in maintaining social order. Those latent functions are keeping children off the streets and out of trouble; Keeping children out of the job market; meeting life partners, and establishing social networks.

Structural Functionalists believe that the most evident problem in education is that children are not being adequately prepared to enter the work force and on an even bigger scale compete globally. In other words, public education today is not producing tomorrow’s leaders ultimately heading towards a breakdown in all the working parts of society.

For example, in 2007, seventy percent of all students enrolled in grades k-12 attended an assigned public school, sixteen percent attended a chosen public school, and twelve percent attended a religious or nonsectarian private school (Grady, Bielick, & Aud, 2010). This means that close to seventy percent of the population did not achieve the level required to be a national or global contender. With this information, we can clearly see that significantly more children are being educated in assigned public schools than any other type of school put together. So it would be beneficial for society overall to place education as a priority in an effort to secure future leadership for the other parts of the machine.

            Functionalists believe that the problems in public education, which affect close to 70% of the k-12 population, stem from a lack of a uniformed curriculum that should address academic, social, and individual needs all in one. According to this perspective in order to solve education as a social problem those manifest functions—socialization, transmission of culture, social control, social placement, and change & innovation—should be emphasized. 

It is the belief of structural functionalists that focusing on making academic requirements more stringent in a more uniformed manner would allow educators to implement the manifest functions that would teach students the basic training needed to enter the workforce  . For example during the first Bush term (2001) a policy called the “No Child Left Behind Act” was signed into law. This law was inacted in an effort to increase the federal governments role in primary education, and by asking schools to be accountable for  their student’s learning. States were responsible for creating a set of standards; testing every student’s progress towards those standards, an expectation of documented yearly progress and reports of the progress; and those who do not make adequate progress could lose funding or students (Kendall, 2010).

            In looking at this solution for problems in education from a functionalist perspective, it appears to be a band-aid solution. This solution does not address the causes of the dysfunctions in the manifest functions. It merely covers the problem giving the appearance of resolution. Low performing students can be overlooked in the name of funding. However, placing this solution on a level system, it could be placed on macro, mezzo, and micro. Macro because of the government involvement, mezzo because of the responsibility placed on states, districts, and schools; and micro because it directly affects individuals.

            The barriers for this solution would include liberal politicians who feel it is a part of their responsibility to assist low income families with attaining the resources needed, teachers unions who would feel that they are unfairly being held responsible for the way a student learns, and involved parents who actually want their children to have the knowledge along with the diploma will use their rights as citizens to protect their children’s future