Source Three: Elementary schooling and distinctions of social class

Brian Okoye

03/23/13

English 1103

Anyon, J. (1981). Elementary schooling and distinctions of social class. Interchange, 12(2), 118-132.

Jean Anyon, in her paper, argues that the role of education in industrial societies is to reproduce an unequal system of social classes. Through her ethnographical study, she investigates how distinctions of social class are produced and reproduced in five elementary schools. When Anyon address reproductive education and how elementary schools can reproduce distinctions of class, she creates assumptions of her own about fifth graders in a working-class school and in an affluent professional school of her own. She models her paper after notions of contradictory social consciousness, the dialectic of cultural activity and social change, and the importance of situated, class-specific, transformative professional teaching. Moreover, she briefly applies the model to reproductive characteristics of the working-class and affluent professional classrooms. Her assumptions informing her work on production and reproduction in classrooms is based on the argument that “while students and teachers certainly produce meaning in classrooms, these meaning are produced within boundaries and multiple constraints that ordinarily over determine their general form and substance. One major point that Anyon argues, is that educators can do a great deal to transform cultural expression of resistance into direct political action to change the economic and social system.

            Anyon argues that we have very little understanding first-hand of the mechanisms by which curricula and classrooms actually contribute to the production and reproduction of distinctions and relations of social class. According to Anyon, having over determined classroom productions produce “social actors who, in their behavior in society, produce and reproduce the “system”.” She suggests that power and domination determines what is produced in classrooms and that social actors reproduce the system largely by their everyday productions. For example, when a person produces a sentence in Standard English, they contribute to the reproduction of the language. Anyon explains that though the production and reproduction of social distinctions exemplifies over determination, social actor’s knowledge of society and its multiple constraints does not promise change. Instead they can be held accountable for their actions. Through everyday activities of social reproduction, she implies that people who challenge these ideas can contribute to struggles against cultural and economic reproduction. The five schools Anyon contrasted were in social-class settings, working-class, middle-class, affluent-professional, and elite communities. In interpreting the importance of their differences, she argues that they contribute by emphasizing work skills and capacities in different social classes appropriate to the reproduction of the division between manual and mental labor in American society. Additionally, Anyon argues that they contribute by transmitting class-based curriculum knowledge and dominant reproductive social ideologies. Anyon concludes by arguing the creation of institutional arenas in which children may develop indirect (cultural), rather than direct (political), responses to resisting oppression and resolving contradictions.

            Through Anyon’s studies, I will discuss how the production and reproduction of distinctions in social class creates constraints in society. Also, in my inquiry paper, I will argue how power and domination determines what is produced in classrooms and how that creates a reproduction of everyday productions. By contrasting social-class settings in working-class and middle-class communities, determine and discuss the emphasis on the different social skills, the transmission of class-based curriculum knowledge and dominant reproductive social ideologies, and propose how children may develop indirect responses to resisting oppression.

Source Two: Social class and parental intervention in elementary education

Brian Okoye

03/23/13

English 1103

Lareau, A. (2000). Home advantage: Social class and parental intervention in elementary education. Rowman & Littlefield Pub Incorporated.

 

Annette Lareau’s, in her book, mainly argues that “social class affects schooling and challenges the position that social class is of only modest and indirect significance in shaping children’s lives in schools”. Lareau states that “teachers ask for parent involvement” and she believes that social class has a powerful influence on parent involvement patterns.  She also argues that social class differences in family involvement in schooling appear to reflect the amount of separation between work and home in working-class and middle-class families. Moreover, Lareau argues that social class has a powerful influence on life changes because in influences the values that parents hold and pass on to their children. She trusts that social class alters the cultural resources, including language and knowledge of art, music, and other cultural experiences. Most importantly, Annette Lareau pays attention to the devotion of parent involvement in schooling at the elementary level.

