UNIVERSITY OF MAKATI

J. P. Rizal Ext., West Rembo, Makati City

HIGHER SCHOOL NG UMAK
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT
Course Title Title
Understanding Culture, Society, Module No. 8
THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
and Politics
Learning Objectives: At the end
of the module, the students 1. examine the functions and importance of education in the society
should be able to:
I At present, education is important because major industries around the
N globe prefer to hire a college graduate because of the demand for competitive
T services. Hence, it poses challenge to families because of the need to achieve such
an endeavor became a big deal primarily because of economic emancipation
R
(Radcliffe, 2022). Such a premise can be consolidated in the case of the Philippines.
O Because various household from different socio-economic status, is willing to
D sacrifice their needs and wants just to send their children to school for a better
U future (UNICEF Philippines, 2022). As a result, in the Philippines, it is of no doubt
how education was regarded as a wealth to every Filipinos. Macionis (1993) defined
C education as, “means of transmitting knowledge and skills including norms and
T values." Also, he emphasized that education meant formal instruction where students are under the supervision
I of trained teachers. As a result, schooling is normally equated with formal education because major institutions
O in industrial societies heavily relies with its existence.

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 THE BEGINNING OF EDUCATION
The word school came from the Greek word ‘schole’ which means leisure. Sociologists
defined education as a means where knowledge, skills, and values are honed, learned,
and obtained. Furthermore, it is here that individuals learn ideas about how to survive.

Before, education is not an independent social institution because considering

the emphasis on to the survival way of life, children are thought about the necessity of
life. Moreover, since it was a hunting and gathering society, children are taught how
to gather food and as they grew up, adults are encourage to teach them skills in farming, fishing, and hunting.
Hence, education in this period is associated with apprenticeship since children are taught how to survive.
Before formal teacher training was non-existent but the presence of great thinkers made it possible for
knowledge transmission. Unfortunately, it was a privilege since not all can afford it. So
that explains why wealthy families were the once who can only avail it. For example, in
China, Confucius taught only selected few students. Similarly, in Greece, Aristotle, Plato,
and Socrates taught science and philosophy only to upper class boys whose parents can
afford to pay the services of these teachers.
However, during the 12th Century in Europe, monastic education prevailed.
However, during those times it is only intended for boys who came from wealthy families. Also, it was still the
period of Christianity propagation which explains why monks centered their learnings with linguistic endeavors
such as reading and writing Greek, Latin, and Hebrew languages so they could translate early scriptures from the
Bible and along with the correspondence of the church leaders.

C But when industrialization took place, the development of new machines was coupled with the creation
of new type of specialized jobs which resulted the need for trained workforce. As a result, there was a demand
O
for training people how to read, write and work accurately with figures. Hence, the development of the 3R's
N (writing, reading and arithmetic) answers the challenges in the society.
T
E EDUCATION DURING COLONIZATION PERIODS
N
After crusades or holy war, mathematics and medicine became an integral part of Western civilization.
T
But at the turn of the 15th century, colonization period started. The indigenous culture was viewed as uncivilized
and inferior from European culture. Thus, there was an attempt to eradicate indigenous religion, political and
economic systems which is known as virtual destruction of indigenous culture.
However, there was an exception because in some cases like for example, in India, the British did not
destroy the Indian culture but choose to live apart from the natives as the British government created education
exclusively for the children of the elite Indians. While in the Philippines, during the Spanish period the eldest son
of the datu (chieftain) was given an opportunity to go to school and learn the 3R's (writing, reading, and
arithmetic). However, during the American regime, they introduced education as a means to prepare Filipinos for
a democratic way of life that is why the Education Act of 1901 was enacted which later on became the very
foundation of the creation of the Philippine Normal School now known as the Philippine Normal University.
Given these points, it supports the idea that colonizers wanted the indigenous people to adapt their
language, culture and tradition for them to be civilized. Because they believe later on, all these learnings would
support their interest.

FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION
1. The Education performs a number of important services that contribute to the operation and
Functionalist maintenance of society (Feinberg and Soltis, 1992 as cited by Sullivan, 2007).
Perspective A functionalist believes that when a part of society is working properly, each contributes
to the well-being or stability of the society. The positive things that people intend their
actions to accomplish are known as a manifest function. The positive consequences they
did not intend to are called latent function (Henslin, 2011).

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 a. Socialization As society becomes more technologically complex and
advanced, the mind needs not just to be informed but also
sharpened, as the family cannot meet the demands of this, the
school plays a very important role in the socialization of the
youth.
b. Cultural Innovation To find ways to innovate, schools transmit cultural values and
norms. Civic classes are typical examples. In the Philippines,
subjects like NSTP (National Service Training Program) and
ROTC (Reserved Officer Training Corps) is integrated into the
curriculum of the students in the college level. As students are
encourage to do service.

c. Social Integration Schools help to forge a mass of people into a unified whole
since it can control hostility. The school may use language as a
means of social integration, to establish a common language
to encourage communication. However, formal education is
still the best path to social integration because it promotes
inclusivity which allows all people to be integrated within the
society. For example, in the Ukraine and Latvia, citizens rely on
schools to tie their desperate people together

d. Social Placement Formal education helps young people to assume roles that
contribute to the betterment of life (Macionis, 2011).
Furthermore, school becomes a screening ground which
identifies people skill and talents where they implement the
new scheme "best and the brightest." School becomes a
supporter of meritocracy-linking social position to personal
merit.

e. Latent Function The school can reshape parental duties to child care because it
has a way to establish social relationship and networks.
Furthermore, school does not only provide good friendships
but links for valuable career opportunities and resources.

2. Social Formal education focuses its studies to social inequalities, schools develop people's
Conflict individual talents and skills, but promote social inequalities based on sex, race, ethnicity,
Perspective and social class.

a. Hidden This refers to the attitude, values, and unwritten rules of behavior that
Curriculum schools teach and develop among the students in addition to the formal
curriculum. Example of which is obedience to authority and conformity
to mainstream norms. However, it promotes social inequalities as it
supports social stratification because schools instill behaviors and ideas
to students in a diverse way.

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 b. Testing During the American Colonial Period, expansion of public schools
and Social began. Filipinos mostly children were taught about American way of
Inequalities life. Soon it tilted towards the higher and middle-class citizens as they
can afford to have apple can relate to the example, while the rest of the
school children remain fantasizing about the appearances of apple.

An observation of Intellectual Quotient Test reveals inequality in

education. Because those who garnered low IQ test results are sent to
less demanding courses which are low paying jobs. It can be concluded
that IQ test is maintains the social stratification across the generation.

c. Credential A society that recognizes diploma or degree important than the skills
Society and talent of a person for it is a condition that must be met for one’s
gainful employment. According to Randall Collins (1979), credential
society, a diploma and degree is evidence for a person to prove that
he/she can perform some specialized occupational role.

3. Symbolic
a. Labelling It may create a serious significance to the learners as it may lead to a self-
Interactionism
fulfilling prophecy where people begin to conform to the label attached to
Perspective
them.

Students are being ranked according to how competent and intelligent

they become. Because teachers evaluate their students and make reports
about how the students perform inside the class in a particular period and
this report becomes official and part of the lives of the students.

For example, in grade school teachers usually place their fast learners in
the first row, the average learners in the middle, and the slow learners in
the last row. The bright students are given special treatment and extra-
academic works. The average and the slow learners are left behind; it is a
"do-your-stuff" attitude.

b. Ability Ability grouping means the clustering of people together into classes or
grouping track.

FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION

1. Formal Guided by a systematic, organized educational model, structured and administered based
Education on a given set of laws, rules, norms which offers a rigid curriculum that contains objectives,
content and methodology.

Formal education institutions are organized holistically thus, it requires students a number of
days for attendance. Furthermore, it has a program that both teachers and students must
follow, one of which is the assessments given to students in order to advance to the next level
or stage.

