Education as a Social Institution

Education as a Social Institution
The social institution referred to as Education is comprised of the school system and it is in the school system where knowledge and skills are developed along with cultural and social values and norms. Additionally, through the school system culture and society continue and further those social values and norms thus fulfilling a need prescribed by society. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the theories of functionalism, conflict, and interactionism perceive the social institution of education. As the functionalism theory states, each social institution exists in order to fulfill a social need in addition without the social institution in question, social order would falter. The conflict theory states, a social institution creates and/or furthers social inequalities and assists in maintaining an ascribed social status in the social order however, as the social order is continuously in flux, the social order tries to find a balance in and for society. The interactionism theory tries to understand why individuals who maintain a presence within a social institution act and/or react to each other under certain stimulations (Vissing, 2011). The social institution of education is comprised of what we term as schools therefore throughout this paper the terms education institution, schools, and the school system will be used interchangeably and accordingly. Each individual within a society is introduced to and educated in a system of values and norms pertaining to their particular society beginning at an early age and continuing through the individual’s lifetime additionally, the school system plays a large part in that education as the youth of that particular society develop into adults. The instructors or teachers within the school system act as role models to elicit proper behavior and strengthen cultural and societal norms (Beaver, 2009). Along with the academic curriculum taught in schools, schools also act as a large