Lareau argues that social class plays a relevant role in parent involvement patterns. Though parent’s involvement is tied to school success, it can could also contribute to the lack of school success when parents’ lack involvement. Middle-class parents have a tendency to be more proactive in parent-teacher interactions than lower-class parents. Lareau implies that middle-class parents consistently take more active roles in school than do working-class parents when considering verbal development, attending school events and reading to children. Additionally, she focuses on the joining of researchers and teachers, and their efforts to create strategies that will improve parent involvement. According to Lareau, “the policy implications of parent involvement in schooling have now come to dominate the research agenda.” She argues that overtime valuable evidence that the curriculum, classroom goals and organization and structure of schooling have changed drastically. This implies that Lareau believes that home-school relationships are possible.

            By concluding that the impact of socio-economic status is on the values and educational aspirations which children bring to the educational process, I will argue these values of which children bring to education based on their socio-economic status. My knowledge of social class and how parent’s ownership of resources affects the teachers’ request for assistance, will allow me to discuss how social class affects a child’s request for a teachers’ assistance based on the resources they possess. By seeing consistency in parent influence and involvement, I am interested in arguing how family value can profit social class differently. Furthermore, I will discuss how the curriculum, classroom goals and organization and structure of schooling of different social class have evolved over time. Decisively, I will describe how cultural resources and experiences affect students in the classroom based on their social class.

Source One: “I Need Help!” Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School

Brian Okoye

03/23/13

English 1103

Calarco, J. M. (2011). “I Need Help!” Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School. American Sociological Review, 76(6), 862-882.

Jessica Calarco’s journal displays how children’s social-class backgrounds affect when and how they seek help in the classroom. Calarco selects Maplewood Elementary, where the majority of the students are middle-class and about 25 percent of the students are working-class, as her researching site. By examining this suburban, public elementary school, she compares how middle-class and working-class (white) students’ behave in the classroom and how teachers’ respond to them differently. Through research, she is able to conduct a study that explores children’s role in educational stratification. It examines how students’ class backgrounds equip them with different micro-interactional resources (e.g., propensities and strategies) for meeting teachers’ expectations, and considers the profits children derive from using these resources in the classroom (Lareau 2000; Lareau and Weininger 2003). Also, she states how “theorists suggest that middle-class children bring to the classroom the resources needed to meet teachers’ expectations, while the working-class students must obtain these resources in school”. Calarco believes that compared to working-class students, the middle-class children request more help from teachers while using various strategies Additionally, Calarco states that “some scholars suggest that middle- and working-class children interact differently with adults”. By selecting Maplewood Elementary as a researching site, it enables her to “compare how middle- and working-class students respond to and influence the same teachers, peers, and activities in a setting where middle-class norms guide expectations”.

            Calarco theorizes middle-class helping-seeking strategies as “forms of cultural capital”. According to Pierre Bourdieu,” in these settings (what Bourdieu calls fields), middle-class knowledge, skills, and competences become forms of cultural capital that can be used to produce meaningful situational advantages” (Bourdieu 1977, 1985). With the use of different strategies, middle-class children request more help from teachers’ than do working-class students. By exemplifying these strategies, Calarco implies that middle-class children create their own advantages and contribute to inequalities in the classroom. Instead of waiting for assistance, middle-class children directly approach teachers’, even though it may interruptive. With this done, Calarco suggested that middle-class children spend less time waiting, which results in them receiving more help and getting their assignments completed.  Besides, if working-class students acquire middle-class knowledge and strategies, theories suggest that “they can never achieve the natural familiarity of those born to these classes and are academically penalized on this basis” (Lamont and Lareau 1988:155). Calarco suggest that “these theories imply that children are differentially equipped to interact with institutions and these interactions will contribute to inequalities.”

            By comparing middle-class and working-class students’ classroom behaviors, I will establish the main argument of my inquiry topic. Once I form the main argument of my inquiry topic, I will get a better understanding of how I would like to specify and correlate my supporting arguments with my main argument. Through my knowledge of children’s role in educational stratification, I will discuss the division of social class in education and I will also describe the advantages of one social class over another. Furthermore, now that I am aware that middle-class children bring to the classroom the resources needed to meet teachers’ expectations, while the working-class students must obtain these resources in school, I will seek a motive to argue how one social class is more or less equipped with resources than the other. Moreover, by understanding how teachers’ respond to proactive request, I will able to explain why one social class receives more attention than the other and why that social class is able to further succeed in school.

