Exploring Understanding of Critical Educational Theory to Analyse a Case Study from Community and Youth Work Practice.

Social class refers to the system of stratification of the different groups of people in a society. Social class makes everyone’s lives extremely different. So does education. Not surprisingly, affluent students in well-off school districts have higher rates of high school graduation, college attendance and entry to the more selective colleges. This has little to do with intelligence or ability. Statistics provided by the College Board for 2013, suggest that having more money is the key to getting

Not one of us gets the choice of what socioeconomic class we are born into. So, each one of us has to make the most of what we have. Some people think that it doesn’t matter what class you are born into. If you truly want to succeed in life you can do so and climb your way up the socioeconomic ladder. To do this it will take hard work, and making sacrifices that not everyone is willing to make, such as buying things used and working multiple jobs. Others believe it is impossible to climb that ladder with all the hurdles and barriers you encounter at a young age. So, they do what they can to better their children’s chances of climbing up the socioeconomic ladder.

Throughout time one of the most obvious class markers has been education and it still remains so. People who belong to the higher classes view education as a higher priority and have more access to the best school in the country. When stuck in lower classes people must attend schools where books, computers, and education are not found at the same level. An article in the Atantic Times mentions that “ Kids who belong to lower social classes fell behind children in the upper classes by about a year or so.” Today, that gap is close to four years.” For those in the upper class their kids are placed in an abundance of classes from an early age such as foreign language, art, and many sports. Children who are in lower classes have no way of getting a head start when compared to children in higher classes Sarah Garland also mentions how “ When children have plenty of time to build social skills and bigger vocabularies in short term reduce their chances of

Education gives guidance to adolescent minds and teaches them to be a good contributing citizen. Jimmy’s high school years were challenging due to his illiteracy; academics became a problem, though he thrived on extracurricular activities like football. “I hated books, I hated reading, I hated everything about school except football (Baca 28).” Jimmy feels segregated from his classmates. Not only, are his classmates wealthy students with social status. But also Jimmy believes he is they property of the state, so he believes no one cares about his well

I absolutely think that social class interacts with school goals/functions and the conflicts they experience. Very often a school will have a focus like sports or art and it is what their funding is mostly used for. My own high school was focused on sports over everything. If you were a student athlete you received extra attention and constant help to make sure your grades were passing. To be involved in sports you needed to be able to afford to participate and buy equipment. You also needed access to transportation to make it to events and many athletes’ parents were very involved in helping and being at the school. There was almost an entire network to support athletes, but it was mostly exclusive to athletes. If you could not afford to be

Having the privilege to be rank in the highest level of the social class, upper class “children will go to good colleges and get better jobs” than those who are part of the minority group. Being part of the upper class allows the children of this group to become more prestige within the society. The upper class children will have the opportunity to enhance their intellectuality and become someone with a better future. Due to their advanced language, the

Despite the need to develop youth as ultimately possible, society treats them in nonchalant and irresponsible ways. American schools are currently failing to provide our students with an substantial education. Many public school facilities are out of date, and not prepared to handle the ever

Critical pedagogy is looking beyond the surface level of education, instead liberating education. Rather than a transfer of information students use cognitive thinking to truly dissect a topic to its root meaning to truly understand the lesson being taught. Through critical pedagogy we can create a more authentic society opposed to a “static reality” as Freire states, which is an important contributor to developing global citizens. I could relate to this topic because from my experience, when I understand the logic behind a concept I naturally formulate the facts

In today’s current school systems, the question of whether or not schools are correctly teaching students the right curriculum is coming up for debate. In the Article,"Teaching Critical Thinking by Marcia Clemmitt, she goes into extensive research of the U.S. Department of Education’s crisis of standardized testing. Most learning activities include standardized testing which lacks many students to express creative and critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as the examination and evaluation of ideas, events and arguments in their contexts which introduces students to interrogate assumptions and identifying biases (Clemmitt)Pure critical thinking involves investigating a text more than just memorizing, but to apply theirself in other ways of techniques, meaning schools should stimulate more analytical methods of teaching. This would not only free students from a sheltered test culture,but will allow students to think in a deeper,more passionate way than before.

Developing this is a two-step process that involves learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions and taking action against oppression elements. It is a process through which people come to an understanding of power, empowerment, and oppression”. In my own words, critical consciousness is realizing that everyone is different and being okay with it. It is trying to grasp an understanding of the world and understanding social and political contradictions. Critical Consciousness is realizing that everyone is different and being okay with

Therefore, we use critical literacy and inquiry as a way to student invent and re-invent ideas “with the world and with each other” (Freire, 2007, p.72). We use an inquiry cycle combined with critical pedagogy (question, research, social action, and reflection) to collaboratively examine, through the use of multi-sign systems, various questions that pertain directly to the students’ lives. Without a focus on the students lives’, students cannot bring a sense of agency to the work of learning. These cycles are co-constructed with students with the purpose of increasing self-efficacy, purposeful community involvement, and engagement through relevance. Additionally, these cycles employ Universal Design, providing entry points for students who are linguistically diverse and/or in of additional academic

However Parsons (1961) argues that schools are equal, they are meritocratic, status is achieved on the basis of merit, and performance is measured with exams. All pupils are treated the same regardless of

Magolda gives an overview of the participant’s college journeys to provide context fro their journey through their twenties, and he closes it with the participants standing at the threshold of self authorship. Higher education has a role in stewarding the transformation – establishing an internal belief system and a sense of self from which to join others in mutual relationships was the central challenge the participants faced in their twenties. Parks Daloz and Keen wrote “the deep purpose of higher education is to steward this transformation so that students and faculty together continually move from naiveté through scepticism to commitment rather than becoming trapped in mere relativism and cynicism.” Despite the difficulty of the transformation throughout these crucial years in contemporary society, self authorship has never been greater. The diversity of our society and the global community requires that we be able to appreciate and work effectively with multiple perspectives. The recognition of inequity demands that we revaluate the balance of our individual goals and our responsibility to the community. Self authorship is necessary not only for survival in the 21st century but for the ability to offer leadership to model new forms of adult life and citizenship. Higher education has a responsibility to help

When a child is born to a low-income family, it is most likely that the child does not rise beyond the middle class. The child's education and career choice are highly affected by the economic status. Parents are usually unable to cater for the educational needs of the child, which mostly results in a bad performance. The schooling affects what the person may be aspiring to become in future. When a child succeeds in education and career, there is a chance for him or her to improve his or her social status.

Typically, middle class favour high decile or high socioeconomic status schools, leaving working class to attend those lower deciles schools. Therefore, these high decile schools usually have more access to funding through donations from parents to the school, compared to low decile schools who have limited access to funding from parental donations, as these are working class families, who have less access to disposable income to put towards education (Stephens, Markus, Fryberg, 2012). This has a large impact on the amount of academic resources these schools have access to, such as textbooks, technology, recreational facilities, as well as creating welcoming environmental conditions. As high decile schools have larger access to parental funding from middle class parents, they have a greater access to these resources which increase achievement level of the students (Stephens, Markus, Fryberg, 2012). As lower decile schools, do not receive the same quantity of funding, they are not able to access the same amount of resources to build the same achievement levels, therefore middle class are not encouraged to attend lower decile schooling. Class and the decile of the school impacts on the teacher’s schools have access to, therefore contributing to the education sector. Low decile schools in working class areas tend to have access to teachers who have less qualifications, and less experience, than their