And because a high school education was not "automatic" for the students in Ireland, if McCourt and his classmates wanted to further their education, they had to prove themselves worthy of it by passing tests and taking extra exams to fulfill entrance requirements. .
It is no wonder then, that when McCourt secures a teaching position at McKee Vocational High School on Staten Island that there are differences in schooling as compared to his childhood. These differences affect him the most since he has something to compare these new experiences to. The students are not quite aware of any other way of "learning"; they are used to the unruliness and disorganization. In fact, the students often try to sabotage McCourt's daily lessons by continually interrupting him, asking questions, and denying that they were ever given books for their courses. For McCourt this inequality is obvious, but for the students it isn't. The students use every opportunity to distract the teacher from actually teaching and even encourage him not to come to work. But for them, it was this way with all the teachers the students were there because they had to be, not because they wanted to be.
Sociological Concept #1-Cultural Capital.
As defined in class, cultural capital is the general background, knowledge, disposition and skills that are passed through one generation to another (Soc 413 Lecture, 9-17-03). It is this concept that is pervasive throughout this book. Placing a teacher that has been brought up in Ireland with different values with students from the poor boroughs of New York forces the reader to take note of the differences in cultural capital. For example, the first day that McCourt shows up to teach, students jostle him in the school hallway. "They push and scuffle and laugh. Don't they know I"m a teacher?" he thinks. He compares that "schoolmasters in Limerick would never tolerate this carry-on.
