From Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum Of Work Analysis
Celeste Martinez
English 1102- Burnier
May 6, 2014
Education in Chicago Public Schools On May 22, 2013 the largest closing of public schools, in history of the United States, occurred. The board of education of the Chicago Public Schools voted to close down 50 schools in the Chicago area (Bartlett). To no surprise, most of the schools if not all came from areas that had low-income neighborhoods consisting mainly of African Americans and Latinos on the south and west side of Chicago (Bartlett). Although the ex president George Bush said popular quote“ No child left behind”, what is happening in the Chicago Public schools is exactly the opposite. Even if every kid is given the opportunity to go to school some are being given a …show more content…
better education. This essay will argue that the kids that are not getting a good education are the ones that according to Jean Anyon, a professor of education policy at the University of New York, come from a “ blue collar family (Anyon 169). The schools that are in wealthy communities are better than those that are in the poor communities because they are given a better education and they live in a safer learning environment.
The schools that are in wealthy communities are better than those that are in the poor communities because they have better teaching methods and resources (Anyon 172). In the essay “ From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work, ” by Jean Anyon, he describes the difference between a “ working- class school” and an “ executive elite school”. The working-class school consists of parents that have blue-collar jobs such as, factory workers, pipe welders, and maintance workers (Anyon 170). These jobs do not require much skill other than following orders given by their employers. Students that attend this type of school are taught to follow the steps of procedures without any decision making because they are being tracked to follow the footsteps of their parents (Anyon 169). For example from the essay “ Class in America” by Gregory Mantsios, the profile of Cheryl Mitchell shows that she went to a large public school that was patrolled by security guards in Brooklyn, New York (Mantsois 309). She was taught basic skills and was conveyed the importance of doing everything under someone …show more content…
else’s orders. Her parents both worked blue collard jobs and she is currently working as a nurse’s aide, which puts her in that same category as them (Mantsois 309). Her ambition as a little girl was to become a teacher and now her ambition at the age of 38 is “ to get out of the ghetto”. On the opposing side an executive elite school is one that primarily consists of parents that are top executives such as vice-presidents, governors, industrialist, and mayors (Anyon 172). These types of schools require the students to work on their analytical intellectual powers and to always ask for reasoning through a problem. This is because these students are being prepared to live a successful life were they too will become apart of the 0.1 percent of the adult working population in America that earns more than 10 million annually (Mantsois 303). In the profile of Harold S. Browning, it shows that he went to an exclusive private school in Manhattan, New york. There he was given the finest educational preparation so he could become an owner of a business (Mantsois 307). At age 38 he is the owner of his fathers company and living a luxurious life as a “ leader in business” (Mantsois 307). The comparison between the education of a child with parents from a blue collard job and those with white collard jobs goes to show that all children are not getting the same education because of their family background. However many of the children that attend working class schools face many challenges that also affect their learning environment because of the neighborhoods that they live in.
In the article “ His Kind of Town”, by Von Drehle, the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel spent much of his childhood in a “ prosperous” north shore suburb with his wife and three kids that are attending the finest private schools in Chicago.
In the article “ Update: Chicago’s School War” by Rob Bartlett , children that got their schools closed down by him live on the west and south side of the city in neighborhoods with high poverty and crime rates. The population of these areas of Chicago consists mainly of Hispanics and Blacks with blue collard jobs (Bartlett). Most of Chicago’s homicides took place in the west and south side areas in 2012, were there is a high poverty rate ( Drehle). Also the murder rate in Chicago was the highest of the three largest U.S. cities ( Drehle). From murders per every 100,000 residents, Chicago stood at 18.6 percent. This left Los Angeles and New York City behind with below 8 percent. The offenders were from 15 to 24 years old, 77% were black, 20% were Hispanic, and 3% were white (Drehle). Out of the 506 murders that took place in Chicago, 82% were shootings did not occure on the north side ( Drehle). This goes to show how dangerous it is to live in these areas of Chicago, however these children have no choice because it is all that their parents can afford. With the Mayor closing down their schools around their homes, children are now being forced to transfer to other schools, which puts them in greater risk of violence because they have to
pass gang boundaries (Bartlett). However, one would hope that these children are only being sent to these schools to better their education. The reality of the matter is that they are being welcomed by schools that have similar teaching methods, testing scores, and with not enough resources (Bartlett).
