I am not surprised by what I have just read in Jean Anyon's essay, however I am very much disappointed. I am disappointed to read concrete examples of how the American school system operates in relation to social class.
According to Anyon, students with working class parents in working class schools are educated only enough to perform working class jobs (and in our society, we all know that those jobs are considered meaningless and unworthy of praise). I can't help but feel for those parents who, when sending their kids off to school everyday, assume that they are giving them an equal shot as everyone else. However, it is clear through this essay (as well as just being clear in general) that that is not the case. These working class kids are going to schools where they are learning working-class skills in order to perform the same working-class jobs their brothers, fathers and grandfathers have always performed.
I should note quickly that I am definitely generalizing, and I'm sure all of us know some form of "rags to riches" story. However, this is not what happens most of the time.
After reading Jean Anyon's essay on social class in the school system, I couldn't help but think of the sociological theory of structural functionalism. Loosely, structural functionalism is the theory that society is an integrated system of many institutions (ex. education) and it is the role of those institutions to ensure that society as a whole function together properly. Talcott Parsons (a functionalist) argued that schools perform the function of what he called role allocation - ultimately that schools educate students to match them with the jobs they are best suited for. Unfortunately, I think there's a lot of startling truth in that.
In an ideal society, the education system - or schools in general rather - would be an even playing field for all kids of all socio-economic backgrounds. That's part of the American Dream, is it not? To have an equal shot? Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal society, and that is not the case, and in many ways, it seems as though the education system pigeon-holes its students into the same old, same old.
I think as future educators, this is a challenge that many of us will face in our classrooms. And I just hope that we all can rise to the challenge of instilling the skills necessary to succeed (whatever those may be...) for students from all walks of life.

I was shocked by what was said in the article. Both of my parents are part of the working class and I went to a working class school; however, I do not feel as if I am trained and educated only to perform in working class jobs. The schools I attended were small and the majority of the students in my schools came from families within the working class, but I believe that because of the teachers in the schools, we are exceptions to the generalization that was given in the article. It all has to do with the teachers and the parents. Both teachers and parents have to have high hopes for the kids as well as confidence that they can and will succeed.

I currently work in a high school and have for the past 5 years. Reading some of these articles makes me wonder if the author has been in a school recently. I know the majority of programs we have at our school are open to everyone. We do have a special class for students who may want to go to college but currently do not have the grades. This class offers them the extra help need to increase their grades and take more challenging classes. My school also has an ESL class for those students who need additional help. We actually encourage students to take the harder classes.