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 Are lower class children treated differently? 
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In my opinion, there are some teachers out there that treat children of lower classes differently. I for one had an experience such as this. During high school, I was in an Honors Geometry class where the teacher definitely treated people in lower social classes (not necessarily just low class, but also middle class) very different. I would consider myself middle class and I also had my best friend in the class with me who is middle class, but we were the only two middle class children in the entire class. Everyone else in there was high class, their families were well known throughout the community (our town is very small), so of course our teacher (who herself was high class) already knew everyone. She treated me and my best friend like the "step children" and everyone else like royalty. She would literally give us worse grades (even when our work was sometimes much better), not call on us during class, or ever have anything nice/encouraging to say like "good job". This got so old, so fast, but we just tried to ignor it and do as well as we could in the class. Because of this experience, I vow to never let something as ridiculous as social classes get in the way of how I treat each and every student.

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Dana Currin


Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:35 pm
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Even though I know it happens, I've never personally recognized a teacher treat students differently based on their class. Sometimes I did see teachers treat students differently based on some other aspect such as social group in the school (athletes, band members, "smart" kids, etc.)

I am encouraged by my schooling experience because it reminds me that students of all classes can be successful and their teachers can support them.

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April Wilkinson


Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:45 pm
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I've had teachers who gave ridiculus projects and students who couldn't afford everything needed to get the project done failed on the evaluation. One time we had to sew a quilt and luckily my grandmother could sew and had a sewing machine otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do. Basically my grandma did all of the work. I think that projects should be able to be started in school and require minimal materials that have to purchased and that the school can't provide. It's so important as a teacher to realize that all students don't have everything right at their fingertips.

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Lauren Jennings


Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:41 pm
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I completely agree with Lauren! I had teachers give projects that required ridiculous amounts of work (meaning parental involvement) and materials (meaning parental financial input). Thankfully my parents were involved or I would have been like many of the other students who suffered because they simply couldn't complete the project the way the teacher had anticipated. I believe in giving students options on projects and allowing them to choose the one that best suits their needs. This allows each student the same ability to complete something within their own means. Like Dana I saw a lot of discrimination in my schools, not all based on how much money you had, but whether you were an athlete, on the honor roll, or student council. I know that I will work very hard to make all of my students feel included no matter what their station in life may be.

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Amanda Klinger


Fri Oct 03, 2008 12:11 pm
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I think that in some cases teachers definitely favor higher class students over those who might be middle to lower class. I've not experienced teachers favoring students because of their class before, but in high school (like Amanda said) it was more of whoever was an athlete, honor roll, taking AP classes, student council, etc.

I just don't think I can wrap my mind around why in the world teachers would choose to treat their students this way. I'm sorry, Dana, that you had to deal with that in one of your classes. Obviously you and your friend were just as qualified to be in that Honors class as the other students who were in a higher class. I think thats where teachers need to cover up the name on the test paper they're grading before they assume that you'll do worse because of who they think you are.

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Dani Martin


Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:50 am
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I don't believe that teachers go into the job thinking that they are going to treat children differently based on socio-economic status. I think that teachers get wrapped up in the politics and games of where they work and lose sight of what their actual job is.

Yes, I've had teachers write me off because I came from a lower class than all of the rest of the students. Luckly I am intrinsically motivated and it didn't matter so much to me.

I think the best thing we can do as future teachers is to recognize and begin to deal with our prejudices before we ever enter a classroom.

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Nikki Tester


Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:12 am
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I do think that in some cases lower class students are treated differently. I didn't really see it occur in my school very often, but I can think of a few times that I did see it. I don't think that this occurred often because most everyone in the school, knows everyone else. It seems most teachers respected all the social classes. The exceptions were the athletes and coaches. There was a time when a few families children were chosen for the team and praised because of the last name that they carried. The mindset amongst some folks was, "Well, if you don't have that last name, then you probably won't make the team." Anyways, that's just an observation from my area.

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Justin McCrary


Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:06 am
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In class the other day, I was obviously the example for how lower class children are treated in school, hypothetically. In my school, lower class children made up a pretty substantial part of the class. Therefore, it was hard for me to realize whether they were being treated differently, or worse than others. I do, however, know that this kind of treatment is out there in schools. Some of my best friends are from families not as wealthy as mine, and they go to schools in the area which are historically more "upper class". They have told me stories of being looked down upon or not being given as much attention by teachers. This type of teaching is mind boggling to me. Teachers should do all they can to keep bias and outside opinions of groups of people outside the classroom.

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Ryan Earnhardt


Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:20 pm
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I feel like some teachers have a tendency to treat students from higher classes better. I dont know if its because sometimes thoses students may be more involved in activities because they have the oppurtunity, or just because they want to treat them better. I would like to think that teachers would not treat students this way, and I would like to think that I would never do this. Maybe they dont mean to treat them like this, and then again maybe they are aware of their actions.

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Jerry Nicole Whitener (Nicole)


Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:14 am
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I hope that no teacher treats their students differently based on social class, but I obviously can't speak for all teachers. I don't know how teachers like Dana's gets away with it or can live with herself. When thinking about this I try to think about what makes the teacher feel that this is necessary or okay? What is their thought process? The only thing that I can think of is maybe some teachers feel that the higher your class the more successful you will be. I hope that no teacher truly feels that way or would treat their students differently on purpose. Hopefully it is just something they are doing subconsciously. I will never allow myself to do this in my classroom.

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Kelsey McGraw


Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:10 am
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