From the book Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, a child’s education that comes from a low-income family in the inner cities, like Chicago, is unequal to those that come from a richer family that is further out from Chicago. School funding in 1988 to 1989 school year showed that the Niles Township High School was spending 9,371 dollars per student (Kozol 236). However in the Chicago inner cities, students are being funded 5,265 dollars and that’s on an average of all grade levels (Kozol 236). The difference is more than four thousand dollars and it shows not only the lack of materials in the schools, but also the lack of proficient teachers. Textbooks that are needed in certain classes are not always used or are out of date because the school cannot afford to buy new ones (Kozol 51). Since some of these schools can’t afford the new technology that is used in class rooms the teachers prepare examples on the board for the students to copy into their notebooks (Anyon 174). Most of the teachers in the Chicago inner city schools are over the age of 60 ( Kozol 51). This is because the salary that is offered to the young teachers is too low to keep them working there. Some of the older teachers don’t show up to teach because they lack excitement for the subjects that they are teaching and ultimately because they are not getting paid enough (Kozol 52). When they are asked why, they simply reply, “ It makes no difference. Kids like these aren’t going anywhere. The city thinks it’s saving money on the substitutes. I tell them, Pay now or pay later.”(Kozal 52) So the city relies on low paid substitutes that represent more than 25% of the teaching force (Kozol 51). A 15 year old student from Du Sable high school, that is located on the south side of Chicago, says that he has been in a class a whole semester and the school still has not found a teacher for them ( Kozol 52). Some high schools in the south side of Chicago even have two or three “ study halls” where not much studying goes on (Kozol 53). This is because the schools save the cost of teachers by doing this. Many of the classroom sizes are 30 to 36 students per room and the question is, “how could a teacher accommodate all of these students (Bartlett)?” Well they can’t, the teachers risk the chance of having a child fall behind if they don’t understand. The teachers also have little or no one on one time with the students. Even if these events in this book took place mostly from 1988 to 1990, it shows that Chicago public schools have been falling apart a long time ago and as Kozol puts it, “ the rich get a richer quality of education while the poor get less real education (Kozal 54).” However in the recent years a new type of school has been introduced that would give parents a third choice to decide from, these are called Charter Schools.
There is no real solution to the problem that is going on in the Chicago public schools but there now exists another choice for parents that don’t want their children to attend a public school nor private if they cant afford it. According to an article from the Chicago Tribune, “ Voice of the People,” charter schools are schools that operate similar to a private school however they operate with public money. These schools set their own curriculum, teaching methods and selection of students that get into the school. It is said in the same article that “ The Thirst for Charter Schools” is growing every year more (Voice of the people). In 1996, the first charter school opened in Chicago and now there is 132 campuses operating under 58 charters (The thirst for charter schools). The president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, Andrew Broy, says that there are 19,000 students waiting for a charter school slot to open and currently 2.3 million students are attending a charter school (The thirst for charter schools). However, just because there is now a third choice to choose from for parents and there children, it does not erase the solid fact that America has to first fix their public schools and neighborhoods with high poverty rates in order to have victory with the charter schools. This is because if in the later future charter schools continue to grow and take over public schools, then slowly they too will start to fail, since it was a problem that was never truly resolved from the core of the problem.
The history of the battle over the Chicago public schools is a problem that has existed for decades. This battle has just emerged to everyone’s eyes around the country because of the numerous schools that were closed in the Chicago south and west areas (Bartlett). These footsteps however, are being followed by other states and the problem over who is getting a better education is occurring all over America. There will always be a producer and a consumer just like their will always be rich and poor people (Anyon 169). Unfortunately, in America if a child’s parents have blue collard jobs and live in an area with violence and high poverty rates than they have little chance of getting the best education they could receive. When George Bush said“ no child left behind”, he forgot to add, “ If you have the money to stay ahead”.
Work Cited
Anyon, Jean. “ From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” Rereading America: Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin’s, 2010. 169-185. Print I decided to use this source because it had many connections to the problem with why some kids are getting better education than other.
Bartlett, Rob. “ Update: Chicago’s School War” Against the Current 28.3(2013): 6
Academic Search complete. Web. 22 April.2 This source had a great summary of what is happening with the Chicago Public schools and details such as dates and numbers that helped my paper be more specific.
Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities. Ed. Jonathan Kozal. New york: Crown
Publishers, Inc. 1991. 1-262. Print
Great book source that let me capture the fact that this problem with unequal schools has been going on way before this time.
Mantsios, Gregory. “Class in America-2006” Rereading America. Ed. Gary Colombo,
Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/ St.Martin’s 2010. 304-317. Print.
I used a lot of examples from this source to show the difference between some who grew up with a blue collard family vs. white collard family.
“The thirst for charter schools”. Chicago Tribune: 21. Apr 4. 2014. ProQuest. Web 16
Apr.2014
This source provided information about how the U.S is trying to improve schooling with charter schools. Secondary source
“Voice of the people”. Chicago Tribune: 21. Apr 13. 2014. ProQuest. Web 17
Apr.2014
Was a great secondary source that helped me get more information
Drehle, Von. “ His kind of town” time 181.22(2013):36 Academic search complete.
Web. 22. Apr.2014
Showed great statistics of how bad the crime rate in Chicago was.
