Social Class in Schools

Jane Owusu
September 24, 2015
ENGW 1100 3J
Prof. Young

Social Class in Schools

School during the 1980s in my opinion is different than schools now. I consider myself to be in the middle class because my parents are in  middle class. My mom works as a nurse aide and my dad was a truck driver. My school experience was normal. Teachers encouraged us to do our best and ask questions if we have any. They also encouraged us to do our homework and told us doing homework means getting good grades. Teachers would give the students  a lesson and at the end give homework to go over what students learned in class and then the next day ask students for questions about the homework. I attended a public school where all the students are treated equally regardless of social class. Jean Anyon states “In social studies the daily work is to read the assigned pages in the textbook and to answer the teacher’s questions” (Anyon 5).  Although social studies teachers assign pages in the textbook they also have a PowerPoint and review the required materials needed for the test. Teachers actually give an effort to help the students get good grades. Jean Anyon’s research is not relevant now because she wrote about schools during the 1980s and schools have evolved since then. A high class is person can go to a middle class school. There are also the ivy league schools which based on Jean Anyon’s article is an Afluent Professional School. Middle class people go to these ivy league schools all the time. All students should have the same quality to education. If there is such a thing as social class in schools nowadays it needs to stop. Everyone is the same, students should not be held back from receiving the type of education they need just because they are from a different social class. It is not fair working class students receive less quality teaching. Teachers should want to be able to help a student to the best of his or her ability. The working class is no different than the middle class or the high class. In my opinion we all people and we all deserve good education.

Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

Jane Owusu
September 18, 2015
Engw 1100 3J
Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

"The fifth grade in the district were to study United States History"(Anyon 4).
Explanation: American history is usually taught in the tenth and eleventh grade. Schools were given hard courses during fifth grade

"In the middle class school, work is getting the right answer" (Anyon 4)
Explanation: I consider myself to be in the middle class and agree that school work means getting the right answer for a good grade

"In social studies the daily work is to read the assigned pages in the textbook and to answer the teacher's question. The questions are almost always designed to check on whether the students have read the assignment and understood it" (Anyon 5).
Explanation: In high school social studies was the exact same way described in this quote. Teachers normally had powerpoints but if you want to do good on a test your best option was to read the chapeter.

Student's Rights to Their Own Language

Jane Owusu
English 1100 3J
September 11, 2015
Opinion
Student's Rights to Their Own Language

If you were told to write about anything but then you were given restrictions on what you can't include in your paper. Would you want to continue writing? No one likes to be told what to do. Whether be it chores, homework or even writing a paper.The article states "A nation proud of its diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage and dialect". Students embrace their style and pride in it so they should be able to use it. Students do not like to be restricted in writing because it takes the fun out of it. It is already terrible that students do not like to write, but if they are to write about any subject, it should be in their own language so they could have fun with it. If you are not a writer then writing can be pretty boring but if you are able to put your own style into it and make it your own, I got to admit that is pretty fun. Students should be able to express themselves how they want to, but of course there are always boundaries in writing. If it comes to a point where there are negative, insulting, inappropriate words in the writing then that is taking fun too far. Writing should not be complicated as long as you can mold it into your own. Therefore students should have the right their own language.

Identity

Jane Owusu
9/3/15
Prof. Young
Engw 1100

Identity to Me

In class we discussed about identity and how it is the distinct characteristics that define you as a unique individual as well as from the perception of other people. Identity to me is who I am as a person. The are many things that describe me, my race, language, origin, and culture. Those are the most specific traits I think define me as a person. I like to call myself African even though I was born in America because both my parents came from Ghana. I speak Twi fluently and speak it with my parents and other Ghanaian friends. One of the distinct characteristics that define me as a person is my accent. I lived in Ghana for eight years and talked like most Ghanaians. I am proud to be a Ghanaian and I do not tend to get rid of my accent so when I did come to the United States the teachers here put me in a different English class. Anzaldua states in her essay that " I and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accents"(Anzaldua 250). I was able to relate to that because I went through something similar although they weren't speech classes. Apart from race, culture, language, origin and culture there are other things that show who I am as a unique individual, like the kind of job I have, my personality, my social class, how I dress up and many more. All these go to show who I truly am as an individual and I'm proud to be the person that I am now.