Blog Post #8

 Until reading Patrick Finn’s Literacy With An Attitude, I hadn’t thought much about how different the working-class vs elite education systems are. According to Finn, there are two kinds of schooling in America: one that empowers and one that domesticates.

Finn describes how working-class schools tend to focus on discipline, obedience, and routine, while more affluent schools teach creativity and critical thought. This is described in the quote, “In the affluent professional school, work was not repetitious and mechanical, as it was in the working-class school.” This made me think a little bit about the school visits I’ve done in both this class and FNED 101. Despite the creativity that is seemingly present in the classrooms I visit, the work is all still very formulaic. This type of work, along with a "push them along" attitude, keeps children at lower reading and math levels.

   What is really crazy to me is how subtle these differences are. Teachers might believe they’re maintaining order or helping students succeed, but they’re also deciding who gets to think critically and who just learns to comply. This makes me think about my future as a teacher, and wonder what kind of strategies I can use to help my students think more critically.