Literacy with an Attitude

                                                              Literacy with an Attitude

Reflection: 

After reading Literacy with an Attitude by Patrick J. Finn I was able to connect with what Finn was arguing on how schools differ based on the social class of the student population. I was fortunate to be able to go to an upper middle to high class school (Ponaganset High School) in an upper middle to high class town (Glocester) so I was able to have the opposite view point of what Finn was stating. In my school critical thinking was promoted in almost every classroom. In addition to this we had pathways at our schools which provided us with different types of classes so you could do something specific to your interests. This allowed students to have strong individualism and have the ability of free choice. This contrasts to working class schools because these students typically are not given much choice in the types of courses they can take. In addition to this the students are not usually challenged to their full abilities. The teachers that are in working class schools are commonly only teaching straight from the textbooks that are for low ability students even though most of the students in the school are not actually low ability students. This stuck out to me significantly because I believe that all students should be challenged to their fullest potential. Students coming from working class families should not have to by default become a working class adult as well. Students should be able to thrive and want to do the best that they can in their future. However, with the school systems not expanding their students' abilities and giving them individualism they are stuck in a box making it difficult for all students to be put to their best ability. 

Reflections/Comments/Questions: 

I believe that as future teachers we need to thrive to push our students no matter what social class that they are from.