This course considers the role of education as a social institution and the ways in which it fosters, prevents, and maintains social inequities in the U.S. We examine the structural and cultural ways in which schools have played a role in building and sustaining social hierarchies and shaped the character of our society. We explore how schooling socializes students differently based on their real/perceived culture, race, class, gender, sexual identity, and immigrant status and how that leads to differential outcomes for different groups. Students explore the origins, development, and current state of social theory and practice/research on education.