Page 434 - Sociology and You

404 Unit 4 Social Institutions
School Expenditures
Everyone has heard “You get what you pay for.” Because of this idea, many people use the amount of money spent on public schools as a measure of the quality of education. The accompanying map shows that some states spend more than twice as much per student as other states.
District of Columbia
Public School Expenditures Per Pupil, 1999–2000
More than $8,000 $7,000–$7,999 $6,000–$6,999 $5,000–$5,999 $4,000–$4,999
Interpreting the Map
1. How does your state compare with other states in school expenditures?
2. Do you see a regional pattern in public school funding? Explain.
3. What other factors might you want to know to determine if the amount of money spent affected
the quality of education delivered?
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000.
influenced more by the track they are on than by their current performance. Regardless of earlier school performance or intelligence, the academic perfor- mance of college-bound students increases, whereas the performance of those on a noncollege track decreases. In other words, schools are not suc- cessfully providing educational equality for their students.
Cognitive Ability
The technical term for intelligence is cognitive ability—the capacity for thinking abstractly. Dating back to the turn of the twentieth century, there has been a tradition in schools to attempt to measure cognitive ability.
Because cognitive ability testing is an important element in sorting and tracking students, it contributes to educational inequality. Whenever cogni- tive ability tests are discussed, the question of inherited intelligence always arises.
cognitive ability
capacity for thinking abstractly