It confers degrees and diplomas pursuant to a quite strict set of regulations. However, at some
point formal education neglects to consider the reality of life, the basic principles of learning
to fail to be considered in the planning and the performance of education systems. Thus, it
does not fill the real needs of the students and society.

2. Non- Does not require student attendance, a decrease in the contact between student and teacher,
formal and most of the time, activities take place outside an institution. The learning process is not
Education rigid; thus, the curriculum and the methodology are flexible and designed to adapt to the

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 needs and interests of the students. Time is not controlled; it depends on the working time
and pace of the student.

However, it is unnatural that education offered by schools is without value for a student’s life
because minds need to be nurtured and it is here students comes into understanding the role
one has to fulfill. Thus, non-formal education offers second chance to students who lost
vision about their lives.

According to Ward as mentioned by Zaki (1987), non-formal education participants are

offered with opportunities because they want to acquire skills which shall represent their
expertise.

Four Characteristics of Non-Formal Education:

1. Relevance to the needs of disadvantaged groups;
2. Concern with specific categories of a person;
3. A focus on clearly defined purposes; and
4. Flexibility in organization and methods.

Types of Non-Formal Education

1. Correspondence It is an individualized learning system that allows students to proceed at their own pace,
course according to their interests. Activities are planned and structured based on the
preparation of the printed materials which are forwarded to students who are
physically away from the teachers' supervision.
2. Distance It based on non-contiguous communication which means that the teacher and learner
learning are far from each other. However, what makes distance learning unique it is wider and
it incorporates various media.

3. Open learning Defined as those which offer students flexible and self-governing way to study the
system program of their choice when and where they wish to suit their circumstances.

ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES

Many Filipinos do not have a chance to attend and finish formal basic
education (Grades 1-6 and Year 1-4) due to many reasons. In lieu of the
UNESCO’s Education For All, every Filipino were given a right to free basic
education. For this reason, the Philippine government established ALS or
Alternative Learning Systems to provide all Filipinos the chance to have
access to and complete basic education in a move that fits their distinct
situations and needs (DepEd, 2005).
In the Philippines, the government created the Alternative Learning
System (ALS) to give chance for out-of-school-youths to finish their studies
in their most convenient time. More so, it is a parallel learning system that
provides a practical option to the existing formal instruction. When one does not have or cannot access formal
education in schools, ALS is an alternate or substitute. ALS includes both the non-formal and informal sources of
knowledge and skills.
According to the Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the government should safeguard the
right to quality education of every citizen. Hence, by virtue of the Republic Act 9155 Governance Act for Basic
Education part of the which consolidates the establishment of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) to provide
out-of-school children, youth, and adults population with basic education.
However, ALS Non-formal Education are usually community-based, which happens in learning centers,
barangay multi-purpose hall, libraries, or at home, managed by ALS learning facilitators, such as mobile teachers,
district ALS Coordinators, instructional managers at an agreed schedule and venue between the learners and
facilitators.
In many societies, education is viewed as a source of economic stability, productive citizens, and attainment
of self-actualization and fulfillment of human rights. In the Philippines, the government and the academe are
working together to attain the fulfillment of EFA (Education for All) by the UNESCO in the Philippines. The goal of

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EFA is to lessen illiteracy in the country and to encourage and increase the number of enrollees in the primary
and secondary schools.

BARRIERS TO EDUCATION

These are some challenges that our education today is trying to resolve by new programs and assistance coming
from the government.

1. Poverty A primary reason why many children in developing developing countries do not attend
primary education. For parents who send their children to school must consider the direct
and indirect cost. Direct costs are primarily fees that families pay to send their children to
school. Indirect costs include the value of children's time and effort, typically measured as
foregone earnings. Children's time is considered a cost because instead of earning money
for the family they have to spend time in school.
2. Gender It is considered a barrier to education because there are cultural beliefs and values which
inequality prohibits girls to attend school which most of the time promotes gender inequality.
3. Suitable Quality education needs spacious classrooms, adequate seats, water for drinking, and
infrastructure comfort rooms. For this reason, schools should ensure the safety and comfort for the
students. According to UNESCO, inadequacy of classroom is a common reason why out of
school youth in both rural and urban settings, where internal migration became common.

