I found that through this reading, I was able to gain a little more understanding about the background of various sociological theories and why they affect the educational system.
Reading about concepts such as agency and structure, as well as micro social, meso social, and macro social theories (17) caused me to consider the role that society play in our lives, particularly during our educational experiences. Although I do not completely agree with structure theory, I do believe that as individuals many of us are heavily influenced by our social settings, otherwise things such as fashion trends and pop culture references would not exist. I found it interesting to read about how strongly this affects our educational systems, especially in regard to economic class and status. Terms such as "culture capital" (34) can play a huge role in the educational system. Many teachers strive to show equality to all of their students, however it might not be difficult to show a little more favour to the grade 9 student who actually shows an interest in reading Shakespeare. I believe that because of many scenarios such as this one, it can be difficult for an educator to look beyond the roles that society has placed certain people in.
I found it interesting to read about James Colman's finding that children who have attended private or Catholic schools tend to have higher achievements than those who attended public school (38). I attended a private school from grades K-12, and if I reflect on the attitudes of the students in my classroom, I remember good grades always being of utmost importance. The community involved in the school was strongly connected, and everyone knew everything about everyone else, therefore failure was looked down upon quite heavily. It caused me to realize that many academic institutes have their own social system that influences the education of the students.
Question: How can teachers do their best to avoid labeling students because of their social class?
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