The majority of
my education has taken place within three schools: Dr. David W. Kislter Elementary School,
St. Nicholas/ St. Mary’s Catholic Elementary School and E.L. Meyers High
School. It's difficult for me to put each of these schools into the categories
discussed in Jean Anyons's research.
They mostly seem to fit the criteria of the "middle-class" education
systems. However as expected, there have been special circumstances and teachers
who have enhanced my experiences beyond what is expected of Middle Class
schools. Also, I must say that other factors related to my economic class
standing have affected my overall education.
I'm
not sure if this is proper to state, but my family is comfortably in the high
middle class. I say this not to needlessly brag; I simply want to provide some
context as to what conditions I grew up in. For example, my mother was able to
stay home with me for most of my childhood; she provided countless early
teaching experiences. My family was able to afford many different books and
other sources of learning. Overall, I was fortunate to enter the education
system with a family atmosphere highly supportive and conducive to education.
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| Thanks Family :^D Haha |
I
attended Kistler from kindergarten to six grade. Like stated earlier, this
school could be loosely placed in the middle class spectrum of Anyon’s
assessments. The area surrounding the school, Wilkes-Barre, is quite a diverse
district, i.e. it has a wide range of social, economic and ethnic groups.
Therefore, the backgrounds of my classmates varied greatly. Being a public
school, Kistler relied on government funding for the classrooms; this limited
the number of creative and technological resources such as those that were
found in Anyon’s “affluent professional schools”. Teachers often didn’t assign
projects that required extra materials or technology, as some students who came
from difficult financial situations couldn’t obtain them. However despite not
going to a school found in an exclusively wealthy area, I didn’t experience the
extreme “procedure” and “mechanical” teaching methods found in the
“working-class schools”. I would say Kistler was on the slightly higher end of
the middle-class school spectrum.
Many
of my fondest memories of schooling took place in Kistler. We went on exciting
field trips and had countless outside educational programs come to our school.
In the classroom, I realize the teachers did follow the criteria rather
closely, but luckily this wasn’t a detriment as a majority of my teachers were very
enthusiastic about their jobs and truly wanted us to learn. I can’t recall any
instances where a teacher treated a student differently due to their background
(economic or otherwise); I believe the diversity of our population created an
egalitarian environment. No school is perfect and perhaps I’m looking back on
the experience through rose colored glasses because my childhood was very
positive. Yet overall, I think I was fortunate to attend Kistler for the
foundation of my education.
For
7th and 8th grade, I attended the small Catholic school
St. Nicholas/ St. Mary’s (commonly called St. Nick’s), also located in
Wilkes-Barre. Attending a private school was an interesting change. My
classmates at St. Nick’s were definitely from more affluent backgrounds.
However, the school itself was not especially wealthy and I noticed little
change in the general teaching practices and methods from Kistler. I did take a
language class for the first time and as expected, a class on Catholicism. The
teachers were just as good and enthusiastic as they were at Kistler. However, I
noticed a strange stigma on public schools held by some teachers and students;
they seemed to view public schools as inferior to private schools.
I
recall one instance where a teacher was telling our class about how bad certain
public schools were in terms of dangerous situations arising. The teacher was a
very nice person and I know she meant no harm or prejudice by these remarks;
she simply didn’t possess personal experience or a well-rounded image of public
schools. Coming from Kistler which had served me well, I felt compelled to
defend public schools. So I raised my hand and said something along the lines
of, “I don’t mean any offense, but I just wanted to say that public schools
aren’t as bad as you think”. The teacher politely responded back to me and we
had a little discussion and all was fine in the end; I just thought it was
interesting how some people seemed so convinced private schools are superior to
public schools.
Don’t
get me wrong, the teachers and students at St. Nick’s didn’t have superiority
complexes or anything and I have no ill feelings towards them at all. It’s hard
for me to explain, but I believe that simply the notion that you’re paying to
go to a school makes you believe (or want to believe) that you are getting “more
for your money”, i.e. a better education. St. Nick’s was a good school; I
learned a great deal while making some awesome new friends. It really wasn’t
much different from Kistler’s way and quality of teaching which I found
interesting given the whole public versus private situation. I’m sure public
and private school comparisons vary across the nation; this is just my
experience.
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| St. Nick's (Photo Credit:http://www.snsmschoolwb.com/mission) |
Meyers
is about a five minute walk from Kistler and presents the same middle-class
education dynamics with some changes due to it being a high school. Since high
school is obviously geared towards teens, teachers put more accountability on
the students to get their work done and to know the material. In this way, I
noticed that it was much easier for students to “slip through the cracks” if
they couldn’t keep up or didn’t want to do what was expected. Teachers still
cared about their students and wanted them to succeed. However, we were
understandably expected to act like young adults and take responsibility in our
education.
If
I had to sum up Meyers in one phrase it would be this: It was what you made it.
Meyers had some excellent teachers who would really go beyond the curriculum to
give you the best education possible. The school also offered many good clubs,
sports, organizations and events for students to take advantage of. Yet, no one
was going to make you engage in the classroom or participate in programs. You
had to want a good education. Sure there was that general school encouragement
and that the pressure to obtain high grades for future endeavors past
graduation, but the main motivation had to be created by you.
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| Meyers (Photo Credit:http://meyersclassof83.homestead.com/files/meyfront2.jpg) |
In
the end, I’m glad I went to the schools that I did. I received a very good
education from kindergarten to my senior year. Yet, it cannot be ignored that
so many other circumstances were in my favor that led to my fulfilling
education. Perhaps due largely to my family’s comfortable economic position, I
was able study and grow up without the stressors of living in or near poverty,
such as hunger, illness and general family tensions. I’m not saying that those
in poverty aren’t capable of succeeding in education, only it is undeniably
much more difficult. Overall, I was lucky enough that my economic position didn’t
prevent me from getting a well-rounded education; this also gave me the freedom
to essentially pursue any career.
The
mechanisms of education are extremely complicated but I hope I was able to
provide some sort of insight with my personal experiences.
