The Approaches Of Religious & Educational Institutions Utilizing The Conflict & Functional Methods
Chanta Jackson
Elizabethtown Community & Technical College

As an American, in this thriving yet diverse society earlier on in education we are taught to define ourselves scholastically through high achieving grades, test scores, and athletic abilities. Individualism is soon expressed exposing the inner most parts of self, and we are then defined by those achievements. For example, athletic team activities are shifted more toward the leader bringing the team home for a win. Instead of applauding the collaborative efforts exerted during the game, the focus shifts on the individual who scored the most points. Left unsaid, winning becomes a fixation to our mentalities associated with accolades. Competition is pumped through our veins, and soon sears our conscience with a hot iron! In our culture, similar to the Japanese we embrace both theories of conflictive and functionalism theories. Durkheim (father founder of the functionalist theory) primary focus was on “moral education” meaning to implement a more permanent social structure by joining together people from diverse backgrounds. Furthermore, he states that the role of education is one of identifying socialization into today’s society. The Functionalist theory focuses on education as a whole and also implements the basic skills essentials for education such as social placement, networking and sorting. The conflict theory views the purpose of education by maintaining social inequality, giving power to the elite (upper class) while downplaying the lower class. In the United States, our education system implies that we spend our whole lives climbing our way atop the success ladder to a sweet victory to attain success. Our counterparts the Japanese are somewhat similar to us as far as competition, but are