The article "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" by Jean Anyon (p. 127) was very interesting to me. I was wondering if you could identify with any of the types of schools, ie) "working-class," "middle-class," or affluent professional?"

I attended by far the school in which there were many different methods of teaching used and students were able to get up and move around on their own as long as it was at a respectable time. We were not alowed to leave the classrooms unless we asked but most of the time you got yes as an answer and you just took a hall pass. If you needed something off of the teachers desk you just told her what you were getting and you went and got it. You were able to move around during activites to work with others and when it was time for lunch you walked as a class usually without the teacher when you got to upper elementary. The Principal made an effort to get to know all of the students and made a presence in their classrooms. You were allowed PE, art, music, extra science and library time. I thought that the school was great and I would want my children to attend on of the same status.

I would have to say that my school was designed for the working class kids. With the exception of the AP classes and honors classes. These classes had all of the kids who were from the more affluent and "important" families of the counties. There were some kids who were placed in those classes because of their intellegence, but they were not treated as well as the other kids. Anyway, for the majority of the kids, the way we were learned was by making us do work with little, if any direction, and if we didn't comply, we were sent to the office.

I really don't know what my school is. It was alot like yours Blair. If we wanted to leave the room, our teachers had to sign our planners (that was our hall pass). As long as you asked they were ok with you leaving. Teachers desks in most classes were off limits, but as long as you asked them if you could borrow something and you promised to return it, you could use it. In elementary school, we had to always walk in straight lines. I can remember one time in middle school when we had to do this because no one was paying attention to the teacher. Twice a week we would have PE, and once a week we would have music, drama, and library time. I liked my elementary school. In fact that is where I want to go back to and teach after I graduate.

I believe that I attended a middle class school. There were only a few teachers who taught different methods. However, we did have some nice resources, although not as many resources as the more populous and professional schools.

I don't remember any of my schools teaching differently among students. I went to a high school that helped push kids into college. It was extremly diversed and offered many opportunites. You could go the medical track, vocational, teaching experience, college, different tracks but I really didn't consider that. I got to take CNA (Certified nursing assistant class and earn college credit). I also got to experience teaching to. I got to be a teacher assistant in a classroom for a semester. It was neat. I know though that a lot of schools do not have this advantage.

My school was defiantly a combination of a working class backgrounds and an upper class background. There was a predominate tract for the students who did not think they were going to college as well as a large tract for the kids who knew for a fact they would be going to college. All through my high school career I was allowed to exit a class when needed, roam the halls (as long as I had a good reason for it) and question the teachers if I did not agree with them. I can only wish that I would have been pushed to think more analytically of my surroundings than I was while going through high school to get the best education possible.

My school was a middle-class it was very much a Rich public school. We had things that other school in the county wished they had. I just felt great to go to the school. But everyone in the coutny new us a stuck up school.

I think that my school was working class and middle class. There were a few classes offered for honor students but not many. My high school did not recieve the money that the high school in the upper end of my county recieved.

My high school was definitely working class. The majority of students from my graduating class went directly into the work force as mechanics, general laborers, farmers, factory workers, and the such. There were only a few of who have gone on to work on or recieve 4-year degrees. As for the teaching methods, my classes were taught very interactively at the 'honors' level but the basic classes (from what others told me) were very much memorization and recitation.

My middle school was working class, it is the inspiration for me to teach in a working class school because I watched teachers tell students that there were not going to amount to much. I saw teachers that felt we were going to just be a part of a cycle, and that there was no point to putting effort into anything otherwise. As a student, I recognized what was going on, and it stuck with me ever since.

My high school, however, floated between middle class and affluent professional. It was a much more encouraging environment, but still classrooms were rather formulaic. I still saw a lot of neglect towards the working class kids, and there was definitely favoritism towards the kids who came from the wealthy households.

I just wish that all classrooms could become equally engaging no matter what the socio-economic status is. That is incredibly idealistic, I know, but I would hope that some of that idealism would work it's way into our public schools!