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Classism in K-12 Education

Untold Stories: Bringing Class into the Classroom

December 17, 2018 by Adj Marshall Leave a Comment

By: Adj Marshal and Betsy Leondar-Wright Students often respond with confusion to questions about social class—not surprising given the common assumption that the US is a “classless society.”  The fog surrounding class stratification makes it difficult to teach about economic inequality. Why is class so challenging to teach about? Compared with race or gender, class […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class in Higher Education, Classism, Classism in Higher Education, Classism in K-12 Education

Happy Day Before Payday!

July 9, 2018 by Kari Fisher Leave a Comment

While summer 2018 has been a scorcher, the high for February 1st and 2nd made it to 11º in Kari Fisher’s hometown in Minnesota, and single digits reigned during both school days. I got the email from one of my son’s high school teachers while I was teaching and didn’t have a chance to read it […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in K-12 Education, Clueless classism, Internalized classism, Poverty, Your Stories Tagged With: class cluelessness, kids, low-wage jobs, money, public school

Trump’s First Year: Did the Working-Class Benefit?

January 29, 2018 by Christa Avampato Leave a Comment

Donald Trump ran for president on a populist and inclusionary platform. As he campaigned across the country, he appealed to increasingly larger numbers of Americans who felt forgotten by the country’s policies and politicians. Despite the fact that he lost the popular vote by three million, there’s no doubt that he tapped into the visceral […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Classism in K-12 Education, Classism in Politics, Health care access, Money, Politics and Class Tagged With: classism, health care, privilege, public school, super-rich, tax cuts, working class

At What Price Common Core? 

April 15, 2016 by Karen Juall Leave a Comment

In the Kindergarten Classroom For decades, five-year-olds have been entering kindergarten with varying levels of academic proficiency. Some might be able to read. Others may know most of the alphabet, letter sounds and numbers. Children with these skills are usually ready to learn in the kindergarten setting on day one. However, there are plenty of […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism in K-12 Education Tagged With: classism, early childhood education, education, low-wage jobs, public school, working class

Mental Health Diagnoses
Through a Classist Lens

April 1, 2016 by Glenn M 2 Comments

Many people believe that you’re born with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As a person who has been diagnosed with ADHD myself and treated with Ritalin for years, I started doubting whether ADHD is really a biological-neurological disorder. For those who don’t know the disease, people suffering from this disorder have difficulty with memory and concentration, […]

Filed Under: Classism in K-12 Education, Health care access Tagged With: blaming the victim, bullying, classism, health care, kids, public school

Classism: Not Exactly Sporting

June 18, 2015 by Laurie Sheridan 2 Comments

Cheering, Chanting, and Clapping – for Classism? My daughter went to public schools in Milton, Mass, which is an economically diverse suburb right outside Boston. While in school, she was on a lot of sports teams, playing basketball, volleyball, and tennis. Her schools and teams have always included kids from a variety of backgrounds, though […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism among Kids, Classism in K-12 Education

A Hard Lesson about Free Money

June 18, 2015 by Christopher Page Leave a Comment

“Congratulations, you have been awarded a scholarship by your high school foundation. You are invited to attend awards night and be recognized for your achievement,” the letter said. My daughter had applied to several hundred scholarships, four through her highly-ranked, public high school’s parent & legacy foundation. She received one scholarship from a community group […]

Filed Under: Classism in K-12 Education, Philanthropy and Classism Tagged With: class cultures, kids, privilege, public school, Rationalizing privilege, speaking up, working class

Is That What They Would Say?: Home Knowledge vs. School Knowledge

February 9, 2015 by Lita Kurth Leave a Comment

Two incidents from my school years illustrate the clash between home experience and school assumptions. In second grade, I was drawing in my Alice and Jerry book, a lovely book about the foreign country of the middle class where kids got surprise playhouses for their birthdays— built, painted, and transported by Dad and Grandpa who’d […]

Filed Under: Class cultures, Classism in K-12 Education Tagged With: class cultures, kids, public school, working class

Privatizing Driver’s Ed: a Lesson in Disenfranchisement

January 8, 2015 by Lita Kurth Leave a Comment

When I went to high school in Wisconsin, Driver’s Ed was a required course, first in the classroom where we learned in-depth about rules and safety, and then behind-the-wheel in a room of simulators which offered the physical experience of turning a key, and locating the brake, gas pedal, blinkers, and gear shift. Finally, we […]

Filed Under: Classism in K-12 Education, Classism in social services Tagged With: budget cuts, classism, public school

The Unlevel Playing Field of High School Sports

September 8, 2014 by Eric Segal 2 Comments

I grew up thinking that even if some people were born to great privilege and others were born into much more challenging circumstances, there was one place where the contests were fair: sports. After all, everyone plays by the same rules, right? Apparently not. Every year, the Boston Globe compiles the won/loss record of all […]

