Literacy with an Attitude

  This week's reading was on Literacy with an Attitude by Patrick J. Finn. This post will be a reflection of Finn’s writing with my own experience as a student and being a staff member in the classroom. I’m going to focus on the second chapter, titled “A Distinctly Un-American Idea: An Education Appropriate to Their Station.” This chapter follows Jean Anyon who observes elementary classrooms of the top 1 percent income, upper class elementary schools, middle class elementary schools, and working class elementary schools in New Jersey. All of the schools consisted of white students and no students of color. They were all taught the same requirements and had the same books for math. However each class was completely different in how they taught. 

Lower class students were given direct orders, were controlled constantly, and their teachers often thought lowly of them. Middle class was about how much you could know. They wanted their students to know the right answers and they educated them on the appropriate jobs for the middle class. The upper class had much more creative freedom and individuality in their teachings. Most students were gaining knowledge through discovery and experience there. Finally, the executive elite, or the top one percent, schools were the most rigorous when it came to academics. They were taught more concepts that were harder than the base concepts taught at the other schools. Students were to keep strict attention to their teachers and the lessons that were being taught. Teachers were polite, but reminded students of their responsibility when at school. These students were being taught the idea of excellence and how to achieve that academically. 

Each socioeconomic class was being prepared to work in that same class. The working class students were being taught how to take direct orders, follow tasks without questioning why, and to obey their superiors. These children were being taught how to succeed in low-paying, mechanical jobs. The middle class was being taught knowledge that would be beneficial in getting to decent colleges to then work decent jobs. The upper, and elite schools were being taught how to have the knowledge and experience to lead and to be superior to those in the middle and working class. Shockingly, schools are still being structured like this today all over America. 

My experience in this comes from my time as a student in a middle class school and then being a tutor at a working class school. The middle class school I went to tried to teach as much as they could as quickly as they could. They wanted to fill our minds with as much knowledge and facts as possible. They highlighted college but also made it known that we did have other options besides college (military, workforce, or community college). Going from this to the working class school was eye opening. The working class school teaches students facts but often doesn't explain why their learning is important. The students take direct orders and are expected to follow them through. I believe that this is not intended when teachers are educating their students but simply an underlying theme that most teachers don’t catch. What do you think?