Unfortunately, the different types of schools (working class, elite class, middle class) are perpetuating sterotypes and social placement. If children who attend a "working class" school are constantly and continually being expossed to a practical curriculum, then the circle can't be broken. For example, a working class parent who is exposed to the same curriculum as discribed in the book (assignments not being explained, no interconnectedness between other classes, no self discovery etc...) is going to become jadded regarding the educational system. So, if and when their child comes to them for assistance, the parent is going to have ill feelings about the child's work and if the child sees that their parent doesn't care, why should the child? And the point is, we know from studies that children who come from a home environment where learning is emphasized and interest is taken in how the child is doing, then that child is more likely to succeed. In reading this article, I almost couldn't believe some of the situations the author was discribing on page 130, regarding science experiments and making the one inch grid. Article was benefical in I know what NOT to do in my classroom.

Susan, I think in some situations, too, the parents of working class kids have been educated in the same one-dimensional method that they see their kids bringing home. This could encourage a disenfranchised parent attitude or, in some cases, the parent may actually help perpetuate the system, believing that their child doesn't need to know why they're doing a specific activity or that what their child really needs is to memorize long lists of names, places, and facts (just like they had to)!

Susan,
I agree with you that the article was well worth the read. It was a sobering look into the segregation of schools into social classes and how each functions. I was really shocked and at the same time I was not at all surprised at the difference in ones social class effects there education. As a teacher I think that it is important to remember that despite a child’s social status it is important for that child to receive a top notch education just like the upper class children.

I read this article once before in another class, but I'm still shocked by what the article says about my own education. I feel like I was in a school system that reflected the working class ideas. I still see the characteristics of a working class education in my every day life. In some ways, I am glad that I am now aware of the differences in education, but I also wonder what I would be like now if I had been in a middle or upper class school.

Growing up in a tiny school, I always thought that my teachers were awesome and the best at what they did. Looking back at them now, after learning about different types of teaching, I see many ways that they could have expanded the curriculum. The only classrooms I saw the "executive elite" style in until college was at a magnet school. Some classes here at ASU don't even use methods higher than middle class. It kind of makes me wonder if the teachers really don't expect more of us, or if they just teach waht they were taught, and don't try to enrich it...