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| American Education Factory illustrationsource.com |
Society of Sameness?
Like most modern factories, the educational system is based on algorithms and patterns. It is predictable and orderly, and thus the American educational factory, comes with a sense of regularity. This regularity is something I have taken for granted as a 15-year member of the factory. Each Saturday, I wake up and know due to regular practice, and reliance on factory patterns, that I do not have to go to class. It is a day off, and I am aware that I don't have to return to campus until Monday, just like last week and the week before. To remember the days of the week, and what I am supposed to do on these days, I have been encouraged by the factory to keep a planner. I may never have picked up a planner if it hadn't been for the factory, I may not have had any need for it. Nevertheless, I am now largely governed by whatever text is scribbled into the lines underneath a day's date.With my sociological goggles on, looking at the factory from an outside perspective, I wonder how students avoid becoming incredibly bored, following the same routines week after week, fall, holiday break, spring, summer break, year after year. I then realize that the factory encourages us to believe that each semester, or at the very least, each year is wholly different from the last. We get to choose new classes (though our “choice” is limited by graduation requirements), and are given a new label based on our standing in the factory, freshman become sophomores, sophomores become juniors, and so on.
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| Sense the sameness? Payne, 2012 |
It's a bit like Hostess desserts, all of which are made of some mysterious amalgamation of flour, HFCS, animal shortening, and soy lechitin, yet are disguised by variations in food dye, artificial flavoring, and the shape the ingredients are molded into, to make each product appear exciting, new and different.
In order to keep the dreamers, like me, in line, a number of organizations have designated homes within the American education factory. School districts, advanced placement programs and parent-teacher associations are all organizations which I have encountered through my many years in the factory. I have also been a member of different groups over the years, each of which has a predetermined function in the machine. I am currently working closely with a group at Hamline called the International and Off Campus Programs Office which will serve to prepare me for studying abroad this fall.
Organization and Expectation:
Each organization, and each group in the American education system is composed of individuals. Each of these individuals has a status, and it is important to note that members of the same group need not share identical statuses. I currently hold the status of an undergraduate student. With status comes role expectations.These expectations are outlined for students by a number of entities whose statuses define them as more powerful than the student body. Professors outline expectations in the form of syllabi, and the university outlines academic expectations in the form of the Hamline Plan. Role expectations are not by definition rigid or fixed – they can vary within a status. For example, while some professors allow the use of laptops or tablets in the classroom, others ban all electronic devices. In other classes, we are expected to turn in all of our assignments via an electronic device. Being an undergraduate student thus requires a level of fluidity.
Through expectations, the factory has assisted me in finding my niche. Over the years, the factory has given me opportunities yet has forced me to narrow my path. It is an expectation for college students to declare a major. This is a lot to ask for from a 17 year old high school graduate, but the system had given already me direction. After not doing so well on the AP Calculus exam, I knew that I would not under any circumstances be pursuing a mathematics related major. However, I only knew this because I was required to take a certain number of math classes during my high school career. Other early requirements which I truly enjoyed have led me to my current major. Thus, my life choices have been impacted by factory rules and requirements
Cultural Beliefs:
As my sophomore year of college ended, I debated leaving the education social structure all together. One of the reasons for this was the immense amount of pressure that is put on students in contemporary American education systems. As a recovering perfectionist, the pressure was magnetized. Not only did I have to maintain my GPA for the system, I was doing it for myself, for my future. Failure was not an option. This is a belief that I committed to memory, shaped by the numerous professors, advisors, and peers I had encountered in the factory. This is a slogan they display on oversize banners on factory walls. Of course, my inner perfectionist took a hold of it and ran. Nothing below a B was acceptable.Again, sociological goggles in tow, the idea of being motivated by one of the 26 letters in the alphabet became sickening, almost as grotesque as the thought of the many individuals who value their self worth by a number on a scale. These are mere symbols! Yet the fear of failure looms.
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| Grades as determinants of salaries? abcnews.go.com |
So why am I still here, crafting a blog entry for a sociology class, for which I will be assigned one of those mysteriously powerful letters? Cultural belief is indeed a powerful thing. In America, it is widely acknowledged that having an undergraduate degree will make it easier to get a job, that education will bring opportunities, and acquiring a piece of paper embellished with a stamp, signatures, and some academic jargon will determine the life and fortunes that are ahead of you. Or is it more realistic to believe that the more money you spend on your education, the more successful you'll be?
Cynicism aside, education does determine your life chances and choices (Newman, 279). If I had not graduated from high school, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to continue my education. The chance to study abroad is one which I have had the opportunity to access via education. I have had chances to meet a number of beautiful souls whom I may have never had encountered had it not been for the education factory. Furthermore, it is a reality that a diploma will alter job prospects for me.
Each time I sign an attendance sheet, or turn in an assignment I am confirming my role as one tooth of a gear that is the student body. All teeth on this gear play an important function – their compliance is required for the continuous functioning of the mammoth factory that is the American education system. It is a social machine, a system which relies on the collective cooperation of all members involved, each gear, bolt and screw, has their place. Eventually, we gain a different status or function within the education machine, or perhaps, we leave it all together. Regardless, the contemporary American education factory impacts the lives of all who enter.
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| Couldn't resist adding this image from the movie, "Pink Floyd The Wall" depicting a teacher forcing students through an educational meat grinder \pyxurz.blogspot.com |
Sources:
http://www.illustrationsource.com/stock/image/53619/business-school/?&results_per_page=1&detail=TRUE&page=8
Newman, David (2012). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life: 9th Edition. SAGE Publications.
Amy Payne, 2012: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/11/20/morning-bell-can-hostess-save-the-twinkies-from-the-union/
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/story?id=6371073&page=1
Exceptionally good post, thanks!
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