Class in Education - Blog Post 7

The topic that my group is doing our wiki page on is Class. As I have done the research for the past week it has definitely been an eye opening experience. Through my research I have discovered what class really is and how many different definitions there are of social class and how people view them differently. Also, America almost refuses to believe that there is a class system that we operate within.

In Class: A guide through the American Status system, Paul Fussell writes that the class distinctions in America are complicated and subtle. Often times foreign visitors miss the existence of the class structure in America. In America there is a “fable of equality” that the Government does not want to ruin. Social class is not officially recognized by the American government. Fussell writes about the experience of Walter Allen, the British novelist and literary critic. “Before he came over here to teach at a college in the 1950’s, he imagined that ‘class scarcely existed in America, except, perhaps, as divisions between ethnic groups or successive waves of immigrants.’ But living a while in Grand Rapids opened his eyes: there he learned of the snob power of New England and the pliability of the locals to the long-wielded moral and cultural authority of the old families.” (Fussell, 1983)

It is interesting to me that we, as educators, track the progress of low socio-economic students as well as African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, etc…but the federal government does not necessarily divide students up.  I think that sometimes we forget how important a distinction between the different class is in reaching our students.

In What’s a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?, Cheryl King talks about what a working class girl wants the rest of the world to know about her position in life. The girls responds with “to know that not all students have access to the same resources and this is based in large part on one’s class of origin.” (King, 51) She goes on to talk about how students who come from higher classes have a “knapsack” of tools that helps them to get ahead in the world, however, like the issue of race, those not white or in the higher class do not have this knapsack and it become infinitely harder for those students to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” (King, 62) King goes on to give three suggestions on how teachers and administrators can include class education as part of the discipline (a) raising your own class consciousness and, if needed, seeking colleagues to whom you can refer first-generation students; (b) integrating class into your courses both as a matter of study and as an analytical frame; and (c) disempowering “covering” and making the mainstream more inclusive. (King, 62) These are all suggestions that can be implemented into the classroom that we teach in. 

As an education system we have put an emphasis on racial differences but probably need to do a better job of helping students that are struggling because of their social class and educating our teachers. 

References:

Fussell, Paul. (1983). Class: A guide through the American Status System. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/resources/essays6.html

King, C. (2012). What’s a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?. Journal of Public Affairs Education

18(1). 51-66.

Religion in Schools - Post 6

Religion in schools has always fascinated me as a topic of discussion. I love to look at court cases to understand how the Supreme Court and many lower courts have interpreted what the founding fathers meant when they crafted those words that are found in the 1^st amendment of the United States constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As a society we are still struggling with what actually falls under the first amendment. Too often we invoke our first amendment rights but do not actually know what that means to us and our society. But more closely, as educators, we have to look to see what this means for us in the classroom and for our students. What are their first amendment rights? Where do they begin and end in the school? And more specifically, what are their first amendment rights in terms of religion?

In Religion, Education and the First Amendment, John J. Coughlin writes that “the framers never intended the Constitution to defile the religious understanding of the human person that prevailed in U.S. education.” (Coughlin, 12) Horace Mann, the founder of public education in our country believed that our system was founded on the basis of religious practices. (Coughlin, 12) However, it has been over 200 years since the congress of 1789 wrote those words. What do they mean to us today?

For the past 70 years or so, the Supreme Court has been trying to answer that question. In Abington School District v. Shempp and Engle v. Vitale, the Supreme Court “outlined the constitutional standard for prohibiting school-sponsored religious expression, a doctrine the court has firmly maintained.” (Lupu, Masci, and Tuttle, 156) In terms of Curriculum decisions, school districts continue to lose the fight over curriculum changes, especially involving evolution, one of the most controversial topics in this debate. (p. 157) Schools can only use the bible if it is used as literature and not devotional (p. 158) all holiday music must have had secular consideration. (p. 158)

The students gain more rights when it comes to right of students to express their religious beliefs. In Tinker v. Des Moines School District, the court ruled that “school authorities may not suppress expression by students unless expression significantly disrupts school discipline or invades the rights of others.” (p. 159) However, these rights are not limitless. According the Harper v. Poway Unified School District, “students’ constitutional rights may be limited to prevent harming the rights of other students.” (pg. 159)

As a teacher and Christian I definitely have strong opinions on this topic. However, much to the surprise of most that I tell, I tend to believe that the courts get it right in this instance. There must be separation of church and state and if there is to be separation, it must be a complete separation. I am not sure that the founding fathers, like Madison or Jefferson believed that this debate would ever happen, or perhaps, believed it should have happened, but the truth is, I believe that our school system is stronger because of the debate, and the outcomes.

References

Coughlin, J. J. (1993). Religion, education, and the First Amendment. America. 168(17). 12-15

Lupu, I., Masci, D., Tuttle, R. (2007). Religion in the public schools. In J. Noel (Ed.), Multicultural education (pp. 156-161). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.