The Effect of Social Class on Education

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The Effect of Social Class on Education

The type of education a person receives is partially affected by the person's social class. For the most part, a person whose family is part of the working-class will not receive the same education as a person whose family is part of the upper-class. A child coming from an upper-class family will, most of the time, receive a better education, through high school, than a child coming from a working-class family. There are many factors that contribute to this theory including, but not limited to, family help, location of home, location of school, and the faculty of the school.

It is no secret that wealthier families in wealthier neighborhoods are going to be surrounded by wealthier schools, while average to below-average families are going to be surrounded by just the opposite. Schools in the city that are on the news often about not having a lot of money are mostly made up of students from underprivileged families.

Jean Anyon conducted a study comparing working-class schools to middle and upper-class schools. She starts off by saying, "In the two working-class schools, work is following the steps of a procedure. The procedure is usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice" (177). She goes on to say, "In the middle-class school, work is getting the right answer. If one accumulates enough right answers, one gets a good grade". (180) And finally she says, "In the executive elite school, work is developing one's analytical intellectual powers" (185). Clearly there is a substantial difference in the schools and the education they are giving their students. It almost seems as if the working-class schools really do not care about the education they are giving they are just providing...