In the Philippines, the government is creating programs which will strengthen the economy and society
through education to make its citizens competitive with its neighboring countries and with the world, the
government introduced different programs like the Mother Tongue-Based Education. Also, the government
supports the EDUCATION FOR ALL of the UNESCO.

MOTHER TONGUE-BASED EDUCATION PROGRAM

Aside from the additional years in high school, the Department of Education introduces another program
which is the mother tongue as medium of instruction. The “Mother Tongue-Based Multi-lingual Education” (MTB-
MLE) shall be applied from kindergarten to Grade 3 in both public and private schools. It shall be part of the new
curriculum for incoming Grade 1 pupils. The 12 languages as medium of instruction are: Tagalog, Kapampangan,
Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan, Maranao, and Chabacano.
Interestingly, in a study done by UNESCO, it was revealed that first
language is the optimal language for literacy and learning (UNESCO, 2008).
Because in a separate research, it was suggested that engaging marginalized
children in school through mother-tongue based, multilingual education
(MTB-MLE) is a successful model (Benson & Kesonen, 2013; Yiakoumetti,
2012). Moreover, young students whose primary language is not the
language of instruction in school would either drop out or fail in school.
Despite oppositions, schools still insists the exclusive use of one or
sometimes several privileged languages. Undeniably, UNESCO since 1953
has emphasized the use of mother tongue instruction because they already saw based on their studies that
children with less exposure to a dominant language stay longer and repeat less often in school (Hovens, 2002;
UNESCO Bangkok, 2005); and children in multilingual education tend to develop better thinking skills compared
to their monolingual peers (e.g., Bialystok, 2001; Cummins, 2000; King & Mackey, 2007).

As a result, with this new program, the comprehension skills of the children shall be improved since the
mother language education aims to reduce the number of dropouts among the youth. According to a 2000 United
Nations report, the dropout rate in the Philippines at the public-school elementary level has remained high in a
span of five decades since the 1960s – 28 to 34 percent of that student population fails to reach Grade 6 level.
Based on the 2008 data from the Commission on Higher Education, out of every 100 Grade 1 student, 66 finish
Grade 6, 58 reaches first-year high school, and only 43 finish high school. Of these high school graduates, only 23
enroll in college, while 14 manage to even finish their degrees.
The problem regarding dropout is not only in the Philippines but also all over the world. Globally, there
are 50-75 million ‘marginalized’ children who are not enrolled in school.

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EDUCATION FOR ALL
It is UNESCO’s goal for primary education’s vision of achieving an
inclusive growth and development. Furthermore, it entails investment in
human capital, by providing quality basic education, competitive technical
vocational skills training, and relevant to the higher education as stated in
the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 (EFA UNESCO).

OVERALL GOALS & OBJECTIVES OF PHILIPPINE EFA 2015

1. Universal coverage of Out of School Youth (OSY) and adults in the provision of basic learning needs;
2. Universal school participation and elimination of dropouts and repetition in first's three grades;
3. Universal completion of the full cycle of basic education schooling with satisfactory achievement
levels by all at every grade or year;
4. Total community commitment to the attainment of basic education competencies for all.

Larger Risks to the Nation

1. Language. Education for all should enable everyone to speak in the vernacular, Filipino and English.
2. National Identity. Education should not only develop critical thinking but also enlarge horizons and inspire
self-reflection and hope in every generation.
3. Social Capital. Education for all build’s social capital. It makes possible the achievement of certain ends
that would not otherwise be attainable in its absence.
4. Cultural Practices. Cultural values can be a highly productive component of social capital, allowing
communities and the whole country to efficiently restrain opportunism and resolve problems of collective
action such as individual refusal to serve the public good, etc.
5. Individual Freedom. Education for all is really about assuring the capacity to fully exercise freedom by all
(Philippine Education for All (EFA) National Action Plan 2015).