Dialogic Journals

“I Need Help!” Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School      Jessica McCrory Calarco

“Using data from a longitudinal, ethnographic study of one suburban, public elementary school, I compare middle-class and working-class (white) students’ classroom behaviors and teachers’ responses to them.” (pg.1)	The featured quote is beneficial to me because it helps me establish the main argument of the article. By establishing the main argument of the article, I can get a better understanding of how to specify the main argument of my paper.
“This study explores children’s role in educational stratification. It examines how students’ class backgrounds equip them with different micro-interactional resources (e.g., propensities and strategies) for meeting teachers’ expectations, and considers the profits children derive from using these resources in the classroom (Lareau 2000; Lareau and Weininger 2003).” (pg.1)	The featured quote is beneficial to me because it will guide me in conducting my study on the advantages in the classroom of one social class over another social class.
“Because teachers expected students to seek help, and because they were more responsive to proactive requests, middle-class students received more help from teachers, spent less time waiting, and were better able to complete assignments.” (pg. 2)	The featured quote will help me better understand the different social class’s desire to seek help from their teachers, counselors, and mentors.
“These theories imply that children are differentially equipped to interact with institutions and these interactions will contribute to inequalities.” (pg. 2)	The featured quote will help when I am writing my paper, because it will allow me to gather information on why one social class is more or less equipped than the other.
“Some scholars suggest that middle- and working-class children interact differently with adults.” (pg. 3)	The featured quote will benefit me when I am gathering information on how different social classes interact differently with teachers, counselors and mentors.
“Nelson and Schutz (2007) explore class differences in classroom behavior in two preschools, finding that children in the middle-class preschool have more interactions with teachers and make more requests from them.” (pg. 3)	The featured quote will be a valuable reference in my paper for when I discuss the teacher-student interaction of the different social classes.
“because teachers expected students to seek help, and because they were more responsive to proactive efforts, middle-class children’s help-seeking propensities and strategies became a form of cultural capital that, when used in the classroom, yielded meaningful situational advantages.” (pg. 4)	The featured quote will benefit me when I am writing my paper, because it will enable me to gather further information on how and why one social class has an advantage over another social class due to the effort of that social class in the classroom.
“The majority of Maplewood’s students are middle class, but a substantial minority (approximately 25 percent) are from working-class families. This allows me to compare how middle- and working-class students respond to and influence the same teachers, peers, and activities in a setting where middle-class norms guide expectations.” (pg. 4)	The featured quote will be a valuable reference in my paper for when I discuss the different social class’s response to teachers, peers and activities.

Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education                                  Annette Laredu

“Status attainment studies have concluded that the impact of socio-economic status is on the values and educational aspirations which children bring to the educational process.” (pg. 2)	The featured quote will benefit me when I am writing my paper in that I will be able to discuss the values of which children bring to education based on their socio-economic status.
“Social class shapes the resources which parents have at their disposal to comply with teachers’ request for assistance. “(pg.2)	Through this quote I will be able to discuss how social class affects a child’s request for his/her teachers assistance is affected by the resources provided to them by their families.
“Social class has a power influence on parent involvement patterns.” (pg. 3)	Since I see consistency in parent involvement through this quote I will be forced to research what types of parent involvement and to what extent of that parent involvement affects different social classes.
“the policy implications of parent involvement in schooling have now come to dominate the research agenda.” (pg. 3)	The featured quote will move me to research parent involvement in schooling since it is currently dominating the research agenda.
“There is also very good evidence that the curriculum, classroom goals and organization and structure of schooling have also changed radically.” (pg. 4)	Based on the context of this quote, I will be able to research the curriculum, classroom goals and organization and structure of schooling of different social class and describe how they have evolved over time.
“Social class has a powerful influence on life changes because it influences the values that parents hold and pass on to their children.” (pg. 4)	The featured quote will assist me in researching how life experiences of different social class effects how they perform differently in the classroom.
“social class alters the cultural resources – including language and knowledge of art, music, and other cultural experiences.” (pg. 5)	With social classes effecting cultural experiences I will be able to discuss how the community and extracurricular activities can affect social class.
“Family life provides resources (“capital”) which yields important social profits (Bourdieu 1977a; 1984).” (pg. 5)	With the help of the featured quote I will be able to argue how family value can profit social class differently.