English 1102- Burnier
May 6, 2014
Education in Chicago Public Schools On May 22, 2013 the largest closing of public schools, in history of the United States, occurred. The board of education of the Chicago Public Schools voted to close down 50 schools in the Chicago area (Bartlett). To no surprise, most of the schools if not all came from areas that had low-income neighborhoods consisting mainly of African Americans and Latinos on the south and west side of Chicago (Bartlett). Although the ex president George Bush said popular quote“ No child left behind”, what is happening in the Chicago Public schools is exactly the opposite. Even if every kid is given the opportunity to go to school some are being given a …show more content…
better education. This essay will argue that the kids that are not getting a good education are the ones that according to Jean Anyon, a professor of education policy at the University of New York, come from a “ blue collar family (Anyon 169). The schools that are in wealthy communities are better than those that are in the poor communities because they are given a better education and they live in a safer learning environment.
The schools that are in wealthy communities are better than those that are in the poor communities because they have better teaching methods and resources (Anyon 172). In the essay “ From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work, ” by Jean Anyon, he describes the difference between a “ working- class school” and an “ executive elite school”. The working-class school consists of parents that have blue-collar jobs such as, factory workers, pipe welders, and maintance workers (Anyon 170). These jobs do not require much skill other than following orders given by their employers. Students that attend this type of school are taught to follow the steps of procedures without any decision making because they are being tracked to follow the footsteps of their parents (Anyon 169). For example from the essay “ Class in America” by Gregory Mantsios, the profile of Cheryl Mitchell shows that she went to a large public school that was patrolled by security guards in Brooklyn, New York (Mantsois 309). She was taught basic skills and was conveyed the importance of doing everything under someone …show more content…
else’s orders. Her parents both worked blue collard jobs and she is currently working as a nurse’s aide, which puts her in that same category as them (Mantsois 309). Her ambition as a little girl was to become a teacher and now her ambition at the age of 38 is “ to get out of the ghetto”. On the opposing side an executive elite school is one that primarily consists of parents that are top executives such as vice-presidents, governors, industrialist, and mayors (Anyon 172). These types of schools require the students to work on their analytical intellectual powers and to always ask for reasoning through a problem. This is because these students are being prepared to live a successful life were they too will become apart of the 0.1 percent of the adult working population in America that earns more than 10 million annually (Mantsois 303). In the profile of Harold S. Browning, it shows that he went to an exclusive private school in Manhattan, New york. There he was given the finest educational preparation so he could become an owner of a business (Mantsois 307). At age 38 he is the owner of his fathers company and living a luxurious life as a “ leader in business” (Mantsois 307). The comparison between the education of a child with parents from a blue collard job and those with white collard jobs goes to show that all children are not getting the same education because of their family background. However many of the children that attend working class schools face many challenges that also affect their learning environment because of the neighborhoods that they live in.
In the article “ His Kind of Town”, by Von Drehle, the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel spent much of his childhood in a “ prosperous” north shore suburb with his wife and three kids that are attending the finest private schools in Chicago.
In the article “ Update: Chicago’s School War” by Rob Bartlett , children that got their schools closed down by him live on the west and south side of the city in neighborhoods with high poverty and crime rates. The population of these areas of Chicago consists mainly of Hispanics and Blacks with blue collard jobs (Bartlett). Most of Chicago’s homicides took place in the west and south side areas in 2012, were there is a high poverty rate ( Drehle). Also the murder rate in Chicago was the highest of the three largest U.S. cities ( Drehle). From murders per every 100,000 residents, Chicago stood at 18.6 percent. This left Los Angeles and New York City behind with below 8 percent. The offenders were from 15 to 24 years old, 77% were black, 20% were Hispanic, and 3% were white (Drehle). Out of the 506 murders that took place in Chicago, 82% were shootings did not occure on the north side ( Drehle). This goes to show how dangerous it is to live in these areas of Chicago, however these children have no choice because it is all that their parents can afford. With the Mayor closing down their schools around their homes, children are now being forced to transfer to other schools, which puts them in greater risk of violence because they have to
pass gang boundaries (Bartlett). However, one would hope that these children are only being sent to these schools to better their education. The reality of the matter is that they are being welcomed by schools that have similar teaching methods, testing scores, and with not enough resources (Bartlett).
