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"Jenny and Donny belonged to a social underclass. They were members of a cultural group referred to as "urban Appalachian." "Poor Whites" from the mountains or hills, "hillbillies," "white trash." Donny's failure to learn was not considered worth of attention, and Jenny's inability to get herself heard was intimately related to this fact" (Purcell-Gates, 2002)
"First and most obvious, teachers and schools must accept, believe, and act upon the belief that children of poverty are learners, have been learning since birth, and are ready to learn at anytime, and will learn." (Purcell-Gates, 2002)
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After reading this article I felt remorse and outrage at Donny's teacher, school, and principal. The total lack of any kind of compassion or willingness to help Donny learn was unbelievable. I feel that the underlying problem in Donny's case stems from stereotyping learners as well as the lack of understanding that poverty plays in our education system and the barriers it presents. If we as educators believe that students are unable to achieve academic success based on economic status, then we are in essence not breaking the cycle of poverty. If we have low expectations of students based on their backgrounds, then we are saying their is nothing to gain, and yet in reality all is lost. An educators goal should be to overcome any and all obstacles in order to help both students and parents to achieve success.I wholeheartedly agree that all children are willing to learn and can learn, regardless, of race, social-class, or any other barrier. Reference:
Purcell-Gates, V. (2002). “...As soon as she opened her mouth!” In L. Delpit & J.K. Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language, culture and power.
Related Source:
Educational leadership is an online article that discusses the The Myth of the Culture of Poverty. The article begins with a classroom story. Then the goes into discussing and disputing the certain myths or stereotypes that people hold about individuals who are from low socioeconomic backgrounds.The articles highlights the culture of class-ism and ways to prevent it from happening. Click here to read the article.
Gorski, P. (2008, April). The myth of the culture of poverty. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/The-Myth-of-the-Culture-of-Poverty.aspx
Lady Bird Johnson, former U.S. first lady
"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them."
I completely agree with you! I couldn't believe how the school system was treating Donny and his mother! Teachers all have biases centered around known stereotypes, but in this situation, everyone let them go way too far. I was just in shock about the whole thing. I mean, how can the school system just let things go that far; his mother even showed great concern and they still didn't care. It was ridiculous in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteResponding to the myth of the culture of poverty. I think its funny how we considered the wealthy more educated and willing to work. To have more motivation "to be something'. When I think about this statement I think more of the parents who have seemed to do the work in giving their children this sort of lifestyle. These children seemed to be deemed more intelligent but from what I have seen just from TV and around my home town these children are actually lacking motivation themselves. If they already have 'everything' then where is the motivation to learn, and work for your goals. I'm not saying that this is true of all children from homes who have more (that again would be stereotyping from the other spectrum) but there are those who do not learn about life events or gain experience.
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to make it sound like one stereo type is more important than the other, honestly they all should be treated the same, but I just think sometimes that we put so much emphasis on poor cultures that we forget that wealthier ones also have stereotypes and misunderstandings, to me it seems that is what stereotypes are 'misunderstandings'. I once heard that coddling and giving a child everything is worse than living in poverty. Again both are conditions on which no child should live but the idea that the child has to become creative and learn how to cope makes the child more prepared to live out in the real world.
You tell 'em Julie! You are spot on with all your comments. Teachers are always complaining about parents not educating their children and most of the parents that are being talked about are those in low income families where the resources maybe aren't there or where making aliving a slightly more important. But if we don't educate the children of those that are in poverty, we are only increasing the poverty levels for future generations.
ReplyDeleteYeah,it is no wonder why West Virginians have low self-esteem. It reminds me oh how some people speak to children like they are unintelligent. It always drove me crazy to be treated like I do not know anything.Donny is probably feeling the same way.
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