Social Predjudice in Schools

Resources: Elvin. H.L. Education In Contemporary Society. London: C.A. Watts and Co. 1968. Fischer, Louis and Donald R. Thomas. Social Foundations of Educational Decisions. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1965. Goldman, Shelley V. and Ray McDermott. “The Culture of Competition in American Schools.” Education and Cultural Progress. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1987. Kottak, Conrad. Mirror for Humanity. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1996. MacLeod, Jay. Ain’t No Makin’ It. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995. Oakes, J. “The Distribution of Knowledge.” Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality. Yale University Press, 1985. Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls. NY: Doubleday, 1994. Spring, Joel. American Education. NY: McGraw-Hill Co., 1994.

e “language” a lower-class student uses at home may cause him to have trouble communicating with his middle-class teacher and classmates. In his book, Ain’t No Makin’ It, Jay MacLeod tells how a group of poor students in a particular school were able to relate to a teacher (Jimmy Sullivan) who spoke their “language.” “ ‘It was cool, cuz like you walk in there…you talk to Jimmy, and you know Jimmy’s real cool,’ ” said one of his students. Related to this “language barrier” that exists between low and middle social classes are behavior differences which affect teachers’ perceptions and expectations of students. Poor and minority students are more likely to be placed in low tracks (Oakes, 64) than middle-class children, probably because teachers misinterpret certain students’ abilities. J. Oakes suggests that one of the reasons this happens is because of the existence of a “hidden curriculum”, one in which teachers’ expectations and judgments are based on subtle behavior traits that are a part of each student’s home life and are brought to the classroom. Many students in lower tracks are placed there because of, according to Oakes, “misbehavior and nonconformity” which teachers associate with slowness (91). So do teachers assume that poor and minority students are misbehaved and non-conforming? In Ain’t No Makin’ It, MacLeod told us that the “Hallway Hangers” (low-income “problem” students who would not behave or conform in school) responded better to the teacher (Jimmy Sullivan) that they identified as being a part of their same social class. The Hallway Hangers respected their teacher because he was raised in the projects where the students now live, he talked the way they did; he was tough and stubborn just like they

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