Chelsea Volkart - Blog 6

Much of Chapter 6 discusses the agents of socialization which are the social structures in which socialization occurs (161), specifically within the school setting.  Of the topics explored throughout the chapter, I thought the idea of streaming was really interesting. According to the text, streaming is refers to the series of courses a student should take that best match their abilities and aptitudes (167) however as I reflect back on my high school experience, I feel as though no teacher correctly guided me towards taking courses that were appropriately challenging for me.  

I am a product of the pre-calculus math curriculum. Was this course appropriately challenging for me?... probably not, especially since I took math every semester in high school (not by choice).  There are a few reasons to why I think I did not want to transfer into a more applied math stream (169) each time I unsuccessfully completed the course. The first reason is that I did not want to admit failure; I am a competitive person, so naturally I have too much pride to admit defeat. Secondly, no teacher ever gave me any advice on what an appropriate stream was for me. Lastly, and most importantly, there was a social stigma (171) associated with taking consumer math. I remember thinking about how many of the students in the consumer math classes is what I perceived as the “deviants” (184) and I most definitely did not want to be associated with this social grouping (172) or risk change in my social identity (183). In hindsight, I realize how ridiculous this sounds however as a future educator I need to be mindful of the influence that the opinions of students peers have on their decisions.

Discussion Question: How to we ensure that we adequately and appropriately guide and challenge our students while also ensuring that we are respectful of the effect that our influence can have on a students’ social identity?