Education as a social institution works in tangent with many other American institutions and facets of life, from the family sphere to economics. In the past century, education has changed dramatically as society and laws have shifted. The biggest changes are seen in race, gender, students with disabilities, social standing, and educational costs. However, technology, with its own myriad of solutions and problems, is also now intimately tied to education and the predominant social changes it has undergone.

The culture and ideas surrounding education have become drastically more inclusive than in the past, particularly for race and gender. The first steps toward recent racial equality in schools officially began with the 1954 ruling from Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which reversed the “separate but equal” practice of racially segregated schools (Conerly et al., 2021, 16.3 Issues in Education, para. 1-5). For several decades after desegregation, attitudes surrounding racial equality in education were not universal. In fact, many people verbally and physically opposed integration. However, with time, people either acclimated or were replaced by a new generational cohort that held more inclusive views. Gender equality in education is another issue that took several decades for the US to adapt to.

The US lagged behind other developed countries on outlawing discrimination against women in education. In fact, it wasn’t until 1972 that an official law, Title IX of the Education Amendments, codified anti-discrimination based on sex in higher education (Conerly et al., 2021, 16.2 Perspectives on Education, para. 21-23). As with race, there are still equality issues that have perpetuated into modern society. Starting in the 1980s, more women than men began enrolling in college (Marsden et al., 2020). Today, more women than men are earning college degrees, and more women are enrolling in college, yet there is still a wage gap between men and women with college degrees.

Another aspect of educational inclusiveness that has changed in the US is the right for students with disabilities to receive an education, and while there was initially pushback from these policies in some institutions, the public and private sectors today are generally supportive of educational access for all people. In 1978, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provided protections for students with disabilities by requiring facilities to provide teaching services, testing accommodations, and facility amenities specifically for students with disabilities (Conerly et al., 2021, 16.3 Issues in Education, para. 15-18). While this act has been beneficial, as with every other ruling on equality, there is much to be done to improve the real-life experiences of these students.

One of the most significant recent issues of modern higher education, and to some extent private K-12 education, is the price tag. Students and families are much more likely to have some form of debt now than ever before. In 2019, the average student had $30,000 in student loan debt, and while the cost of college tuition and fees has more than tripled in the past 40 years, federal grants have only marginally increased (Conerly et al., 2021, 16.0 Introduction, para. 1-5). The cost of education is tied to both federal funding and class standing. The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act tied standardized school testing results with federal funding allotments, but the act was removed and replaced in 2015 with the Every Student Succeeds Act, which placed funding in the hands of individual states (Conerly et al., 2021, 16.3 Issues in Education, para. 9-10). However, there have been many delays to the actual implementation of the new act. Other countries allocate funds towards schools that need them, rather than on academic success, and this works toward equality and academic prowess by improving the results of the lowest achievers.

Educational inequality by class standing has remained relatively unchanged since 1972 (Marsden et al., 2020), which is astonishing considering the number of policies and rulings that have been implemented since the 1970s. The impacts of social class standing are wide ranging, as seen in many educational institutions. In the US, the racial/ethnic achievement gap used to be larger than the economic learning gap, but since the 1970s the economic gap has grown much larger (Merry & Paino, 2020, p. 207). Additionally, the increased use of technology in classes may provide many benefits, but it has also led to digital inequalities and a “digital divide” (Merry & Paino, 2020, p. 215-216). The presence of technology in the classroom requires digital competency and the willpower to not misuse technology for non-educational purposes, such as gaming or internet surfing. This is also tied to social standing since wealthier children are less likely to experience excessive amounts of screen time, thereby enabling them to spend more time using technology for education.

Education is a necessary part of any culture, and it carries with it several manifest and latent functions that affect how current and future cohorts of people interact with each other and the rest of society. The manifest functions of education include socialization, the transmission of culture, social control, social placement, and cultural innovation, while the latent functions of education include dating customs, social networks, group work, generation gaps, and political and social integration (Conerly et al., 2021, 16.2 Perspectives on Education, para. 2-13). Both manifest and latent functions have shifted and evolved over time to match changes in culture and to fill various needs in society. For example, schools are now expected to provide education on sexuality, personal finances, and job application skills, all topics that were previously taught from the home sphere. They also no longer positively reinforce racial segregation or discrimination based on gender or having a disability, at least on an official basis. Starting in the 1980s, more women than men began enrolling in college (Marsden et al., 2020). Today, more women than men are earning college degrees, and more women are enrolling in college, yet there is still a wage gap between men and women with college degrees.

Want to Know More?

• Conerly, T. R., Holmes, K., & Tamang, A. L. (2021). Introduction to Sociology 3e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/1-introduction.
• Marsden, P. V., Smith, T. W., & Hout, M. (2020). Tracking US Social Change Over a Half-Century: The General Social Survey at Fifty. Annual Review of Sociology, 46, 109–134. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054838.
• Merry, J. J., & Paino, M. (2020). Sociology of Education. In G. Ritzer & W. Murphy (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Sociology (pp. 206–223). John Wiley & Sons Ltd.