Let us consider Chart 1 of possible functions vs. possible missions common to many, many schools. The missions, on the other hand, tend to be the sort of things which primarily interest educators. But very important is that their failure tends to provoke dismay or outrage. Missions, by contrast, are generally what we hope to achieve and what we celebrate when they are achieved. What is in one school taken for granted, e.g. every student's reading on grade level, may be an ardently aspired to mission for another.
Latent functions are recurrent consequences normally overlooked, and often considered with dismay.
Latent Functions may be the consequences of Manifest Functions and Missions. Chart 2 suggests some possible latent functions of schooling that are brought about in the pursuit of manifest functions are missions. What chart 2 shows us is that desirable missions with benignly functional implementations might support undesirable latent functions. Consider the attempt to promote gender equity in the Lovesburg School District by merging boys' and girls' gym classes in the junior high. The previously unimportant lax supervision of the labyrinthine passageways leading to locker rooms and storage closets had a long term negative result.