The Impact of Social Class on Education
Jimmy is a member of the working class society; he lives at the outer edge of his middle-class school district. The district that he attends is made up of predominantly middle class students, whom he has little in common with. On his bus ride to school every day he dreads what lies ahead of him for the day, not only because he dislikes school, but also because he feels alienated from the rest of the student body. Even his teachers have a hard time relating to him because they do not share his background or values. Jimmy's dad is a mechanic who never even finished high school, and his mom is a beautician. Neither had an education higher than the high-school level. Even though Jimmy's parents push him to finish high school and go on to college, he just can't see himself actually doing that. Jimmy is unsure of what he wants to do with his life, but he just can't conceive of going through another four to five years of school beyond high school with kids that he just can't !identify with. He sees college as a place for higher class kids whose families have the means for their children to attend college. Jimmy's parents barely scrape by, and they were hoping that their son would be able to obtain a scholarship to college. J
Members of the working class do not have the same opportunities to achieve higher education as members of higher social classes. Students are also taught many social lessons, such as interacting with people from other races and social classes. As his English teacher discusses the importance of writing quality papers so that the students can be prepared for college, Jimmy begins to feel disassociated. Some working class children work very hard to obtain scholarships to colleges only to find that their education was second rate. As he enters into his first class of the day, he sits down in the back of the class and tries not to be noticed. Students may feel lost with assignments that require those skills because they never had to use them before. As Rose (1989) points out in his essay "The Struggle and Achievements of America's Underprepared," many working class children are often not introduced with the skills of critical thinking and citing sources in their papers (p. They discover that the majority of the other students have been accustomed to finer things, such as designer clothing, new cars, and large allowances.
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