Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Our Staggering Class Divide Starts With Childrearing (Joan Williams)

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

There is a truth in this article and an even deeper lie. The truth is that upper class children are educated differently than lower class children. "The ideology of natural growth prevalent among the poor and the working class contrasts with the 'concerted cultivation' of the professional elite.... Concerted cultivation is the rehearsal for a life of work devotion: the time pressure, the intense competition, the exhaustion with it all, the ethic of putting work before family." The suggestion nhere is that if we taught poor people to increase their drive, they would be successful to. But Larry Cuban calls this out as a lie (I think). In fact, the other big difference between upper class and lower class children is that the upper class children are rich. They can afford to be independent. They don't have to be respectful. 

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 23, 2024 01:15 a.m.

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