Social Interpretations of Education

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Zimbabwean education tends to be hierarchical such that the concept of functionalist perspective tend to suit the situation on the ground like a hand in a glove The main aim of this essay is to briefly assess the relevance of the functionalist perspective to learning or teaching in Zimbabwe Primary Schools. According to Haralambos and Holborn (1990), a perspective is a mental view of the relative important of things To support this Cohen and Manion (1981) defines perspective as “- -- a point of view, a way of looking things” In other way , a perspective is a way of view things or an opinion upon certain things Functionalist perspectives views a society as an organism in which each part serves a function. In this particular situation it refers to the way functionalists view education in the classroom situation. Functionalism is prominent in the words of Conte, Spencer, Durkheim and Parson as the founding father of this perspective. The hold the idea which are somewhat relevant to classroom practise. Functionalist view a society as a system a set of interconnected parts which together make a whole, Haralambos and Holborn,(1990). This implies that the school as a society is made up of parts that work together in order to attain the same goals. They equate the society with a human body which have different parts which each of them participate effectively on its roles towards the survival of the body . The sub systems of the society are like economy , family education, government and religions. Through school children develop knowledge skills attitudes and expertise as required of them by the labour market within the economic system. According to Ivan cited in Lawton, (1998:63), education is one of many institutions used by the state to oppress individuals in comfort. This is attained when there is interconnectedness of parts that maintain society. In the classroom situation, the teacher is not for only teaching or imparting knowledge but his or her duties in the...
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