Literacy with an Attitude

 This was a rough read.  I'm absolutely witnessing the exact same types of behavior and practices in my school as Anyon describes in her observations of working class schools.  That these patterns are so pervasive and reinforced, whether intentionally or subconsciously, is the antithesis of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It reads more like an instruction manual for building a feudal caste system.

Talking Points:

Another fifth grade teacher who was asked she had students endlessly copy notes from the blackboard in social studies replied, "Because the children in this school don't know anything about the U.S., so you can't teach them much."  Another teacher said, "you can't teach these kids anything.  Their parents don't care about them, and they're not interested."

I can say that this is definitely how it feels most of the time in my classroom.  I'm trying to teach the material in the curriculum, which is grade level, but all I get from about 90% of the students is resistance.  They will not do the reading or the writing unless I'm standing next to them watching.  This is exacerbated by the fact that roughly 25% of the student in each of my classes either speak no, or very little, English.  Everytime I turn my attention to help an individual EL, the rest of the class takes the opportunity to stop working.  The few students who do have a good work ethic and classroom behavior suffer since all these other instances of resistance means progress through the curriculum slows to a crawl.  I'm at a loss at the moment of what to do.  The district and administration have all number of policies and practices in place that are supposed to help elevate the students academics, and address things like more rigorous types of learning, critical thinking, experiential learning, etc.  These all seem like techniques that should bring the school more in line with a middle class or affluent professional education.  However, these practices have no effect if the majority of students refuse to engage, and the district continues to put us in over crowded classrooms without the specialized supports many of our students need, and continues to slash an already insufficient budget.  I feel like the teachers and building admin are trying to help, but we keep getting more and more criteria that we as teachers are supposed to accomplish that it impedes our ability to actually teach effectively.  Trying to fix the problem at the secondary education stage is not going to work, especially if we are required to meet grade level standards when the majority of students entering 9th grade are below grade level in skill, practice, and mindset.  The only way for children in working class schools to catch up is by starting at day one at the elementary or even pre-K stage.  This, however will be fruitless without the cooperation and interest of parents and families, who if are working class probably have more pressing matters of survival to worry about.

"In the two working class school classrooms combined, the children's average IQ was above 100 and eight children had IQs above 125."

This is another phenomenon that I have noticed.  While I don't have the IQ scores to back up my observations, the majority of my students are quite intelligent, they are also, unfortunately, either unfathomably ignorant, apathetic, or both.  This extends to their study skills and ability to engage with complex thought processes.  Assigning tasks that don't have clear-cut and defined tasks are either disregarded or induce paralysis.  I'm sure that the vast majority of my students have the intelligence to complete any task I give them, but their skills are so atrophied that they don't, won't, or can't use the tools necessary to be successful.

"In the past twenty years numbers have grown at the top and bottom.  The number in the middle has declined.  Those at the top have gotten a whole lot richer.  Those in the middle are in about the same place economically, and those at the bottom have gotten a whole lot poorer." 

While this information is not news to me, and in the intervening 25 years these numbers have continued to drift in the same directions, it is still incredibly alarming.  It's also very reminiscent of the points made by Johnson in "Privilege, Power, and Difference," and by Armstrong and Wildman in "Colorblindness is the New Racism."  Specifically, those in positions of privilege or power can ignore the plight of those without, and have no incentives to change a system where they are the primary beneficiaries.  However, unlike most other forms of privilege discussed, which could be argued are in better situations than they might have been historically (in general most people think racism and sexism are bad; non binary, trans, and non hetero groups still face a lot of hate but are more accepted than in the past, etc.), socioeconomic divides have continued to get worse and worse.  The haves keep getting more and more, while the have-nots keep getting less and less.  Looking to history, most civilizations that develop such imbalances in wealth do not persist for long, and they generally don't end peacefully.  I genuinely fear for the future of this country, which while I don't think has ever been objectively great, it certainly can be argued was the greatest nation that existed at certain times.  I don't think now is one of those times, and if we continue to devalue the largest portion of the population, there could come a time when they decide to take the reigns of power.  And the way that we are currently educating this swath of the population doesn't lend much confidence to the prospect of whatever comes next being any better than what we have now.