A myth is a widely held idealized conception of an unproven or ambiguous idea. Myths remind us how things were before in the distant past, and serve in explaining our outlook on an idyllic world. Myths have an astonishing impact on society because people tend to comply and follow through with the traditional standards endorsed by society. People tend to accept these misconceptions because these implications are embedded into us as we grow up. These myths have an enormous power over us by shaping the way we think and perceive the world. For instance, myths such as “Myth of the Model Family” and the “Myth of Education and Empowerment” are examples of myths that have insinuated …show more content…
Adolescents from low-income families are being stripped away from educational empowerment. “The procedure is usually mechanical, involving role behavior and very little decision making or choice.” The teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance” (Anyon 167). Schools in working-class neighborhoods are not receiving work that develops one’s analytical intellectual skills, ability to understand concepts, and applications of concepts to solve problems. Anyon proves how affluent communities have more opportunities than people from low socio-economic backgrounds. He also proves how “exclusion from the pond” is in effect in his article “From Social Class and The Hidden Curriculum of Work”. Schools are designed to virtually program students for success or failure according to their socioeconomic status. Educational empowerment clearly is still a myth because school’s specific groups attend are programed to lead them to a manual or clerical job.
Education has been part of history with the function to serve as an intrinsically valuable asset. The youth is constantly being told that education is the key to success. However, some are being “excluded from the pond” based on socioeconomic status and race. In College At Risk, Andrew Delbanco, notes that American higher education was built on the premise that human capital is widely distributed among social classes. Selective nonprofit colleges are failing to enroll significant numbers of students from low-income families. They are reinforcing the discrepancies of wealth and opportunity in American