Filed Under: Classism in K-12 Education Tagged With: classism, kids, public school

Summertime and the livin’ is (not always) easy

September 7, 2014 by Katy Swalwell 1 Comment

In many classrooms across the country this fall, students will be asked to respond to the age-old prompt, “What did you do on your summer vacation?” Though often used as a well-meaning way for teachers to build community and to better get to know their students, such a question can surface deep classist assumptions that […]

Filed Under: Classism among Kids, Classism in K-12 Education Tagged With: classism, kids, teachers

Humiliation at School Should Be a Thing of the Past

February 5, 2014 by Linda Stout 1 Comment

Dozens of children at a Utah elementary school had their lunch trays snatched away from them before they could take a bite last month.  Salt Lake City School District officials say the trays were taken away at Uintah Elementary School because some students had negative balances in the accounts used to pay for lunches, according […]

Filed Under: Classism in K-12 Education Tagged With: classism, kids, poverty, public school

“Bring Enough for Everyone”: What We Lose When We Lose Public Education

January 21, 2014 by Lita Kurth Leave a Comment

Did your schoolteachers say, “Don’t bring [candy, toys, coveted items] to school unless you bring enough for everyone”? Mine did. Maybe they recognized how incapable children are of understanding the fundamental injustice of wealth inequality, of some people having immensely desirable things that for some reason cannot be attained by others. Those who endured segregation […]

Filed Under: Classism in K-12 Education Tagged With: education, kids, public school

Philly School Crisis Meets Pushback

August 15, 2013 by Maynard Seider 1 Comment

While a group of determined teachers, parents and community activists rallied a small crowd in front of South Philadelphia High School on a rainy weekday, the powers-that-be in City Hall, Harrisburg and D.C. did nothing to avert an educational crisis that awaits 150,000 mostly poor and working-class students when school is due to open in […]

Filed Under: Classism in K-12 Education, Labor movement, Politics and Class Tagged With: budget cuts, education, protest, public school, public services, union-bashing

Louis Vuitton & Me

July 10, 2013 by Yvonne Williams Leave a Comment

I came home one day and saw my apartment number posted on the “parcel received” board. I said to myself,  “that’s weird, I didn’t order anything from eBay. ” I picked up my package, which had the return address of a student’s mother, and went to my apartment. I opened the package and omg, a Louis Vuitton […]

Filed Under: Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in K-12 Education, Consumer culture Tagged With: consumerism, imposter syndrome, luxury

Wealthy Kids Pulling Away: Accelerating Privilege, Compounding Disadvantage

June 21, 2013 by Chuck Collins Leave a Comment

How does the system of class advantage reproduce itself, generation after generation? Let me count the ways. I have an article in the latest issue of American Prospect called “The New Politics of Inherited Advantage.” I summarize the mountain of growing research demonstrating how affluent families engage in what sociologists call the “intergenerational transmission of […]

Filed Under: Class in Higher Education, Class in The News, Classism among Kids, Classism in K-12 Education, Classism in the Economy

Class & My Identity as a Woman of African Descent

June 3, 2013 by Nicole Renee Brown Leave a Comment

Class was a confusing issue for me.  Despite that, I never doubted for a moment that my race intersected with my class in a profound way. I experience class through the many different lenses of my identity.  I am a Black Woman of Afro-Caribbean descent from Brooklyn New York. Class has been racialized in American […]

Filed Under: Classism among Kids, Classism in K-12 Education

Roadblocks and Detours: Classism En Route to Drivers Ed

May 3, 2013 by Nicole Braun 9 Comments

I was shocked when a well-known environmentalist criticized my students’ campaign to make drivers education accessible to low-income students. The campaign ran into a lot of classism, but that was the low point. When I was in high school, drivers training was part of the public school curriculum.  Obtaining one’s drivers permit and license were […]

Filed Under: Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in K-12 Education, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups Tagged With: academia, classism, environmentalists, organizing

Leaving the Cafeteria: an Outsider’s Perspective on Intercity Students

December 17, 2012 by David Perelman Leave a Comment

One of my greatest privileges of my high school and college education was not the fact that I went to accredited institutions, nor the fact that I was simply educated, (though the latter privilege is certainly noteworthy.) It was the fact that despite being restricted to schools that were by design socially exclusive at-face, (my […]

Filed Under: Class in Higher Education, Classism among Kids, Classism in K-12 Education, Cross-class Relationships

A Small Fish in a Big Pond

October 31, 2012 by Ha Nguyen 3 Comments

Junior year of high school, I was informed, was the most crucial one in laying out the roadway towards college. As one who was raised to never even consider not going to college, I was looking forward to engaging in the preparation for higher education. From an early age, I knew that the public school […]

Filed Under: Class in Higher Education, Classism in K-12 Education, First Generation College Students Tagged With: academia, education, first generation college students, public school

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