Wat’s questioning and reasoning skills were set up from home. Approximately 40 years ago, however, not much Thai schooling did value the theory of constructivism. Within the culture of hierarchical structure, many teachers more favored their students who did not like to ask so many questions and express personal opinions because the teachers might feel that they were losing an authority. Therefore, Wat’s cultural background of reasoning mismatched with the expectations of his teachers. When Wat was in high school, for example, his classmates and he expressed opinions in class, but his teacher was angry and did not want to listen to them. Then, “we [Wat and his classmates] made a decision to talk with the principal because we felt this is a significant issue,” he explained to me. Fortunately, the principal listened to them and then Wat and his friends were happy to be studying at the school until they graduated. However, he does not remember the details, but he appropriately expresses his concern on …show more content…
As Calarco (2011) found, the confident students from middle-class families gain more advantages from the teachers than their peers from working-class families, who are shy and afraid to ask for help. Both examples of Wat’s experiences and Calarco’s study show how the cultural mismatch happened in schooling, as referring to “a pattern of incompatibilities between home and school.” (Bergin & Bergin, 2015, p.21). On one hand, the students from working-class family were expected to express their opinions and ask any questions; however, the expectations are not transpired at home. On the other hand, Wat and some of his friends were expected to be quiet in classroom as the ways to show a respect to the teacher; however, asking questions or reasoning at home did not mean to disrespect their
In order to make it in life, one must have experience and has to be well educated. It is difficult to get through life not knowing how to present oneself appropriately, or even have a fluent conversation. One’s beliefs, values, morals, and behavior can influence how he or she will make it to the top of the ladder. However, in many cases, it is not only the individuals fault for not being as educated or experience he or she should be. Many outside factors such as the community, resources availability, and one’s class can affect someone from being able to reach their high potential. Patrick J. Finn, author of Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest, speaks on how language, the education system, and
Even from an early age, Rodriguez is a successful student. Everyone is extremely proud of Rodriguez for earning awards and graduating to each subsequent level of his education. But all his success was not necessarily positive. In fact, we see that his education experience is a fairly negative one. One negative that Rodriguez endures is his solitude. Education compels him to distance himself from his family and heritage. According to Richard Hoggart, a British education theorist, this is a very natural process for a scholarship boy. Hoggart explains that the ?home and classroom are at cultural extremes,? (46). There is especially an opposition in Rodriguez?s home because his parents are poorly educated Mexicans. His home is filled with Spanish vernacular and English filled with many grammatical errors. Also, the home is filled with emotions and impetuosity, whereas the classroom lacks emotion and the teachers accentuate rational thinking and reflectiveness.
Cultural differences pose several barriers for students and may impair their opportunity to learn. These barriers are created by differences in language expression, communication style, preferred learning style, gender-role customs and behaviors, and limited parental involvement due to these cultural or socioeconomic barriers (Ralabate, & Klotz, 2007).
It has been shown time and time again that a child’s family and background plays a substantial role in the future of a child. There have been a plethora of studies regarding the idea that students with a higher cultural capital, such as middle-class children, receive more assistance from teachers or rather just simply do better in their classes. It has been demonstrated that many of these middle-class students were instilled with this sense of entitlement and with that they have no fears of being looked down upon because they have been encouraged to speak out.
Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” claims that students from different social classes are treated differently in schools. Anyon’s article is about a study she conducted to show how fifth graders from the working, middle, and upper class are taught differently. In Anyon’s article, she provides information to support the claim that children from different social classes are not given the same opportunities in education. It is clear that students with different socio-economic statuses are treated differently in academic settings. The curriculum in most schools is based on the social class that the students belong to. The work is laid out based on academic professionals’ assumptions of students’ knowledge. Teachers and educational professionals assume a student’s knowledge based on their socio-economic status.
Generally, Chinese education is focused on repetition and memorization. Chinese students spend more time on study to improve their memory. We frequently hear that how Chinese parents treat their children like a slave, which is not true. A slave is someone who is the property of another person and has to work for that person, but Chinese parents didn’t want any return from their children. According to the article “Two Kinds”, Tan’s mother claims that “trade housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for Tan”(Tan 3). Tan’s mother proved all her effort to provide Tan a better life. When Tan failed, her mother would silence for disappointment so that Tan would discover her mistake for improvement. Her mother was upset than anyone else. Besides, Chua has the similar feeling when her daughter fails. They know t...
The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.
