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This article explores the common belief in America that poverty and race do not cause low achievement in schools. The author challenges this notion and discusses the influence of social class on education. The importance of parental occupation, access to books, and parenting factors are examined, highlighting the achievement gap between lower-income and middle-class students. The article also discusses international perspectives on the relationship between social background and student performance. Overall, it sheds light on the social and economic realities that challenge all types of schools.
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The Social and Economic Realities That Challenge All Schools:Independent,Charter, And Regular Public Schools Alike Article Written By :Richard Rothstein Presented By: Natalia Vanegas
According to Rothstein There is a commonplace belief in America today that poverty and race can’t “cause” low achievement and, therefore, that low-performing schools must be failing to teach disadvantaged children adequately. After all, many people reason, there are some highly successful students from lower-class backgrounds. Their success seems to prove that social class cannot be what impedes most disadvantaged students.
The success of SOME lower-class students proves nothing about the power of schools to close the “gap” in achievement. • In every social group, there are low and high achievers alike. • The achievement of low-income students is below that of middle-class students. • There are some students that beat those odds.
In human affairs where multiple causation is typical, causes are not disproved by exceptions. • Sophisticated people often proclaim that success of some poor children proves that social disadvantage does not cause low achievement. • Tobacco firms once claimed that smoking does not cause cancer because some people smoke without getting cancer. • Confusion stems from failing to examine the concrete ways that social class actually affects learning.
Parents who have college degrees read to their children daily. (Before starting K) These parents also encourage their children(when they are older) to read. The five-year olds enter schools recognizing words and with experience turning the pages of many stories. Children of parents who have only a high school diploma or less do not receive the benefit of daily reading. The child of the parents with the college degree will most likely pass an age-appropriate reading test. The achievement gap begins. To ensure that lower-class children enter school having the same familiarity with books as middle-class children, they should have access to quality childhood care settings. How is this being addressed locally? Is the Head Start Program effective/enough? How parents of different social classes tend to raise children:
An international perspective: Class backgrounds influence relative achievement everywhere. • The inability of schools to overcome the disadvantage is not only an American failure but a universal reality. • In almost every country, the number of books in students’ homes, consistently predicts their test scores. • An international survey in 2000 that there was a relationship between parent occupation and student performance. • U.S. Department of Education concluded that “most participating countries do not differ significantly from the US in terms of the strength of the relationship between socioeconomic status and literacy in any subject.” (NCLB was in Congress during this time.) • Reflect: Are these findings suppose to make it okay that we are not alone?
Urging less-educated,lower-income parents to read to children can’t fully compensate for the differences in school readiness. • Parents who bring reading material home from work demonstrate by example to children that reading is a seamless activity that bridges work and leisure. • How parents read to children is as important as whether they do. • More literate parents are more likely to ask creative, interpretive questions. • Middle-class parents are more likely to read aloud to have fun, to start conversations, etc. • Due to these experiences, children of middle-class parents learn that reading is enjoyable and are more motivated to learn in school.
Educated/Middle-Class Parents • Educated parents are more likely to have pretend conversations with infants and toddlers, long before infants can understand language. “Are you ready for a nap? Yes, you are, aren’t you?” • Parents that hold jobs with authority and responsibility typically believe that they can affect their environments and solve problems. (Exploring alternatives and negotiate compromises…) These personality traits are expressed in the home. • Middle-class parents have more free time and resources to enroll their children in self-assurance enhancing activities ( e.g. organized sports, dance). Lower-class parents find the fees and transportation more of a problem. • Middle-class parents supervise homework differently than lower-class parents. Middle-class parents are more likely to help the children break down a complex problem into simpler problems through questioning versus direct instruction. • Reflection: At this juncture, should I feel bad for these poor children of uneducated/lower-class parents because they are doomed from birth and don’t stand a chance?
Meaningful DifferencesBy:Betty Hart and Todd Risley • Twenty years ago, conversations between parents and toddlers were monitored. (Kansas) • Professional parents spoke more than 2,000 words per hour in the presence of their children. • Working parents spoke about 1,300 words. • Welfare mothers spoke about 600 words. • Children of professionals had 50% greater vocabularies than those of the working parents and twice the amount as those of welfare children. • Toddlers received six encouragements per reprimand. • Working-class children received two encouragements per reprimand. • Welfare children, received one encouragement for two reprimands.
“Social class differences in role modeling also make an achievement gap almost inevitable.” • Middle-class professional parents usually associate with other professionals. • Disadvantaged children usually plan on going to college, but drop out of high school because they don’t get as much pressure from the parents, community or peers to make the grades and take the classes required. • Schools send positive message, but the reality is formed early in life and reinforced daily at home, in the community, and by peers. • Studies show how black males are disadvantaged in the workforce, even if they have the same qualifications as white males. • Reflection: Children are aware of the situation. Just count the number of times you have hear kids say, “It’s because I’m black.”
The Health of Lower-Income Children and School Performance. • Lower-income children are in poorer health. (Poorer vision, most likely due to prenatal care and/or too much television.) • Lower-income children have poorer hygiene and poorer nutrition. • Lower-income children have more lead poisoning, asthma, exposure to smoke and host other health problems. • Lower-income children are less likely to have standard vaccinations. • Lower-income children have a higher absenteeism rate due to poor health. • Lower-income children have undiagnosed health problems that hinder their ability to learn. (Vision problem, lead poisoning) • This perpetuates the achievement gap.
Wealth vs. Income • Annual family income is usually the only focus to indicate disadvantage. • Black students usually score lower than white students whose families incomes are the same. • The same income does not equal same class. • Over all, white middle-class parents own more assets than black middle-class parents. • White middle-class parents are more likely to have college savings.
Rothstein’s Suggestions: • If the actual social class characteristics that produce differences in achievement can be identified, then a plan that narrows the gap should be designed. • A plan that focuses solely on school reform has been unsuccessful. • Policies that narrow social and economic differences should be designed. • Quality pre-school programs need to be present. • More self-esteem enhancement programs need to be designed. • Provision of health-care services is also necessary. • Tax and labor market policies that raise wages of working parents to address the urban housing crisis.
Penny for yourthoughts • These suggestions are made in good faith, but where will the funding come from? • Who is advocating for the lower-class/low-income children and their families? • Is anything being done locally to address these deficits in the present?
Personal Thoughts and Comments • My family immigrated to the US from Colombia, in 1983. • Both my parents were factory workers. • Now that I think about it, as I was going through school, teachers were always so “proud”(amazed by the fact) that I was such a great student. • Did the fact that my mother had a college degree in nursing count? I think not… • As teachers, do we “REALLY” believe in the so called “high expectations” that we set for all our students? • Are we hopeless? • Due to the obvious and overwhelming factors that contribute to hindering of narrowing the education gap, I believe that many feel overpowered by the issue and don’t believe that the problem can be solved soon.
