In all of the controversies surrounding public education, the experts agree that American schools are "failing."

Functionalists argue that schools reproduce the society's system of inequality and class stratification in new generations of children.

According to the interactionist perspective, schools label students as "achievers," "underachievers," or "rebels."

It is well known that educational attainment (number of years of school completed) is strongly correlated with socioeconomic status.

The gap in educational attainment between blacks and whites has widened considerably since the turn of the century.

According to the text, the primary obstacle to significant changes in the educational system is that educational institutions have a built-in tendency to resist change.

Much of the pressure for change in the schools has developed out of the typically American belief in the value of technology.

Desegregation effectively began with the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade.

The text observes that of all American social institutions, education is the least subjected to intentional changes through social policy.

Educational conservatives tend to base their views on the intellectual tradition of humanism.