poverty, class, and wealth power point

poverty

CLASS

Wealth

Poverty, Class, and Wealth• Activity:

With your group, arrange the pieces of the puzzle

DO YOU THINK THIS WAS GRADED FAIRLY

Poverty, Class, and Wealth

“If the misery of the poor be caused

not by the laws of nature, but by our

institutions, great is our sin.”

Charles Darwin


Article #1: “Some Parents Just Don’t Care” by Doris Lightfoot

Main ideas:

•Lower class parents often thought to be “empty vessels” and having little involvement in school

•But what is “involvement”?

“...most accounts of parental involvement” among low-income parents focus either on what the families lack or on what the schools can do to teach them...framing lower income parents as empty.” (Lightfoot, 2004)



Main ideas:

•Family literacy programs

“...predicated on the idea that someone other than the parents....know better than the parents themselves how to raise and educate children.” (Lightfoot, 2004)



Implications for teachers:

•This can create an “ideal type” of parent based on social class• “in need of training” vs. “entitled to input”

•Expectations of parents based on socioeconomic class• Middle class: full of resources, yet can be “too

pushy”• Lower class: unable to provide for child, empty,

uninvolved



Implications for teachers:

•Expectations of student abilities and success based on socioeconomic status

•Difficult to see past the categories our society creates



Ideas in Development:

•The language we use to categorize students and their families• How to recognize and prevent our bias• Overcoming the limits created by categorization

•The “Pros” and “Cons” of programs designed for lower-class parents


Article #2: “What No School Can Do” by James Traub

1) Ghetto Children vs. Inner City Schools

2) The Historiography of Alleviating Poverty

3) "The American Myth" - Schools Solving Inequality


Article #2: “What No School Can Do” by James Traub

4) Cognitive Gaps between Blacks and Whites

5) Human Capital vs. Social Capital

6) Retarding Black Progress (Gautreaux Chicago Experiment


Article #3: “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon

• The purpose of the article and the study which it summarized was to "illustrate differences in the classroom experience and curriculum knowledge among schools”.

•- According to the author, the study suggests that there is a “hidden curriculum in school *work* that has a profound implication for theory- and practise- in education”.



Basic overview of various social classes (within the context of the article/study):

- Working class - Middle class - - Capitalist



Within this understanding of social class, the study explores five different schools in New Jersey in/around a “medium-sized” city district. - 2 "Working class" schools. Findings: - 1 "Middle class" school. Findings: - 1 "Affluent professional" school (upper-middle class). Findings: - 1 "Executive elite" school Findings:



How is this applicable?

The article demonstrates a real-world example of how schoolwork has been adapted to fit students of various socioeconomic status. For an educator to be mindful of the information presented in this article, it may encourage them to vary their lesson delivery- especially for the students in the schools of lower social classes (the working class and middle class schools particularly).



How is this applicable?

In differentiating instructional methods for students of the schools of lower social class, an educator can make a profound difference in a student's learning experience and even allow students of lower social classes the opportunity to succeed and break the mould of “simple punctuation is all they'll ever use”.


Article #4: “The Class-Conscious Raiser” by Paul Tough

Issue

- Misunderstanding amongst classes exists

- Burden of misunderstanding falls on poor (natural

because they occupy lowest rung)

- Class cluelessness is rampant in schools



Importance

class division between teachers and studentshow to help students and how to connect with them (poor)



Solution: Expose the hidden rules of class (behavioural)

POVERTY MIDDLE CLASS WEALTH

POSSESSIONS People. Things. One-of -a-kind objects, legacies, pedigrees.

MONEY To be used, spent. To be managed. To be conserved, invested.

PERSONALITY Is for entertainment. Sense of humor is highly valued.

Is for acquisition and stability. Achievement is highly valued.

Is for connections. Financial, political, social connections are highly valued.

SOCIAL EMPHASIS Social inclusion of people he/she likes. Emphasis is on self-governance and self-sufficiency.

Emphasis is on social exclusion.

FOOD Key question: Did you have enough? Quantity important.

Key question: Did you like it?Quality Important.

Key question: Was it presented well? Presentation important.

CLOTHING Clothing valued for individual style and expression of personality.

Clothing valued for its quality and acceptance into norm of middle class. Label important.

Clothing valued for its artistic sense and expression. Designer important.

TIME Present most important. Decisions made for moment based on feelings or survival.

Future most important. Decisions made against future ramifications;

Traditions and history, most important. Decisions mode partially on basis of tradition and decorum.

EDUCATION Valued and revered as abstract but not as reality.

Crucial for climbing success ladder and making money.

Necessary tradition for making and maintaining connections.

DESTINY Believes in fate. Cannot do much to mitigate chance.

Believes in choice. Can change future with good choices now.

Noblesse oblige.

LANGUAGE Casual register. Language is about survival. Formal register. Language is about negotiation.

Formal register. Language is about networking.

FAMILY STRUCTURE Tends to be matriarchal. Tends to be patriarchal. Depends on who has money.

WORLD VIEW Sees world in terms of local setting Sees world in terms of notional setting. Sees world in terms of international view.

LOVE Love and acceptance conditional based upon whether individual is liked.

Love and acceptance conditional and based largely upon achievement.

Love and acceptance conditional and related to social standing and connections.

DRIVING FORCES Survival, relationships, entertainment. Work, achievement. Financial, political, social connections.

HUMOR About people and sex. About situations. About social faux pas.



Purpose: Increase number of choices and facilitate informed choices (more options)

How: •Impossible to help poor students before one understands them and to understand them requires understanding hidden rules of poverty (ex: situational versus generational)

•Explicitly teach poor students on hidden rules of the middle class



Criticism

•Perpetuating classism and racism (stereotypes?)

•Neglects acknowledgement that American economy and American schools systematically discriminate against poor people

•Martin Luther King Jr. quote



Criticism

•Paul Gorski emphasizes that Payne’s ideology focuses on “fixing” poor people rather than reforming classist policies and practices when dealing with poverty and education

•Primary method of support/research is anecdote (academic criticism)

•Bandage solution: What is the root of the problem?



Conclusion

•interest is in teaching, helping, and connecting regardless of attack on theories

• creating dialogue

• awareness (especially for educators)


QUESTIONS?

poverty, class, and wealth power point

Documents

lower class parents

social class

socioeconomic class

middle class

lowincome parents

expectations of parents

lower income parents

dont care