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Something I have always known since I was a little kid is that the educational system in this country is a complete fraud. American schools claim to live by the ideal of No Child Left Behind, but millions of students get cast aside each and every year. In schools these days, it is obvious which students are the elite—those that are raised up and motivated to go to college—and the ordinary student— those that are somewhat ignored throughout their schooling and are lucky if they even earn a GED. As a recent graduate of high school, and a product of this country’s educational system, I have had the opportunity to develop my own opinions regarding the myth of education in our society. Based upon my observations going through the school system, and the various arguments posed by several authors in “Rereading America”, I strongly believe that schooling in this society caters solely to students in the elite category while ostracizing students that do not live up to the elitist ideal.
When my family first moved to Las Vegas in 2003, location was the biggest factor in choosing what part of town our new home would be in. My mother was no fool and knew that the area a school was located in played a huge role in the type of education to be received. In her essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” Jean Anyon compares and contrasts how schools in different social-class communities produce different kinds of students. Even though I attended middle school in a nice area of Las Vegas, the environment definitely mirrored a working-class school by Anyon’s definition. Anyon describes work in such school as
…usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice. The teachers rarely explain why the...
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...ation for the career of their choice. As Gatto so eloquently points out in his article, “We have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of ‘success’ as synonymous with, or at least dependent on ‘schooling’…” (Gatto 150). If he is correct, and success is reliant on our schooling, only the few elite students even have a chance at becoming successful. And that is truly unfair because every student in our country’s education system deserves the chance to be able to become something great.
Works Cited
Anyon, Jean. "From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work." In Rereading America. 8th ed.
Edited by Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010.
Gatto, John Taylor. "Against School." In Rereading America. 8th ed. Edited by Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010
The essays by Jean Anyon and Jonathan Kozol explore the idea of education not being equal for everyone across the United States. For example, Jean Anyon discusses the idea of a "hidden curriculum". The hidden curriculum that her essay describes implies that the information taught and the way it is taught differs among schools of varying socioeconomic backgrounds. She and her team visited five different schools in New Jersey, with the schools being classified into working class, middle class, affluent-professional, and elite (Anyon 165-6). She then observed the classes and the way they are taught. This brought to light the differences between the way children
Some people may believe that education all over the United States is equal. These people also believe that all students no matter their location, socioeconomic status, and race have the same access and quality of education, but ultimately they are wrong. Throughout history, there has been a huge educational disparity between the wealthy and marginalized communities. The academic essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon, an American critical thinker and researcher in education, conveys that depending on the different economic backgrounds students have, they will be taught in a specific way. He reveals that the lower economic background a child has then the lower quality their education will be and the higher their economic background is the higher quality their education is. Anyon’s theory of a social ladder is extremely useful because it sheds light on the
The novel “Women Without class” by Julie Bettie, is a society in which the cultural you come from and the identity that was chosen for you defines who you are. How does cultural and identity illustrate who we are or will become? Julie Bettie demonstrates how class is based on color, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. The author describes this by researching her work on high school girls at a Central Valley high school. In Bettie’s novel she reveals different cliques that are associated within the group which are Las Chicas, Skaters, Hicks, Preps, and lastly Cholas and Cholos. The author also explains how race and ethnicity correspondence on how academically well these students do. I will be arguing how Julie Bettie connects her theories of inequality and culture capital to Pierre Bourdieu, Kimberle Crenshaw, Karl Marx and Engels but also how her research explains inequality among students based on cultural capital and identity.
“Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work Reading;” Tue 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Anoyn, J. (n.d.). From social class and the hidden curriculum of work In EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 127-136).
Besides race, the scholar also reveals how childhoods are unequal based on social class. Drawing from the American society, there are several social classes. For each class, there are unique pathways of lives followed and these usually influence both the educational and work outcomes. To ...
Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” claims that students from different social classes are treated differently in schools. Anyon’s article is about a study she conducted to show how fifth graders from the working, middle, and upper class are taught differently. In Anyon’s article, she provides information to support the claim that children from different social classes are not given the same opportunities in education. It is clear that students with different socio-economic statuses are treated differently in academic settings. The curriculum in most schools is based on the social class that the students belong to. The work is laid out based on academic professionals’ assumptions of students’ knowledge. Teachers and educational professionals assume a student’s knowledge based on their socio-economic status.
Within the walls of our educational system lie many adverse problems. Is there a solution to such problems? If so, what is the solution? As we take a look at two different essays by two different authors’ John Gatto and Alfie Kohn, both highlight what’s wrong within our educational system in today’s society. As John Gatto explores the concept if schools are really as necessary as they’re made out to be; Alfie Kohn analyzes the non-importance of letter grades within our schools. Although both essays are fairly different, they still pose some similarities in relation to the educational system in today’s society.
In recent years, many have debated whether or not a college education is a necessary requirement to succeed in the field of a persons’ choice and become an outstanding person in society. On one hand, some say college is very important because one must contribute to society. The essay Three Reasons College Still Matters by Andrew Delbanco shows three main reasons that students should receive their bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, many question the point of wasting millions of dollars on four years or maybe more to fight for highly competitive jobs that one might not get. Louis Menand wrote an article based on education titled Re-Imagining Liberal Education. This article challenges the main thought many americans have after receiving a secondary education. Louis Menand better illustrates the reasons why a student should rethink receiving a post secondary education better than Andrew Delbanco’s three reasons to continue a person’s education.
In Defense of Elitism. Summary The dominant theme in this essay appears to be this: post war social changes such as offering increased university admission promote the view of egalitarianism in education. The author’s main issue with “secondary” education is the sheer numbers of our population that the United States as a whole educates. According to Mr. Henry, the United States educates nearly thirty percent of high school graduates who go on to a four-year bachelor’s degree. He believes that the increased number of graduates has led to a workforce of mediocrity.
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the American educational system has undergone much transition in response to our changing society. Though there have been many problems raised throughout the years in regard to what our school systems should be teaching our children, there have also been many developments.
The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.
Gintis, Herbert. "Chapter 1 Beyond the Educational Frontier: The Great American Dream Freeze." Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life. By Samuel Bowles. New York: Basic, 1976. N. pag. Print.
Education is the absolute most essential factor in the development of our nation. In particular, advanced education clears a future and gives chance to understudies that go to college and gives them a shot at a vocation. 50 years prior, college was entirely for the tip top, high class Americans. Presently, it appears that each regular family has no less than one relative go to college. In any case, with the expanding drop out rate today, understudies appear to be less inspired by learning at college and their needs change from their unique objective of graduating. The significance of education today is a developing variable on the grounds that the fate of this nation relies upon the understudies in college today.
Whitty, G. (2001) Education, social class and social Exclusion. Journal of Education Policy, 16(4) pp 287-295.