`` I Need Help ! ' Social Class And Children 's Help Seeking

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Recommended: Socio economic status and academic achievement

In the article, ‘“I Need Help!’” Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School”, Jessica Calarco describes how a family’s social-class background can affect how a child seeks help in a classroom setting. It also utilizes this research to better connect a child’s cultural capital with how and what they can gain from it. It has been shown time and time again that a child’s family and background plays a substantial role in the future of a child. There have been a plethora of studies regarding the idea that students with a higher cultural capital, such as middle-class children, receive more assistance from teachers or rather just simply do better in their classes. It has been demonstrated that many of these middle-class students were instilled with this sense of entitlement and with that they have no fears of being looked down upon because they have been encouraged to speak out. Numerous other studies have also showed how children seem to mimic the persona of their parents. It is well-known that children often attempt to copy their parents, but furthermore they seem to become a certain type of person that fits the “middle-class” mold. These children see how their parents interact with other adults through aspects such as their speech and even dress. This prompts the children to expect the same results when acting in the same manner. The working-class students rarely see how their parents interact with such entitlement either because they do not have the means or the confidence. They in turn remain more timid and less pro-active. The author of this article stresses that there is still a gap between these correlations. She attempts to shed a light on how these self-fulfilling prophecies help the children acquire what th... ... middle of paper ... ...lass students falling behind and being less confident. I think an interesting aspect of this study could have been if it was largely noticeable to the teachers that these working-class students are deliberately remaining quiet when in actuality it would dramatically help them to speak up. Previously in class we had a lecture about education in our society. This lecture stressed the education gaps between students. These gaps were explained in the lecture by the social background of the children’s families. The article from Calarco also tries to explain these gaps by looking at the cultural background. In this paper she referred to the background differences as the cultural capital of the child. This article was very easy to relate to not only because of my own experiences going through the school system but because of the background knowledge from our class lectures.

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