n spend much time with their peers while at school, and peers are a very important agent of socialization. Adolescents tend to choose friends that are similar to them in race, social class, and interests. Students use their reference group as a way to measure self-worth. Education and deviance have a close relationship. The education system serves several different purposes in regard to deviance. Foremost, education is a deterrent for deviance. Children learn very early about crime and punishment. They learn it in the curriculum, but they also learn it in a practical way. They are punished for cheating, fighting, and other deviant behaviors. Therefore, the education system plays a vital role in social control by producing compliant citizens that understand what deviance is and how to avoid it. Although education is used as a tool to deter deviance, it can unknowingly perpetuate it as well. We all remember those kids in school who were labeled as stupid or troublemakers. Teachers as well as classmates treat these students differently. Teachers are stricter with troublemakers and assume that if something goes wrong that the troublemaker was the cause of it. If a child is labeled as stupid, a teacher expects less out of that child. The mainstream peer population avoids any peer that is deviant. Thus, these students feel that their only identity is their so-called deviant behavior. It seems to the child that they will never be able to escape this label, so they continue with the behavior that is considered deviant.Social stratification and education are tightly linked. Many Americans have the ideal that education is a main promoter of social equality. Everyone has the same opportunity to work hard, gain credentials, and become upwardly mobile. However, research has shown that the exact opposite is true. Schools may promote social inequality by limiting the opportunities of women, minorities, and those in the lower classe...
