Here is a New York Times article (February 2012) that falls right down the center of this Discussion Group's emphasis. It discusses the realities of increasing inequity in education (both public school and college) between the wealthy and the poor in the US.
It's a quick read and it can lead a broad range of discussion and related literature and research.
Enjoy!
Steve
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html?pagewanted=2
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ReplyDeleteSteve, Thanks for getting this conversation started. I continue to be at a loss as to how to respond to the very real economic disparities that make access to a quality education....be it an effective K-12 public education or any sort of higher education... so largely unattainable for students who find themselves (through no fault of their own) in lower socioeconomic brackets. When I began my teaching career in higher education 10 years ago, I naively held the view that most of the students at the college where I teach came from a similar middle to upper-middle class background as myself. I quickly realized that there were several first-generation college students in my classes and many of them had grown up in generational poverty. Not only did I not know how to respond to their unique needs, I was completely ignorant as to what those needs even were. In time, I have come to recognize that many of these students have significant discourse challenges that they must learn to navigate that their more affluent peers (and professors) simply take for granted (the language and culture of the academy, for example).
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I attended a diversity workshop that challenged my thinking on a lot of issues. The one topic that impacted me the most was that of class-ism. To that point, I had given this issue virtually no attention; I had been blinded by my own power, privilege, affluence and sense of entitlement. At the workshop, we viewed a video clip that showed a first-generation college student from a poor, rural part of America. In this excerpt, the young woman shared the cultural challenges that she had to navigate within her own family and community by "risin' above her raisin'". While I still have no practical solutions to offer with regard to closing the economic inequities that continue to make education so largely inaccessible to students living in poverty, I have begun to recognize: 1) that the issue exists, and 2) there are many things I can do to support, encourage and equip the courageous young people who often defy the culture of family and community to pursue an education that those closest to them cannot comprehend. With this newfound awareness, I am dedicated to listening well and to providing students with scaffolds that will assist them in navigating an educational world that is initially quite foreign to them