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 Social Class and teachers 
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I have a question. I was wondering if we should try and not find out the social class of the students that are going to be in our classrooms. I understand that eventually we will be able to determine by the clothes they wear and by school supplies and other things. But initially, like the first week, not try and judge the social classes? I feel that since teachers do influence the students as in they might give up on a lower class student more than a higher class student, that if we do not make assumptions that first week we might see the real kid. The kid that wants to work his/her butt off to move up in life or encourage the student that does not want anything to do with work no matter it be the fact that they simply have everything just handed to them or they feel that nothing will help them move up. But at the same time we teachers can use the social class and try and understand were a particular student is coming from and make it a positive influence. Not all influences have to be bad... i know that we tend to talk about the negative but we should remember that there are positive influencing teachers out there. What are yalls opinions about this?


Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:12 am
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I see what you are saying Ashley and you make a good point. Some teachers (none of us I am sure) might assume that poor Johnny is not going to work hard in their class, so why try? However, I see things a bit differently. If we know the student's background and know what kind of situation they are coming from everyday, can't we use this information to better support our student? Say Johnny's parents work around the clock and he basically lives with his grandmother. If he is struggling to understand a topic in class, then I would be spending more time with him in class because I know he will not get the support when he goes home that evening. Also, if you know that a student has to work from the moment he/she gets home till sun-down on a farm, then I would consider giving that student extensions or assign homework a few days in advance of the due date (if possible). As you see, the more you know about a student, the more support you will be able to give them so that they too can succeed in school. Otherwise, you might think that Johnny does not do his work because he is lazy and don't care. I grew up with students like these. I worked 40 hours a week starting the day I turned 16 through high school! It was tough. In most cases, the younger students don't have the option of not working. The work is a family effort to survive. I want to do more than just TEACH. I want to be that support that gets the students through school.

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JAKE BRADLEY ORANGE


Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:21 pm
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Call me a idealistic, but I really want to work in an inner city school in New York City. Going into a situation such as that, I know that I will come face to face with poverty everyday. I think teachers quickly count out the poor kids. I had a coworker who was a school teacher who told me that you can't care too much about your students. This was amazing to me that she had lost so much idealism and such that I think she probably had when she started teaching the year before. The students at the school she worked at were among the lowest achieving students in the county and unfortunately low achievement tends to go hand in hand with low income. I agree with Jake that it is a good thing to know the backgrounds of your students before hand so you can work with them in a way that will help them to excel. However every teacher must be honest with themselves about the stereotypes and beliefs that they have towards people. If you ignore them, it is likely that these preconceived notions will come out in a negative way. However if you are aware of them you can check them and perhaps change them. You can never change something that you are not aware of or chose to ignore.

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Abby Bishop


Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:07 pm
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Abby over Spring Break last year i went on an ASB trip which is through the school and worked in a inner city school in Washington DC. Can i please tell you that i had the time of my life working in this school. I got to work with a 4th class and with one boy in particular and help him with his writing skills. I had never gotten so much enjoyment helping this kid write a story. When we finished the boy was so excited and could not believe what he just accomplished! Working in a lower-class school system is very difficult but very rewarding! I think if you truly want to go to NYC you should really do it! If you have not been in a inner-city school take advantage of the ASB trips and see what its like!


Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:31 pm
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Ashley, I went on an ASB trip last Spring and it is what truly made me want to work in NYC. I worked with kids at the 135th street YMCA in Harlem and it was amazing and I can't wait to get back. So working with those kids and wanting them to be all that they can be (as cheesy as that sounds) has completely influenced my desire to work in an inner city school.

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Abby Bishop


Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:40 pm
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I don't think it is that important to find out a child's social class, but more so, their background. In my opinion, social class does not affect how a child learns or how well they will do in school. Their background and current situations is what I sense that matters. I could have a child in my class who is wealthy, but has parents who are at work until late in the night. The student is in an upper social class, but because of his or her home situation, may not succeed in school. On the other hand, a child could come from a poor household, but with extremely supportive parents.

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Melanie Wright


Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:46 pm
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Melanie, I agree. While in my high school, I noticed that in many of the honors and AP classes, a lot of the students came from middle to lower-middle income families, but they had support at home that helped them in the classroom. Some of the upper-middle class students, however, came from VERY wealthy homes with parents who didn't support them in school, and they struggled. Sure, they had lots of money and nice cars and pretty clothes, but many of them did poorly in school and didn't go on to college. In fact, many of the wealthy girls either got pregnant in high school, or right after, and so that consumed their life.

This wasn't the case with all students, but I did noticed that the kind of parental support a student had seemed to make MUCH more difference than the amount of money coming into the home.

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Whitney Sims


Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:43 am
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