The institutional setting in which formal education occurs is of interest both in terms of its potential effects upon the school population and its broader social implications. As the sociologist Robert Dreeben has argued, analyzing the structural properties of the modern American public school, What is Learned in School derives not only from the curriculum but also from the institutional setting in which the activity occurs. In structuring individuals' activities in regular ways, he has argued, the organizational properties of institutions are themselves educative, fostering an acceptance of norms congruent with the requirements of institutional life. These norms may then be applied to other life situations. Thus changes in the institutional setting in which an activity such as education occurs may both reflect and promote broader changes in behavioral norms and social values.
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