Exploratory Essay Reflection

The most helpful piece of advice I received from Megan was to focus strictly on social class and gender instead of incorporating race in my exploratory essay. I believe that this is the most helpful piece of advice I received from Megan because it will help me focus on a more specific topic. Within this topic I can find more valuable information to analyze.

The least helpful piece of advice I received from Megan was to make sure the space between my paragraphs are only doubled spaced.  I believe that this is the least helpful piece of advice because revising grammatical and punctual incorrect errors within your writing is the last stage of revision and holds the less weight.

After reading your comments I am now curious as to what was your plan for critiquing my paper? Do you think that discussing race in my paper will devalue my paper being that race can create controversy?

When revising my paper I plan to eliminate race from my paper and strictly analyze social class and gender. I will discuss how the authors of the articles argued student’s inability to fully progress based on student’s social class and gender.  Discussing how the authors of the articles argued student’s inability to fully progress based on student’s social class and gender will allow me to analyzing the articles in the perspective of the authors instead of summarizing the articles. Also, when I revise my paper, I will be careful in choosing questions that I cannot answer. The last process of my revision is correcting any grammatical and punctual incorrect errors that I may have.  

 

Conference Reflection

Today I had a conference with Megan and by the end of the conference I was able to find the right direction that I want my inquiry to go in. Initially, I proposed to Megan and my group that I was interested in inquiring on how social classes in education affects the growth of our economy but with the assistance of Megan I was able to narrow my subject down to how social classes in education affects students preparation for college. Megan told me to focus on a certain group in an certain area that appeals to my subject and to base this group not only on my interest but on what I may be able to find the most valuable research on. The most helpful advice I received was to stay specific in my subject matter and focus on one side of the argument first so my inquiry will not become overwhelming. My least helpful advice was relating the social classes in America to those in other countries. When my curiosity sparked I was left with a series of questions. Megan assisted me by laying out my inquiry paper based on these series of questions. I plan on basing the first half of my paper on our currentlt idea and views of social classes, my second half of the paper will focus on where this idea started and I will conclude with the progression of this idea.

Self-Assessment Reflection Response

My goals for myself in writing my Exploratory Essay were to find a common theme and arguments by the authors that supported my common theme.  Also, I wanted to focus on making sure that my writing focused on my main theme and that the reader understood my purpose for writing. I was interested in trying a different approach for my paper, so that I wouldn’t have a regular introductory paragraph with body paragraphs. I felt that it was essential to form questions and answer these questions with arguments so I was not in need of a conclusion. For the most part I reached these goals, but I could have elaborated on them a little bit more.

     When attempting to achieve these goals, I tried to use my time wisely. I scheduled library time to focus sternly on my paper and I used the Writing Resource Center at UNCC as an aid for when I found difficulty in writing my paper. With the help of my peers in class I was able to find the issues in my writing. There were some things I couldn’t see that needed editing and with the support of my peers I was able to incorporate bright ideas into my paper. As a writer I learned that I am capable of finding a common theme within an article or story and form questions about the article or story. Most importantly, I learned that I can support my arguments for these questions that I have formed in another person’s perspective. Also, I learned that I can use structured criticism to my advantage. By using the ideas and advice given by the reader I have the ability to improve my paper and improve myself as a writer.

     The easiest part of this process was forming questions because certain questions formed as I read. There were specific things that were consistent throughout the articles that fostered my inquisitiveness. On the other hand, the hardest part was finding a structure that fit my vision. I had a hard time incorporating my questions into my paper and finding good flow for my paper. I am proud of my ability to find arguments that answered my questions in the author’s perspective. I think my sentences met the demands of my writing and the reader should be able to establish my purpose for writing. Doing more arguing and less summarizing was the most essential piece to this assignment. I am not very confident in the structure of my sentences. My next step is to take my paper to the Writing Resource Center at UNCC with hopes of gaining ideas for constructing a final draft.