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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

EDUCATION 240-3

SOCIAL ISSUES IN EDUCATION

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(D1.00)

Fall Semester, 1992

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Instructor: Dawn Gordon

(September 8—December 4)

Monday/Wednesday, 2:30-3:20 p.m.

Location: MPX 7618

COURSE OUTLINE

This course will explore social issues in education. It will focus upon examining

formal education as social interaction and institutional development responding to

socio/political and historical context. Students will have the chance to reflect critically

upon questions such as: How do schools mirror the socio-political and historical values

and perspectives of the society? What is the nature and purpose of schooling? Do

schools serve to perpetuate or reproduce the status quo, or can they be agents of change?

How do schools promote equity, and what are issues of class, gender or cultural and

racial bias? How does schooling relate to social issues of modern or post-industrial

societies?

Although the course will focus on education in Canada, comparative studies may be

introduced. Students will be encouraged to integrate their own personal educational

experiences. There are no prerequisites.

OBJECTIVES AND TOPICS

The general objectives are:

• to help students to think critically about teaching and learning within a

historical, socio/cultural and political context;

• to consider the relationship between education and other major social, political

and economic institutions in society.

Topics include:

• sociological approaches to schooling such as functionalism, reproduction,

production and critical pedagogy

• education and culture

• immigration and issues of ethnicity and multiculturalism

• racism, class bias, gender and general equity issues in education

• education and social change

• education and community

COURSE ASSESSMENT

Journal

25%

Short Paper or Presentation

20%

Mid Term

20%

Term Paper or Final Exam

35%

(PLEASE TURN OVER)

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REQUIRED TEXTS

Ashton-Warner, Sylvia. (1963). Teacher. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Haig-Brown, Celia. (1988). Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian

Residential School. Vancouver Pulp Press.

Gaskell, Jane, et al. (1989). Claiming an Education: Feminism and Canadian

Schools. Toronto: Garamond Press

Curtis, Bruce, et al. (1992). Stacking the Deck: The Streaming of Working-Class

Kids in Ontario Schools. Our Schools / Our Selves Educational Foundation.

ISBN 0-921908-11-3.

And one of the recommended texts.

Additional articles will be assigned

TEXTS

Kogawa, Joy. (1983). Obasan. Penguin Books

Holt, John. (1988). 36 Children. Plume Books

Webber. (1991). Street Kids. University of Toronto Press