Finn

    In Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest, Patrick J. Finn talks about the impact of socioeconomic class on education, showing how schools keep unfair systems in place. He argues that students from higher social classes get a better education compared to those from the working or lower class. He claims they have access to better resources, more engaging instruction, and more encouragement to think critically and independently. Finn says that the working-class students often face educational environments that limit their creativity and thus limit the opportunities for any and all advancement academically. All of this is a root cause for the wealth gap and societal barriers to advance up any sort of corporate ladder. 

  Finn also mentions how a teachers’ attitudes truly contributes to the success of working-class students. These educators have an instilled belief that their students are uninterested or "incapable" of advanced learning and because of this they will not bother to teach them to do so. The teachers do not care about a students creativity and in turn shuts them down; supporting the idea that following rules, not creativity, is what the teacher wants in the classroom.

    However, schools that teach higher-class students embrace creativity and often have programs built into the curriculum to help them grow. I think of all the schools that have advanced pathway programs for students and how kids in poorer areas or working class do not have the opportunity to enroll due to teh baggage that comes with it (i.e., transportation, interviews). Teachers in these schools have instilled trust in their students' abilities and they allow them to be creative, and have more responsibilities inside and outside of the classroom. They integrate real-world connections for the students and love when the kids have their own ideas to incorporate into the class. Schools such as this often have higher budgets and therefore can pay for better textbooks and technologies that help advance learning.

    All in all I agree with Finn. The school system gives education on a silver platter to wealthier students and groom them for the success they deem they will have in life. By doing this it leaves the working-class students denied the tools and opportunities necessary to break free from the limitations they have on them. A system that needs to stop because every student should have the same opportunity to learn. 

Nurturing Motivated Learners  

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