Just like Richard Rodriguez one can have struggles with school and home, for instance at home one is taught to speak their mind, told that everyone will understand. At home formal does not exist; serious and organized is an option. Yet at school one must learn to think before speaking, to raise your hand and to make sure you sound just like everyone else. At school one is taught to not make a fool out of themselves, to be serious and formal to be just like everybody else. But yet again as a student, although one has been taught to be like everyone else, one can still feel like an outsider, like Rodriguez describes you still don’t fit in. As a student one must learn the difference between formal and informal and when to use both, for some students like me formal and serious might be the only way to socialize. And just like Rodriguez one
Empiricists and rationalists have proposed opposing theories of the acquisition of knowledge, which appear unable to coexist. Each theory holds its own strengths but does not demonstrate a strong argument in itself to the questions, “Is knowledge truly possible?” and “How is true knowledge obtained?”. Immanual Kant successfully merged the two philosophies and provided a convincing argument with his theory of empirical relativism, or what some may call constructivism. His theory bridges the gap between rationalism and empiricism and proves that empiricists and rationalists each present a piece of the full puzzle. In order to truly understand Kant’s epistemology, one must first review and understand both empiricism and rationalism on an impartial basis.
There are approximately “20 percent of Americans in the lower class” (Long, Social Class Stratification, 18). In contrast with these 20% of Americans a long with the other 80% are a lot of differences when it comes to learning in the classroom. According to Lee Warren of Harvard University, “In many parts of the country, class differences are sharply defined by accent: people talk like the neighborhood they came from”(Class in the Classroom, 2) where as someone from a more “run-down” neighborhood might have a less sophisticated vocabulary, just because they do not speak that way on a daily basis. However, that is all stereotypical. People “wrongly anticipate the knowledge or potential of specific classes of children” and as a result “children from high-class families are sometimes viewed as being more intelligent than those from lower social classes” (Social Class-Effects 1), which is not right at all. The amount of mo...
The lower class student’s major issue with learning in class is a shortage of confidence based on real or apparent weakness in the home environment. These students often feel undesirable. They are very aware of the class in which they come from and of the place and position people classify them under, they often feel the urge to hide their background. Students that are categorized in this particular class frequently come to school with a lower level of academic skills and involvedness than their peers that are categorized in the midd...
Bourdieu (1974) argues that the education system is biased towards those from middle and upper-class backgrounds. The culture of the ‘dominant classes’; the upper-classes, is imposed on young people in education, pupils from the upper-classes have an advantage as they have been socialised into the dominant culture and acquired skills and knowledge relevant to learning before entering the education system. These young people possess ‘cultural capital’; cultural capital includes mannerisms, a knowledge of creative and artistic parts of culture, the closer a young person presents themselves and their work to the style of the dominant classes the more likely they are to succeed as teachers are influenced by cultural capital. Also the grammar used by teachers disadvantages working class pupils as they cannot understand it. Bernstein (1961) argues teachers use elaborated speech codes; which is detailed and explanatory, working-class pupils are limited to using restricted codes; clear-cut and easy to understand speech, whereas middle an...
The theory I find myself agreeing with the most is the constructivist approach because it is a balance between teacher and student. As a future teacher, I feel it important to have some say in the running of my classroom but I also want the students to feel it is also their classroom. The constructivist approach allows the teacher and students to work as a team but under the direction of the teacher. The teacher provides direction in how the classroom environment should be established, what content will be covered, and conflict resolution. The students are still given options to choose from in each of these category so they feel in control of the learning experience and environment.
Constructivism is a method that says students learn by building their schema by adding to their prior knowledge by the use of scaffolding (Rhinehart Neas). Because the students are basically teaching themselves new information, the teacher is there mainly for support and guidance for the students.
Among many teaching styles and learning theories, there is one that is becoming more popular, the constructivist theory. The constructivist theory focuses on the way a person learns, a constructivist believes that the person will learn better when he/she is actively engaged. The person acts or views objects and events in their environment, in the process, this person then understands and learns from the object or events(P. Johnson, 2004). When we encounter a certain experience in our life, we think back to other things that have occurred in our life and use that to tackle this experience. In a lot of cases, we are creators of our own knowledge. In a classroom, the constructivist theory encourages more hands-on assignments or real-world situations, such as, experiments in science and math real-world problem solving. A constructivist teacher constantly checks up on the student, asking them to reflect what they are learning from this activity. The teacher should be keeping track on how they approached similar situations and help them build on that. The students can actually learning how to learn in a well-planned classroom. Many people look at this learning style as a spiral, the student is constantly learning from each new experience and their ideas become more complex and develop stronger abilities to integrate this information(P. Johnson, 2004). An example of a constructivist classroom would be, the student is in science class and everyone is asking questions, although the teacher knows the answer, instead of just giving it to them, she attempts to get the students to think through their knowledge and try to come up with a logical answer. A problem with this method of learning is that people believe that it is excusing the role of...