07B:130 Educational Sociology

 

SYLLABUS

 

Summer, 2006

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Instructor: David Bills, Ph.D

 

Office: N446 Lindquist Center

 

Office Phone: 319-335‑5366

 

Office Hours: By appointment

 

e-mail: david-bills@uiowa.edu

 

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Class Time: 10:00 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.

 

Class Location: 302 Lindquist Center

 

Class Meeting Days: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays

 

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Syllabus Navigator:

 

 

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Course Description / Objectives:

 

This course will offer an understanding of the role played by schools in society. We shall examine such questions as the organizational features of schools, education as an institution and its relation to other social institutions, the role of the school in social inequality, and the social relationships of the classroom.

   

Class activities will vary from day to day, ranging from lectures to discussions to student presentations.  Students will be active participants in the course. I expect you to ask questions, raise issues, and otherwise contribute to an informed and substantive classroom discussion. Please do all of the reading on time. For the course to work, you need to read and think seriously about what you've been reading. 

 

Please note that the syllabus is always subject to change depending on the size and composition of the class.

 

Your grade will be based mainly on several short (usually 3-5 pages) written assignments. I shall also take into account the quality of your overall participation. The instructor is under no obligation to accept late assignments, but will accept serious attempts to rewrite papers with no penalty. I encourage you to submit your papers electronically.

 

In the papers, you should demonstrate that you understand the major issues at stake in the particular area.  Your paper should be significantly more than simply a summary of the reading. The papers should be critical and analytical, searching for points of contention or agreement among different authors, identifying crucial theoretical and empirical points, and discussing the broader implications. I shall talk more about this in class.

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Required Textbook Purchases:

 

You should purchase the following books from the Iowa Memorial Union Book Store or at www.amazon.com.

 

Lareau, Annette. 2003. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

 

Lee, Valerie E. and David T. Burkham. 2002. Inequality at the Starting Gate: Social Background Differences in Achievement as Children Begin School.  New York, NY: Economic Policy Institute.

 

Thorne, Barrie. 1993. Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

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Other Required Readings:

 

There will also be several articles for the course, many of which you can access via electronic reserve through the University of Iowa Psychology Library's Electronic Reserve. The following instructions explain how to access the readings (NOTE: you must have a student Hawk ID and password to access the Psychology Library's Electronic Reserve):

• Through your Internet browser, type in http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/psych

  • (This takes you to the Psychology Library's home page).

• Click on RESERVE SERVICES.

• Click on ELECTRONIC RESERVE.

• Click on desired class (Bills 07B:130).

• Download readings for print out.

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Other Sources:

 

There are a few further sources that I would recommend to students who would like more background in the sociology of education before jumping into this course.  These are:

 

Arum, Richard and Irenee R. Beattie (eds.). 2000. The Structure of Schooling: Readings in the Sociology of Education. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.

 

Ballantine, Jeanne, Richard Arum, Floyd Morgan Hammack, Edith King, Caroline Hodges Persell, and Theodore C. Wagenaar. 2004. Teaching Sociology of Education: Syllabi and Instructional Materials, Sixth Edition. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association.

 

Bennett deMarrais, Kathleen and Margaret D. LeCompte. 1998. The Way Schools Work: A  Sociological Analysis of Education, third edition. New York, NY: Longman Publishers.

 

Dreeben, Robert. 1994. "The Sociology of Education: Its Development in the United States." Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization 10: 7-52.

 

Hallinan, Maureen T. (ed.). 2000. Handbook of the Sociology of Education. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

 

Hammack, Floyd M. 2004. The Comprehensive High School Today.  New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

 

Karabel, Jerome  and A. H. Halsey.  1977.  "Educational Research: A Review and an Interpretation." pp. 1-85 in Jerome Karabel and A. H. Halsey (eds.), Power and Ideology in Education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

 

Levinson, David L., Peter W. Cookson Jr., and Alan R. Sadovnik. 2002. Education and Sociology: An Encyclopedia. Florence, KY: Routledge-Falmer.

 

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Miscellaneous Information:

 

So that I can set up a listserv / electronic class distribution list and stay in contact with you over the session, please e-mail me soon after the first class session, so that I can capture your e-mail address.  You will receive many of your assignments and other course information via this listserv / electronic class distribution list, and are responsible for all material that is communicated over the listserv.

 

Please feel free to stop in or call anytime throughout the session if you need additional assistance or instruction.

 

I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability that may require some modification of the seating, testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made.  Please see me after class or during my office hours.

 

You may reach some documents describing university policies on the following web sites. 

 

Student Complaint Procedures:

 

http://www.uiowa.edu/~coedean/policies/student_complaint/index.htm

 

Policy on Student Academic Misconduct:

 

http://www.uiowa.edu/~coedean/policies/student_ac_misconduct/index.htm

 

Policy on Student Academic Accommodations

 

to be announced

 

This course is given by the College of Education.  This means that class policies on matters such as requirements, grading, and sanctions for academic dishonesty are governed by the College of Education. Students wishing to add or drop this course after the official deadline must receive the approval of the Dean of the College of Education. Details of the University policy of cross enrollments may be found at:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/deos/crossenroll.doc  

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Tentative Schedule of Topics / Readings:

 

 

 

 

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