My Education Experience

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.

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 7^th and 8^th 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.

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.

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.