I think that socioeconomic status is going to be the most complicated topic that I will have to deal with in the classroom.
Money is such a weird, all-encompassing thing anyway. It's the one thing everyone thinks about, regardless of position in society. Most people who have enough still try to figure out how to achieve more to make more, and the people who don't are constantly forced to try to figure out how to stretch what they do have in the hopes of filling the gap. And the difference between the two positions just keeps growing.
What happens when you have both extremes in your classroom? There are schools that border both affluent and poor neighborhoods; how do we help our students reconcile the differences and help them to understand that money or no money, although their income level is a part of who they are, it doesn't tell their whole story?
Our country operates on the dream that if you work hard you can climb to the top. While I think that this is a legitimate concept, I also think it can perpetuate shame and embarrassment for those who have no control over their economic circumstances, and I would hope that the kids who come from poverty-stricken homes can separate who they are inside from how much money their families have. Somehow, shame has a way of attaching itself to a person for life, and no child deserves to carry that weight.
As a teacher, I know that one of the most important things I can do is to recognize levels of income and poverty and the way it shapes us. It will be essential in order to facilitate confident learning. So, once again, the question is, how? One step at a time. We do what we can do, and know that the process is the progress.
KaLoni,
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point that money is everywhere and is in the lives of us all. It is a unifying commodity, yet, it destroys the lives of so many people when desperation and greed become.
I wonder what steps we could be taking on in the classroom as a teacher to build a positive community where a negative one exists. Obviously it is a topic to teach about. But I am wondering which part of money I will be teaching. I figure it will depend on my student community and what interests them. Will I be ready to talk with my students about this? How much should I know about money before I start talking about it? What are my views on money and how will these affect the way I teach and the information I share? I still have so much more to learn!