English 1100_3J
Prof. Young
24 September 2015
Do you agree that Social Class is related to Education?
Jean Anyon decided to conduct a research on Education according to Social Classes. In her research she includes Behavior in a classroom, attitude towards learning grammar, and attitude towards science. According to Anyon, the education of the schools students attend to differ based on Social Class. She separates Social Classes and Schools by four categories. These four categories being: Working Class, Middle Class, Affluent Profession School, and Executive Elite Schools. These categories go from the "poor" to the "rich", and based on how these social classes can influence the type of schools your child attends. Having reviewed "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" by Jean Anyon, I disagree with her claims that teachers provide different instruction.
She doesn't have all the data in her research wrong, but one weak spot for this research would be the time. This was release on 1980 and we are now in 2015. When I attended elementary school, middle school, along with high school it was from 2002 to 2015. It is about 20 years apart from the research to when I started attending school, you may say it's not much but the difference may be vast because of the advancements of society.
I attended elementary school, School #18 in Paterson, NJ. It was a Working Class School. It may have been similar to how Anyon described but it was also different in a way that would contradict her general outlook on a Working Class school. Some rules that apply in working class schools are "no talking back", and "follow rules". These aren't different than my school, or any schools I attended. School #18 may not have been the best school in Paterson at all, but you learn a lot of things from there. There were a lot of issues with behavior in my school but we had all we needed. We had Texas Instrument calcuators, and we were one of the schools that first had a Smart Board. I don't know how schools ran back in 1980 but now the government is very involved in education and gives "poor" schools a big budget.
As far as teaching skills, I'd say my teachers were pretty good. They taught well, taught us to use our creativity in our writing and even math! They taught ways to remember the multiplication table easier, and made us write journals to enforce creative writing. They asked a lot of questions, which at that time was annoying because, I couldn't exactly explained how I solved a problem, I just did it. They made us work independent as well in "centers" which are groups. School #18 was a good school as far as I'm concerned. They teach differently than what Anyon would describe the education in a working class school.
She mentions that teachers focus more on students' behavior when they're from working class, and I'm going to be honest, that may be correct. That's why they bring in teachers that are more tougher to working class schools. My school had teachers that would legit throw a book on the floor if we didn't listen. As far as talking back, the teachers at School #18 would call someone to take the student to the office. If it's a bad case, they would suspend a student. The teacher's though, wouldn't focus vastly on our behavior, they would focus on our improvement. It would be unfair if they only focus on behavior. Moving on to a middle class school in 8th grade, was very different. It wasn't crappy looking like school #18, it was big, and it had lockers. They taught well, but I realized sometimes School #18 made it easier by teaching us tricks to remember stuff.
I believe all students should have the same type of education though. I don't see why they can't teach us the same stuff if at the end education will get everyone far. It just depends on the students' potential and their effort. If they want to really go ahead and become someone big in life they could. Just as how a kid can go from the ghetto to wearing Audemars Piguet; a rich kid can go from wearing Louis Vuitton since birth to wearing a construction uniform.
School #18 Auditorium
As far as teaching skills, I'd say my teachers were pretty good. They taught well, taught us to use our creativity in our writing and even math! They taught ways to remember the multiplication table easier, and made us write journals to enforce creative writing. They asked a lot of questions, which at that time was annoying because, I couldn't exactly explained how I solved a problem, I just did it. They made us work independent as well in "centers" which are groups. School #18 was a good school as far as I'm concerned. They teach differently than what Anyon would describe the education in a working class school.
She mentions that teachers focus more on students' behavior when they're from working class, and I'm going to be honest, that may be correct. That's why they bring in teachers that are more tougher to working class schools. My school had teachers that would legit throw a book on the floor if we didn't listen. As far as talking back, the teachers at School #18 would call someone to take the student to the office. If it's a bad case, they would suspend a student. The teacher's though, wouldn't focus vastly on our behavior, they would focus on our improvement. It would be unfair if they only focus on behavior. Moving on to a middle class school in 8th grade, was very different. It wasn't crappy looking like school #18, it was big, and it had lockers. They taught well, but I realized sometimes School #18 made it easier by teaching us tricks to remember stuff.
I believe all students should have the same type of education though. I don't see why they can't teach us the same stuff if at the end education will get everyone far. It just depends on the students' potential and their effort. If they want to really go ahead and become someone big in life they could. Just as how a kid can go from the ghetto to wearing Audemars Piguet; a rich kid can go from wearing Louis Vuitton since birth to wearing a construction uniform.
School #18 Auditorium
Claudia, thank you for your comments about Anyon and your public education experience. I wonder though can you add direct quotes from Anyon to support your claims. Where can you add these quotes?
ReplyDeleteI like the fact you disagreed with Jean Anyon's claim. I wasn't sure how to disagree which is why I didn't, but you brought up good points to support your idea and described them in full detail.
ReplyDelete