Blog Post #7 Reflection & Connections

After reading Finn, especially chapter two, we can see the vast differences within our schools depending on the general social class of the community. At first glance, you can assume that executive elite school students will perform better because of resources, but it goes beyond that. There are other factors that go into how these kids succeed in different schools. For a working-class school, you are at the bottom of the educational food chain you could say. These schools have very limited resources and educators. These teachers also do not get paid enough and not speaking for all, but some do it majorly for the money and in conclusion, think they can treat students rather harshly speaking to them in a more aggressive demeanor. This is also because the working-class schools are designed so you can get working-class jobs and the same goes for the middle class and the executive elites. These schools and their wealth project you the student into getting similar jobs in that pay range. The schools with fewer resources like the working class and in some case, the middle class are limited in the resources and education they can teach. And as for the affluent and elite schools, they can teach this same knowledge but more complex and expand it because they have the proper books and sources to do so. They also have educators who do not speak to them and demand them to do anything but are polite and if the students do not wish to learn it is "Up to them" because no matter what, those kids aren't going to financially struggle most likely. Usually these elite schools are either in very wealthy neighborhoods or private/boarding schools while public schools rely on the community and their incomes. On average, a kid in the state of Rhode Island costs $16,587 in public schools and with these more elite private schools with tuition as much as $60,000 like St. Georges School in Middletown, RI, those students are going to have an easier way to obtain knowledge and better yet, more of it and with the right resources and educators, tutors, etc. From my own experiences in school, My schools have been generally working-class/middle class as our city (Newport) has a financially diverse community. Typically we have had to return resources to teachers so they can use them in other classes as well as limited to access to computers for a while until chromebooks were then dispersed. I wouldn't say I was limited in my knowledge but there is so much more that I have learned since then and have expanded off topics I knew so little about.

Below is a link that further explains the inequity in education and the decreasing budgets for schools.

American University School of Education