From the book Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, a child’s education that comes from a low-income family in the inner cities, like Chicago, is unequal to those that come from a richer family that is further out from Chicago. School funding in 1988 to 1989 school year showed that the Niles Township High School was spending 9,371 dollars per student (Kozol 236). However in the Chicago inner cities, students are being funded 5,265 dollars and that’s on an average of all grade levels (Kozol 236). The difference is more than four thousand dollars and it shows not only the lack of materials in the schools, but also the lack of proficient teachers. Textbooks that are needed in certain classes are not always used or are out of date because the school cannot afford to buy new ones (Kozol 51). Since some of these schools can’t afford the new technology that is used in class rooms the teachers prepare examples on the board for the students to copy into their notebooks (Anyon 174). Most of the teachers in the Chicago inner city schools are over the age of 60 ( Kozol 51). This is because the salary that is offered to the young teachers is too low to keep them working there. Some of the older teachers don’t show up to teach because they lack excitement for the subjects that they are teaching and ultimately because they are not getting paid enough (Kozol 52). When they are asked why, they simply reply, “ It makes no difference. Kids like these aren’t going anywhere. The city thinks it’s saving money on the substitutes. I tell them, Pay now or pay later.”(Kozal 52) So the city relies on low paid substitutes that represent more than 25% of the teaching force (Kozol 51). A 15 year old student from Du Sable high school, that is located on the south side of Chicago, says that he has been in a class a whole semester and the school still has not found a teacher for them ( Kozol 52). Some high schools in the south side of Chicago even have two or three “ study halls” where not much studying goes on (Kozol 53). This is because the schools save the cost of teachers by doing this. Many of the classroom sizes are 30 to 36 students per room and the question is, “how could a teacher accommodate all of these students (Bartlett)?” Well they can’t, the teachers risk the chance of having a child fall behind if they don’t understand. The teachers also have little or no one on one time with the students. Even if these events in this book took place mostly from 1988 to 1990, it shows that Chicago public schools have been falling apart a long time ago and as Kozol puts it, “ the rich get a richer quality of education while the poor get less real education (Kozal 54).” However in the recent years a new type of school has been introduced that would give parents a third choice to decide from, these are called Charter Schools.
There is no real solution to the problem that is going on in the Chicago public schools but there now exists another choice for parents that don’t want their children to attend a public school nor private if they cant afford it. According to an article from the Chicago Tribune, “ Voice of the People,” charter schools are schools that operate similar to a private school however they operate with public money. These schools set their own curriculum, teaching methods and selection of students that get into the school. It is said in the same article that “ The Thirst for Charter Schools” is growing every year more (Voice of the people). In 1996, the first charter school opened in Chicago and now there is 132 campuses operating under 58 charters (The thirst for charter schools). The president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, Andrew Broy, says that there are 19,000 students waiting for a charter school slot to open and currently 2.3 million students are attending a charter school (The thirst for charter schools). However, just because there is now a third choice to choose from for parents and there children, it does not erase the solid fact that America has to first fix their public schools and neighborhoods with high poverty rates in order to have victory with the charter schools. This is because if in the later future charter schools continue to grow and take over public schools, then slowly they too will start to fail, since it was a problem that was never truly resolved from the core of the problem.
The history of the battle over the Chicago public schools is a problem that has existed for decades. This battle has just emerged to everyone’s eyes around the country because of the numerous schools that were closed in the Chicago south and west areas (Bartlett). These footsteps however, are being followed by other states and the problem over who is getting a better education is occurring all over America. There will always be a producer and a consumer just like their will always be rich and poor people (Anyon 169). Unfortunately, in America if a child’s parents have blue collard jobs and live in an area with violence and high poverty rates than they have little chance of getting the best education they could receive. When George Bush said“ no child left behind”, he forgot to add, “ If you have the money to stay ahead”.
Work Cited
Anyon, Jean. “ From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” Rereading America: Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin’s, 2010. 169-185. Print I decided to use this source because it had many connections to the problem with why some kids are getting better education than other.
Bartlett, Rob. “ Update: Chicago’s School War” Against the Current 28.3(2013): 6
Academic Search complete. Web. 22 April.2 This source had a great summary of what is happening with the Chicago Public schools and details such as dates and numbers that helped my paper be more specific.
Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities. Ed. Jonathan Kozal. New york: Crown
Publishers, Inc. 1991. 1-262. Print
Great book source that let me capture the fact that this problem with unequal schools has been going on way before this time.
Mantsios, Gregory. “Class in America-2006” Rereading America. Ed. Gary Colombo,
Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/ St.Martin’s 2010. 304-317. Print.
I used a lot of examples from this source to show the difference between some who grew up with a blue collard family vs. white collard family.
“The thirst for charter schools”. Chicago Tribune: 21. Apr 4. 2014. ProQuest. Web 16
Apr.2014
This source provided information about how the U.S is trying to improve schooling with charter schools. Secondary source
“Voice of the people”. Chicago Tribune: 21. Apr 13. 2014. ProQuest. Web 17
Apr.2014
Was a great secondary source that helped me get more information
Drehle, Von. “ His kind of town” time 181.22(2013):36 Academic search complete.
Web. 22. Apr.2014
Showed great statistics of how bad the crime rate in Chicago was.