The Debate About Wealthy Schools and Social Class
The debate about wealthy schools and how they differ from other schools is still stuck in a deadlock. In order to determine the social class differences, Jean Anyon ran a survey in his journal that was specifically directed at fifth-grade children and instructors. The paper by Jean held similarly provided "tentative empirical support of the aforesaid claims by offering illustrative examples of disparities in student work in classrooms in diverse social class groupings" (Anyon, 1980, p.67). Additionally, his research examined how students' approaches to various academic disciplines were influenced by their social backgrounds. However, personal income has a significant impact on social status. The way one relates to his/her surrounding economically regarding goods, services, and culture that terms the social class. That necessitates the essence of covering social class in regards to curricula.
Affluent Schools and Social Classes
Affluent schools are as a result of the difference in social classes. For instance, the possession of material and how one contributes to the marketplace in a particular class of life. In that manner, one is involved in social control. Social relationship is another determiner of social class. The way one interact with people matters. Decision making, communication, and speed of performance are what will categorize your social class. The way one relate to work will state his/her social class. Most of Americans are routine workers. They work on a daily basis on different classes. We have the white collar employees and the blue collar workers. The white collars are learned, and their work entails office work. The blue collar is casual laborers who are unskilled or semi-skilled. It is, therefore, true to say that one’s character is determined mostly by his or her society. Therefore the nature of people from affluent schools is different from those who are from middle or lower class schools.
The Relationship Between Schools and Social Classes
Jean further breaks down to explain the different type of schools and how it affects the future well-being of students in his surveys in the northern city of Jersey and schools close to the Jersey suburb. In his research, he classified the first two schools as working class schools. In these schools, he mentions the parents as per their job skill and ability. These parents are unskilled, semi-skilled and others are in the category of blue collar job. This class earns at least twelve thousand dollars per month making them fall below the poverty line standard in America. In many cases, these children from working class often fall in the blue-collar category. The results showed that affluent schools are related to higher chances of future success after completion as compared to other schools.
Different Types of Schools and their Impact
Most students who attend affluent schools from the capital class. That is the governing class of people. The president, the vice-president members, comprising of the cabinet. This group their income is stable, and they interact on the high-level standard. Their children attend the high-class level of school. Jean goes further to classify the relationship between the type of school and its social class. The system of education in the United States has many similarities across the country. In most cases, students are questions participate in exercise both orally and written. In the survey conducted by Jean, all the qualities were found in these basic five levels of school. Social class is affected by material and supply or availability of learning material in schools.
Working Class Schools
In working class schools, "where most of the parents have blue-collar jobs," decision making is very low, and there is a tendency of rote behavior (Anyon, 1980, p.71). The significance of work and assignment is not related to the students. The teacher happens to make most of the decision. The children are drilled, and in most cases, the learning materials are not made use of. Teachers in working class school, give students an assignment and later describes to them in detail how it is done. They use many examples read from books and charts as reaching aid. The children in these type of school do not have exposure, and their knowledge is limited compared to their counterparts (Anyon, 1980). Children from schools whose majority are not working class learn differently. They do most of the things on their own, expanding their knowledge. Likewise, it enables them to depend on their own.
Middle-Class Schools
In middle-class school, "because of neighborhood residence patterns, the population is a mixture of several social classes" (Anyon, 1980, p.71). Children find a way to figure out on how to work on their assignment. Students in these schools have to adhere to an instruction to obtain solutions to their job (Anyon, 1980). There is less guesswork as guesswork leads to inappropriate assignment results. In a case of mathematics, the teacher explains thoroughly on how to handle quiz and makes sure the students understand before submitting homework. The students are later asked to explain how they got the answers. The languages used in these schools are pure, and most work is derived from textbooks.
Affluent Professional Schools
Creativity and independence are primarily practiced in affluent professional school. Expression of thoughts concerning ideas and concepts in illustration of thoughts is especially exercised. Students are liberated mentally, and their views are made open. The finished product of students is usually original and independent from each other. The students explain themselves through essay writing crafts and editorials. The final product elaborates your idea. Furthermore, "In the affluent professional schools, the children are developing a potential relationship to capital that is instrumental and expressive and involves substantial negotiation" (Anyon, 1980, p.88). However, in less affluent schools much of the work is theoretical. That can be caused by lack of facilities to carry out practical work. The results are the difference in thinking and character of the students from the two schools. In affluent schools, much practical work is involved in class.
Conclusion
In conclusion, one's character and social class are interpreted from the social class, and the type of school one attended as mentioned above. The researcher Jean Anyon has evaluated that social class in the society increases with the level of education in the community. The children of the working class are prepared for a routine wage of life by the way the school has shaped them. That is because in the in the "working-class schools, work is following the steps of procedure" (Anyon, 1980, p.73). They will mostly obtain routine mechanical skills. In middle-class children develop work, authority and capital potential skills. They will later fit in the white collar job society. White collar deals with a lot of paperwork and a lot of creativity and personal life skills. In affluent professional schools, children are given the ability to develop skills in language, art, and science. These skills will make better workforce in the American society and include artisan craft men and non-print media personnel. These classes are mostly self-employed, and they are in a position to negotiate for prices making them independent.
Reference
Anyon, J. (1980). Social class and the hidden curriculum of work. Journal of Education, 162(1), 67-92.
