This article was extremely interesting
to me because of past research I have done and experiences I have had. In a class
last semester I did a final research paper on the education system and the reproduction
of class differences through language instruction, looking both at how the
system currently reproduces class differences and examining critical education
as an avenue for change. Morris even repeatedly cites Lareau and Anyon in this
piece who were two of my main sources. This article was very interesting for me
to read because of how it supplements and supports what I was writing about in
that paper. A lot of the articles I was reading for that paper were about the importance
of the difference between disciplinary styles in lower, middle and upper class schools.
Lower and working class schools use a very authoritative style of authority
that involves lots of control over student’s bodies. Like one of Morris’s
students observes, they are run almost like prisons. Morris discusses one of
the results of this – students disengage from the school and feel alienated.
I think this article is very
important because it suggests that students are not equally disciplined but
rather disciplined differently according to their race, class and gender. Even
within the same school students can be privileged by their class, race or
gender. The question that naturally arises because of this article is how can
teachers change their behavior to stop reproducing these inequalities. Morris
suggests the answer is not just equally disciplining all students but rather
valuing “marginalized forms of style and appearance (46).” I found this very
interesting as this was very similar to the answer about language and class
that many education reformers I was reading were arguing. Part of the critical education
school of thought is the idea that lower and working class language conventions
should be valued in schools and used in the classroom rather than the teacher’s
goal being to only teach middle class conventions. Morris and other reformers
suggest that educators should accept that for poor and working class students,
the middle class norms of the class room are alienating, and rather than
seeking to use discipline to eliminate their own norms, educators should meet
them halfway.
Another reason this reading was
extremely interesting to me was that this past summer I worked as head
lifeguard at a pool that primarily served working class families. A large
portion of the population that came to the pool was African American and Latino
youth, including a large group of Latino teenage boys that had been identified
by the police officer stationed at the pool as gang members. As a student of
sociology, it was a very interesting position to be put in. I found myself falling
into many of the patterns I had always studied and condemned. As the summer went
on, myself and my fellow lifeguards adopted a very authoritarian style of
discipline. We had the justification that we were in fact in a position of
attempting to keep three hundred people safe and alive but I did notice myself
and the people I was working with, profiling people and reacting to them
differently according to their race and gender. The rules were the same for
everyone and we made every effort to enforce them equally but I noticed that I
was justifying paying more attention to one group of people than another. I
noticed and fought this in myself but it was startling to have these thoughts
surface in my psyche when I had always assumed I was above them. What I gained last
summer was a greater understanding of the behavior of the teachers in Morris’s
reading. I think it is easy for many of us to make judgments about how we wouldn’t
let class or race or gender affect us in our treatment of people but now
speaking from experience of being in that position it is harder said than done. We have all
internalized these aspects of our society and it takes great, active resistance
and awareness to expose and overcome them.
The first point Brooke brings up about how the students are disciplined on more than just behavior but also their race is a great example of our social construction of our society. In the article it pinpoints different races as more dangerous than another race. What I found interesting was the at Matthews Middle school was that the faculty members for the most part were the same race as the students in the school. It is not like rich, white faculty members were the ones stereotyping African Americans, but more so African American teachers telling African American boys to tuck in their shirts or take out their earrings. Perhaps this is the process of reforming the social structure that has been constructed in our society. These African American teachers want these African American students to step out of the stereotyped norm and show society that they are not all about baggy pants, raggedy clothes, and earrings.
ReplyDeleteHowever, one question that did I had throughout reading this article was what do you think would happen if Matthews Middle School did not have a dress code? Would the focus be on one race more than the other? Or does having a dress code put everyone on an even playing field before teachers ultimately break that barrier?
