Social Labels and Education
Learning is a very complex process and usually happens under the influence of many different factors. The symbolic interactionist perspective is based on the perception of education as a result of communication between different parties heavily influenced by their labeling patterns (OpenStax). In particular, the perspective aligns with the idea that labels assigned within the communities and groups participating in an interaction can produce a strong effect on the ways they behave and on the results they demonstrate.
When it comes to the film entitled “A Class Divided”, it can serve as an excellent and a very telling example of the impact produced by labels in society. In the film, in her attempt to teach children about discrimination using the first-hand experience, the teacher divides the class into two groups based on their eye color; one of the groups is pronounced better and smarter than the other and is allowed to enjoy some benefits that the second group does not obtain. The teacher repeatedly says that “blue-eyed people are smarter than brown-eyed people” and use every opportunity to point to it while the students go one with their learning activities (A Class Divided). On the next day, the strategy is reversed, and brown-eyed students are treated as smarter and better ones. Interestingly, the groups of children very quickly begin to show the academic performance results that match their labels. As the teacher asked her students what the reason for their low performance was, they said “this” and pointed to their collars – the indicators of them being a lower and less privileged part of the class (A Class Divided).
In that way, one could notice that not only the privileged group was the one using stereotypes about the lower part of the class, but the latter also exercised the same negative stereotype against themselves letting it affect their moods, focus, emotions, and in turn, academic achievements throughout the day.
Religiousness in the United States
Regardless of the distinct and thoroughly maintained separation of state and church, the United States of America continues to be a predominantly Christian nation. To be more precise, according to the data of 2014, about 70.6% of the American population identified themselves as Christians of different denominations; 5.6% of the population belonged to non-Christian religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism, among others; finally, the unaffiliated part of the population represented 22.8% (Pew Research Center).
Moreover, looking at the quantitative shift that took place in the Christian and unaffiliated groups, one could notice that the size of the former party has decreased by 7.8% between 2007 and 2014; and at the same time, over the same period, the unaffiliated group has gained 6.8% (Pew Research Center). The numbers seem to indicate a rise in secularization – the embrace of nonreligious values in American society; however, the percentage of people for whom faith remains one of the essential aspects of life is still rather high. In the past, the USA, as well as many other developed countries went through a period of religious fundamentalism when the vast majority of the population strictly followed certain religious norms.
The process of secularization has been anticipated by several philosophers of the past, who linked the rising pace of modernization to the decrease in religiousness in the society (OpenStax). However, despite the persisting social change in religious trends and the steady increase in the number of people refusing to identify themselves with any particular faith, religion is an extremely strong phenomenon that would not lose popularity quickly. Modernization may speed up the process of secularization using encouraging more people to pursue more practical and pragmatic values, but, as seen from the high prevalence of passionately religious people, the domination of science and technology is a society that does not immediately turn everyone into atheists or agnostics.
Works Cited
“A Class Divided.” Frontline, 1985. Web.
OpenStax. Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed., 2017. Web.
Pew Research Center. “America’s Changing Religious Landscape.” PewResearchCenter, 2015. Web.