Children around the world have different school experiences. This essay examines the functions of schooling and the effects that schooling can have on children's lives. The two functions, manifest and latent, as well as the dysfunctions, disaffection and alienation are discussed, as well as considering whether the qualification function of the school has come to replace the educational function. Using the resources of the U212 materials, these functions will be considered critically, reflecting the views of sociologists and psychologists such as Roger Merton, Jens Qvortrup, Ronald Dore and Paul Willis. First, looking at the manifest functions of school, which is best described as we have a social construction of what school life and education should be, and the latent functions focus on the less obvious functions of education, and as a result they have a knock-on effect on these functions. Hidden effects are important but not expected and may not be recognized. Sometimes latent functions work against manifest ones and can result in greater importance and meaning (Mackinnon, 2003). The discourses that decide our understanding of the world, in this case the social constructionist approach, depend on our background, culture, religion and beliefs. Discourses are a set of ideas that we have in us through the way we see the world, the subject of research by Lawrence Kohlberg (Stainton Rogers, 2003). To describe this in more detail, Donald Mackinnon (2003) studied what school means to children. He found that for some children school was like an institution, which dominated their lives, while for other children school had very little importance to them. Robert Merton (1957), a sociologist, introduced manifest and latent enjoyment... to the center of the paper... versus manifest functions. School can be dysfunctional for some of the societies it reaches, and children or pupils can become disaffected and alienated, however, sometimes the latent functions are very positive and occur without being recognised, because it was not the intention, just a excellent initiative. ripple effect on manifest function. Works cited. Mackinnon, D. (2003) 'Children and School'. In Maybin, J. Woodhead, M. (ed.) Childhoods in Context, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. in association with the Open University, pp 129-172Stainton Rogers, W. (2003) 'What is a child?' in Woodhead, M. and Montgomery, H. (eds) (2003) Understanding Childhood: John Wiley and Sons Ltd in association with the Open University, p21.The Open University (2003) U212, Childhood, Video 2, Band 3 ,' Testing children's Milton Keynes: The Open University.