I appreciated the fact that Brooke wrote about her own experience with social discrimination as a lifeguard. I have also had similar experiences as a lifeguard, where one group of patrons is given more attention because of race, class, or other social issue. In reading the article I found it sad that while one group of students is over-disciplined and over-educated in the ways of societal graces, other groups of students seem to be ignored. It is interesting that while the white and Asian students are disciplined less, presumably because of their skin colour that these same students were also left out of the extra education their peers were receiving. I found this phenomena sad because all of the students at this school came from similar economic standing, and the education of societal graces would have been useful for all students, not just ones with baggy pants. But, as Brooke pointed out, people do not usually realize they act in a discriminatory manner, and even if they do, it is hard to change their behaviour due to the rules and regulations around them.
DeleteI really liked the connection made between the reading and Brooke's real-life experience. The fact that Brooke, although she consciously told herself not to engage in differential treatment of the pool-goers, yet monitored people of some races and classes more than others, speaks to the impact that stereotypes have on how people perceive different social groups. Most people are too ashamed to admit that even they have pre-judgements and make assumptions about others based on their race, class, gender, etc. or work so hard to suppress these thoughts that it is as if they do not exist. But, unfortunately and realistically, these thoughts and opinions are virtually unavoidable. Although the teachers' assumptions about each student based on social factors may have led to extremely inaccurate conclusions about that individual's personality, motivation, or gang affiliation, it was impossible for the teacher to see that s/he was treating each student unequally based on these assumptions. The teachers, for example, assumed that the clothing worn by Latino boys was based on their affiliation to a gang and disciplined them as if they were aggressive. Asian boys and Hispanic girls were gang members, as well, but were not disciplined in the same way as the Latino boys and were not normally assumed to be dangerous. The inaccurate stereotype that Asians are studious, non-threatening, good kids and that girls do not have the potential to be dangerous or inflict harm upon somebody else led to the inaccurate representation of different groups in the eyes of the teacher. -Alexa Campagna
ReplyDeleteI, too, really liked that Brooke brought in her own personal experience. I recently caught myself having similar preconceived notions. Through one of my classes, I was recently assigned to tutor at New London High School. Instantly, I felt a little afraid. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to control the students or that some of them might threaten me. However, I had never actually been to New London High School or met more than a handful of New London High School students. My only basis for being afraid came from stereotypes. After having been to the high school, I quickly learned that my fear was completely unjustified and I was disappointed in myself for letting my preconceived notions get the best of me. After all, I probably wouldn't have had the same response if I had been assigned to tutor at a high school in Mystic.
ReplyDeleteI also liked that you brought up the fact that at Matthews Middle School the students were often treated more like prisoners than students. In some other posts, people commented that they didn't understand why the students saw the uniforms as punishments. I think in large part it wasn't so much the fact that they had to wear uniforms that upset them, it was the fact that they knew why they had to wear the uniforms. Ultimately, it seems like the students felt that they were being criminalized without having ever committed a crime.
I definitely agree that these students were feeling alienated even before they knew that there was a dress code at their school. While reading this article, I found myself noticing just how unfair our education system is to other cultures. Inner city schools that function like they are out in the suburbs just do not work for many of the kids who go to school there because they just cannot relate. The dress code further alienated the students because they were not wearing the clothes that they would wear in the outside world, and therefore they felt like they were suppressing their class identity. The article described how many of the students felt that the dress code was unnecessary because they felt like they were in prison, and it is stereo-typically thought that poor minorities in the inner city are the ones who end up in jail the most. I feel that the school system here should understand the area in which they preside more because it is affecting the mentality of the student body.
ReplyDeleteJae Majors
ReplyDeleteThe idea of equal discipline is interesting to me. Some teachers may think that some kids may need extra discipline because of where they “come from”. Street kids are seen as harmful to the class room because they are viewed as being part of gangs and only having “street” smarts. Teachers do not realize that when they underestimate students they are giving them reasons to fail because the students will then believe what the teachers say and act accordingly. It is important to educate teachers more on the backgrounds their students are coming from. There may be stereotypes based on class, gender, and race but those stereotypes are not true for all and this is one thing that teacher should understand.