Reading 2

American Education - Spring
Chapters 2 & 3
My mind keeps going back to a conversation I had with a Canadian who was born very poor and through scholarships in the Canadian education system has become a very affluent actuary in San Francisco. When I explained to him that some cultures do not understand the importance of education he told me this was a foreign concept to him. As I agreed with him (having also grown up poor and through scholarship and educataion have far outsurpassed my parents income) I understood his bafflement. It is ironic that what the we have experience with as a tool for success others consider a waste of time. I fully agree that home and cultural beliefs will shape the feelings about school creating a perpetual system of hating school, doing poorly, making little, then raising kids with the same beliefs.

Some come to realize later in life that they should have paid attention when the school was free (as my husband's high school friend who is up for promotion in the Army has)

I found the statistics on Gender inequality highly biased. First a true measurement of comparison would be to compare men with women without children. Even more specifically with job choices mothers make for availability and flexibility in exchange for monetary gains. Similarly the professional degree is too broad in that a man or woman entering the teaching field would make less than anyone entering the management or marketing field. Instead of such biased statistics I think a better representation should be made to prove the point. Oh and please stop using up as a verb.

What I found interesting was the jump in the Asian earnings that made it equivalent to White workers. The obvious answer is the fields chosen. These statistics are so pathetical misleading I can't take them seriously.

As an aside I'd like to note that I just read that USA is the ONLY country in the world to differentiate race and ethnicity as two separate things.

I'd also like to take the time to note that I consider it offensive that the term working class which implies that those of use who earn more do not "work"

Oh and advantage isn't a verb either.

from my experience the lower class that I knew didn't remotely display powerlessness at school. In fact I have found that the poorest of the students had the most vocal of parents. This excludes those who do not speak English well.

Is the data used to suggest that the basis of entering the school is a limiting factor? Or is the home (which feasibly is continued through the school years) culture the limiting factor?

The poor are not getting poorer. the discrepancy in the income may be greater but they increase every year just as the highest level did.

Robin Hood failed. Friends who were bussed succeeded no matter what school they were sent to. The colossal failure in Kansas City supports this. Which leads me to chapter 3 where the (not even implied but explicitly stated)

I find it interesting that much of the resistance to inclusion comes from the parents of the special needs children with respect to the perceived needs of their child. I wonder how a person so concerned with the educational opportunity cannot favor a school voucher system.

How would the author explain the available funds, opportunity and ability of poorer San Antonio school districts on par with others and still with lower graduation rates, etc.?

Cultural Studies - Barker
Chapter 2

Wow how incredibly leading these questions are. Not that the Marxist views failed because they didn't account for true human nature or failed reasoning but on the inability of the people to understand their ideas.

I'll tell you what speak louder and slower and maybe I'll agree.

I disagree with the assertion that culture is not produced by the people if capitalism seeks to expand the audience. It may be the case that the culture is not utilized to the fullest by all portions of the society but that doesn't mean it wasn't initially created by a subgroup that many members of the society would appreciate.

I choose not to partake in the mass popular culture not because of the capitalist nature but because I think it infringes on my free choice of what *I* find entertaining. i also think there is intense pressure to like or dislike a topic based on popular consent and less on personal opinion. It removes the critical thinking of the society. I don't think of it as "left over" at all. I think it falls more in the domain of spoon-feeding. In fact I am likely to choose never to read a book or watch a movie based on the many people who read it (yet cannot critically discuss it).

I think popular culture is the new opiate of the masses. In addition all this is relative. While a man may make all the money, this does not mean that the man is dominating the woman. And I find a major dominating class to be those of educational elite who are pushing their ideas on those of us who disagree because they have a string of letters after their name even though they may not be as well read or hold a depth of knowledge any deeper than the rest of us.

How has popular culture incorrectly identified with the beliefs and behavior of the masses and how has that affected the society?