Three Static Explanations for Describing Education: Parsons, Skinner and Smith

essay on Durkheim and Freire (above). The form of Parsons ' discussions of the functions of education systems is the familiar LIGA "paradigm. "2 In going beyond these general functions, Parsons differentiates four functions of the higher education complex, each of which is conceived of as analogous to an industry. Each function (or industry) has a chapter devoted to it in The American University.

I. Parsons This essay will examine passages from Talcott Parsons, 1 B.F. Skinner" " and Robert G. Smith as analyses of, or "explanation logics for "education. It will endeavor to show that the explanation-logics are not neutral, scientific or even very descriptive. They assume what they purport to explain; acknowledging them is a political decision—not a "learning of the truth." To Parsons the application of the general Parsonian functional scheme to education, while specifically referenced to the American University, is ' identical in substance to Emile Durkheim s socialization and division of labor functions. In the preface to The American University written by Talcott Parsons alone, Parsons states that he ". . . had long decided that higher education, including the research complex, had become the most critical single " feature of the developing structure of modern societies (1973:VI). While no immediate reason is given for this belief, it becomes clear that it is based on a Durkheim-like analysis of functions which perpetuate the moral community ' and advance the division of labor. Durkheim s assumptions with respect to

The first industry is the "general education " industry. It forms the base line from which others are differentiated. The second is the research industry which is concerned with enhancing the cognitive capacity. . . . A third is graduate training of the . . . successors of current academicians. 3 A fourth industry . . . (is) the training of practitioners in the applied professions " (1973:5-6). In addition, the university complex also performs a general ideological function which is described as contributing to the "general cultural definition of the situation" (1973:6). However, this role is shared with intellectuals outside the university. The diagram on the next page shows the relationships of each function with the others and with the university complex as a whole.