In order to ensure the success of EFA in the country and to take solutions to some challenges faced by the
country and the education sector-a, Philippine EFA 2015 Acceleration Plan has been developed. This plan includes
provisions for a broad EFA strategy, funding, and monitoring and evaluation that will ensure the implementation
of the acceleration plan in the country (UNESCO).

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 Module 8: 25 Item Post-Test
A. Multiple Choice. Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
1. Which of the following is not a manifest function of education?
a. Cultural innovation b. Courtship c. Socialization d. Transmission of culture

2. Conflict theorists see sorting as a way to ___________.

a. Challenge gifted students
b. Help students who need additional support
c. reinforces divisions of economic status
d. teach respect for authority

3. The functionalist theory sees education as serving the needs of ___________.

a. society b. individuals c. families d. the government

4. What term describes the assignment of students to specific education programs on the basis of previous test
scores or grades and their perceived abilities?
a. Hidden curriculum b. Self-fulfilling prophecy c. Labeling d. Tracking

5. Which of the following is an example of non-formal education?

a. Primary schooling b. Senior high school c. Adult night classes d. Doctorate program
ASSESSMENT

B. Critical Thinking. Answer the following questions.

6-10. What are the most important manifest and latent functions that are served by the educational institutions?
Explain your answer.

11-15. What are the obstacles to providing greater access to education? Provide suggestions on how these
obstacles can be overcome.

16-20. Pretend that you are a conflict theorist. Thinking of your school or the schools you have attended in the
past, answer this question: In what ways does your school perpetuate class differences?

C. Activity. Interlinking Institutions. Social institutions operate independently in a given society. Below are sets of
binaries which link one institution with another. Discuss how one operates jointly with the other by citing specific
societal situations or events. Example: church and mass media. The church and mass media work together in the
evangelization of the people through a regular TV program.

21. School and mass media

22. School and church
23. School and political institutions
24. School and health institutions
25. School and religion

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 I. Individual Activity
Primary Education as a Human Right: A Campaign Speech
Pretend that you are an education advocacy leader who has been invited as a resource speaker in a congressional
hearing that will discuss the amount of funding to be given to primary education. Prepare a 5-minute speech
highlighting why the primary education is a human right and why it should be accessible to everyone. Make sure
that your speech not only has compelling arguments but also verified and verifiable data that support your
arguments.

II. Group Research

ASSIGNMENT

1. Given the basic problems of the Philippine educational system, such as shortages of classrooms, teachers,
textbooks, and facilities, and the low salary of teachers, what concrete solutions can you suggest? Interview the
teachers in your school or near your barangay and summarize their answers. Based on the answers, what are the
most common themes?

2. Many students drop out from schools because of economic reasons. Interview out-of-school youths in your
barangay and summarize their answers. What stands out among the answers given? Why?

3. Do a research on changing the academic calendar or moving the start of classes in our country. You may
interview students and teachers from schools or near your barangay that have changed their academic calendars.
List all the advantages and disadvantages of adopting a new academic calendar. Among the advantages and
disadvantages, which is the most convincing? Why?

Mutya K-12 Compliant

Understanding Culture, Society and Politics for Senior High School
Dennis J. Saluba, Angelita D. Damilig, Abigeil F. Carlos, et.al

VIBAL
Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics
REFERENCES

Joefe B. Santarita and Randy M. Madrid

PHOENIX Publishing House

Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics
Antonio P. Contreras, PhD, Arleigh Ross D. Dela Cruz, PhD, Dennis S. Erasga, PhD, et.al

Websites
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/education-training-
advantages.asp#:~:text=Why%20Is%20Education%20Considered%20an,greater%20output%20and%20economi
c%20growth.
https://www.unicef.org/philippines/education

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