Asses the Usefulness of Feminist Views of Education

The education system is seen by many sociologists as a major influence on society. Feminists are
just some of the sociologist that believe this and the overall view of feminists is that the
education system is in place to maintain gendered inequalities; through these aspects of opinion
we are able to link and identify with other sociologists such as Marxists and functionalists as to
how the views of Feminists are useful to us in understanding fully the power the education
system has on our society.

Marxists believe that the education system is in place to provide a benefit to a capitalist society
that is divided into social classes. Marxists believe that it is through meritocracy that the lower
classes are made to believe they are achieving/ able to achieve a "top" job if they put the work in
but really it is pretty much impossible for someone from a working class background to make it
to 'the ruling class'.

In contrast to this functionalists believe that the education system is a 'level playing field' in
which everyone is granted an equal chance in succeeding, all that is needed is for the pupil to put
the effort in and they will then be rewarded. Functionalists believe in particularistic values, being
your ascribed status that you are brought up to believe by your family and close friends and
universalistic values, being your achieved status which is what you are given by everyone
because of what you have attained at school by putting in the work. Functionalists also put across
the sexual division of labour to be a good thing within society as it keeps an equal balance within
society, the man being the 'breadwinner' and the women being the emotional role.

Feminists disagree with both of these sociological groups as they see society to be perfectly
normal as a patriachal culture. Feminists have found that children are socialized from a young
age into believing that it is alright for women to be 'second in line' to men, they have found there
to be many ways in which females are constantly but subtly oppressed by males within the
education system for instance, gendered roles, gendered stereotypes and gendered language. This
view of the feminists provides a clear division between the three points of view being evaluated
and gives a very useful view on the education system because of this.

The hidden curriculum, for functionalists the hidden curriculum is seen to help reinforce the
gendered roles, making males conform to one line of work and females to a different line of
work. Functionalists are very much in favour of the hidden curriculum as they see it as passing
on the 'central norms' of society. On the other hand feminists are against the hidden curriculum
as they see it almost as a 'weapon for male dominance' providing an even greater gap in the
division of male and females, with every situation a female is put in giving males the 'upper
hand' such as school uniforms, certain subjects for a certain sex and even the teachers thinking
more of the boys than the girls. Marxists like functionalists are also in favour of the hidden
curriculum but they see it as a place to fuel capitalism as it provides a strong workforce within
society that are socialized to obey orders and work hard.

In all the feminists view on education is extremely helpful as it provides a third perspective to
the marxists and functionalists views. Both males and females have both been hidden from the
existence of patriachal dominance but now as it is laid out before us we can see that the
education system is slightly unbalanced when giving women a fairer chance in becoming
successful. The education system has benifited greatly over the years due to this, creating a much
more equalistic society, where everyone stands a fairer chance at succeeding.