Share your understanding of how social class differences impact people experiences with education
Please share with the rest of us your understanding of how social class differences impact people′s experiences with education. Do you think that your parent(s)′ social class background impacted their parenting practices? How so? How might the differ,
Do you remember your first experience in school? Close your eyes and try to picture your first day. What did it feel like? Look like? Sound like? What do you remember most clearly? I remember my kindergarten classroom vividly. It seemed huge. There were brightly colored plastic chairs, a big circular rug, and a smiling teacher. We studied Japan (because our teacher had traveled there) and practiced bowing to one another solemnly. We had mandatory nap time—wriggling on our mats as the teacher walked around the room shushing us—and lots of read-alouds. I remember the last day of kindergarten, too. The teacher, still smiling, arranged us in two lines. One group of students (“the golden students,” she said) would go to the first grade. Another, smaller group (“the great readers”) would go to the combination first and second grade classroom. At the time, I knew nothing about tracking or stratification or inequality, but even then, I knew it was better to be a great reader than a golden student, and that the great readers—the same ones who went on to be in the high groups all through school—were really the smart kids. I didn’t question the teacher’s decision or wonder why my best friend was in the other group. I was five. But to a sociologist of education, a process like this, of sorting students and setting them up for very different school experiences, is exactly the kind of thing we should question. Going to school is a central part of growing up. We spend years in schools, going to classes, hanging out with friends, talking to teachers, or simply counting the minutes until the bell rings. But we frequently take what happens in schools for granted and don’t think about what education is for or how it fits into our society. At the same time, Americans like to think that we live in the “land of opportunity” and that schools give Americans of all backgrounds an equal chance at success. This is central to the American Dream. But is it really true? In fact, there’s much more going on in schools than we often acknowledge. Schools shape us in many ways, and the relationship between schools and society is complex and ever-changing. There are also all sorts of inequalities in education—from the skills and knowledge students have when they Sociology of Education (Fall 2020 Edition) The yellow school bus is a classic American symbol. (Source) Page 3 Sociology of Education (Fall 2020 Edition) start kindergarten, to the types of schools they attend, to what happens to them in the classroom—that matter a great deal. In the United States, sociologists of education ask three very basic questions: How do schools recreate society? How do existing inequalities (such as differences in race or class) affect students’ educational achievement? And do schools make society more or less fair? Before we dig into these questions, let’s start with a simpler one. What is education? And why does it matter? At the most basic level, education is the process of gaining knowledge and skills. Education happens in many places—homes, playgrounds, online, and more—but the sociology of education tends to focus on schools. There are over 130,000 public, private, and charter schools in the U.S. serving over 59 million students. Americans differ from one another in many ways, but nearly all of us went to school. Decades of research show that people with more years of schooling have higher incomes; better cognitive, problem-solving, and literacy skills; better jobs; and lower rates of unemployment. They are also physically and mentally healthier, more involved in their communities, better informed about current events, less likely to divorce, and more likely to vote.1 While not all of these things can be directly attributed to education, this association certainly suggests that education is a positive force. However, its benefits do not reach everyone equally.
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