School Classes that aren't the Classroom
Being an ignorant all-way Private school girl, I thought Schools were the key to
everything, that is, the way to "upward mobility" for low-income children. Students
who were "smart" and worked hard could improve their situation and become
doctors, lawyers, and CEOs. Everyone's heard some story about the poor boy
studying and working non-stop as he supports his sick mother in the Bronx or
rural Russia, who then moves up in status through schooling and reaches a
happy ending... but that doesn't happen.
What the sociology of education has shown is that the Australian school system
divides society on the basis of income and wealth. The poorest students drop out
first and the wealthiest last - not because the poorer students are stupid, but
because the school system discriminates against them. In other words, the
school system does the opposite of what it says it does.
It creates a 'class
system', where society accepts this field of massive social inequality.
Low-income students give up school at more than twice the rate of other
students. Maybe they can't find the money for books and field trips. Perhaps they
have been reduced to silence because the school and its curriculum do not suit
their life and future. Have their self-esteem been so crushed by failure that they
simply refuse to go to school? Some children have been so badly traumatised by
the system that their mentality cease to function only at the schoolroom.
Unfortunately, students take the blame for their own failure, and the school
system blames them as well. They're told that they are stupid, or that they're slow
learners - but such culturally-biased assessments only show that the school does
not know these children. Students learn to feel stupid in school, and they accept...
Interesting...
I find it interesting, as I've been a part of the Australian public school system all my life - at the moment, I'm a yr 9 attending Penrith High in NSW, and have neither seen nor experienced any of the scenarios raised by your essay.
This is not to say your essay is universally untrue: I do believe there are schools out there in which the things you write of are becoming - have become - reality. But there are also schools in which this is not the case.
However biased your essay, you raised a strong and convincing point for your argument - keep it up.
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