In my university classes we've talked many times about this topic and its consequences in the academic life of a child. However thanks to the classes and the visits we've done here in USA I've been able to experience it by myself; so I realized that the socio-economic status and the background of a child affect directly to their academic performance, but I also realized that the school (with the help of the community) can do many things to decrease these differences.
We've all heard that the pupils from lower economic status have more chances to drop out or to work as a construction worker, and on the other hand, that the wealth students are supposed to succeed in schooling.
This point of view is not new, some years ago (during the 60's and 70's), Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron did a research and studied this fact, which was later named as "Reproduction Theory" (the child end up in the same status that his parents because schooling couldn't do anything to control the cultural and social differences between the students).
What's sad about this situation is that most of the times the family is not involved in their child's academic task because they aren't able to do it; I mean maybe they're immigrants and they don't know the language (as we experienced with the Refugee Parents Panel), they don't have enough time due to their job timetable, or maybe they cultural facts are so different that they become a barrier between home and school.
I really think that the socio-economic differences and its consequences is a widespread educational problem around the world. The Spanish government is making great efforts to avoid it, but even thought it doesn't get results. The huge immigration wave that the country has suffered during the last few years emphasizes even more the existence differences. Another problem of the Spanish Education system related with this topic is that there's a lot of difference in the schooling results (outcomes) between the public and the private schools. The second ones get greater marks than the others in the standardized tests and that's why the government is promoting the public education by offering free laptops, a bilingual education or regulating the number of immigrants in the classrooms.
However if I compare the Spanish problem with the American one, I can observe a big difference: here in the US the people and the community are more involved to overcome the population differences and problems and that's why there are some projects as the Global Neighborhood or the Riverfront Farms, where people help each other without expecting anything in return.
I think that's the challenge that Spain has: to put this mentality to his population.
As a future teacher I'm aware that I'm going to have a great diversity of students in a classroom and that I'll have to find the way for everyone to learn the class content regardless its differences and backgrounds. I also know, that it isn't an easy task, but I'm sure that if I put all my efforts and I have high expectations for all my pupils I can get it.
In my opinion one of the most powerful tools to address this issue is to promote the diversity and make students understand that being different it's a positive thing because it allows us to consider different points of views.
I have chosen this topic because I think that it is one of the most important influences in the academic life of a child.
ResponderEliminarOnce I've read my prompt again I have to say that my point of view hasn't changed very much, but it has been extended. When I was here, visiting important places related to this topic such as "Holmes Elementary School" or "Riverfront Farms" I was amazed by the work they were doing to avoid that the economic status of the child could affect its academic success, but it hasn't been until now, two months after my visit, and when I've been in my country doing practices in a school located in a poor neighborhood that I value the task they're doing. I mean, I thought it was fantastic when I saw it, but now that I've experienced the problems by myself I realized how difficult it's to build a project like Riverfront Farms or running a school in that situation.
Unfortunately in my region doesn't exist organizations like these, which do all their best to improve the life of the children that are condemned to failure (or at least, they're not as involved as I saw they were in the USA).
We know that school can be the only salvation for some kids, so the teachers and the centre have to keep it in mind to act correctly.
Children only go to school five or six hours a day, so this means that most of the day they are out of it. For some kids (these ones who have a medium or high economic status) this time is well spent, I mean, they can do extracurricular activities, they can go to the library, they can listen the news with their parents, they can go to the cinema… and all these facts help them to continue the school task, improving their learning and education.
On the other hand, the children who belong to poor neighborhoods don’t have any of these opportunities, maybe because their parents have to work, they don't have money, their parents can't help them doing the homework because they don't understand the language, etc., and they are usually in the street. For them, the time out of school is a lost time.
Knowing that, nowadays I value more the activities that Holmes Elementary School does: sending books to the kids during summer holidays, organizing events for families, etc. because these strategies go beyond school, and help to promote the relations with the community. That's what we have to look for.
To conclude, as you can see, my point of view hasn't changed very much, but my experience in the USA allowed me to be more critical and to analyze this issue deeper. It also provided me with some strategies and projects I can carry out in my town. Sincerely Stephen and Conie have become a role-model for me, because they taught me through their actions that with ambition and motivation, we can reach whatever we want and provoke a big change in our surroundings.