A Social Chain Reaction

What will you pass on?

Mother Teresa once said, "We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." In other words, the kindness of a smile passes from one person to the other, and they in turn pass it on to more people. Seeing someone smile at them can make someone forget about the driver who cut them off or it can lighten the load of stress. They in turn pass on that positive feeling to someone else.

 

Sadly, many people go days or even weeks without smiling. They become used to the stress and negativity around them, that it becomes contagious. A boss's bad mood passes on to his or her employees and those employees in turn, come home with that bad mood who then spread it to their family members. It's not only moods and vibes that are going around, but things like power struggle, rules, and forms of communication also spread.

 

For example, a working class parent gets used to taking orders and being told what to do. What do they do when they get home? They tell their children what to do. Children are of course supposed to be told what to do, but the difference is that they get it in the form of an order. And schools know this.

 

According to Jean Anyon's study, "Social Class and School Knowledge." Schools teach different kinds of knowledge and in different ways, depending on the social class. She went to several middle schools, each in a specific social class; then asked the students questions about knowledge. Think of how you (as a reader) would respond to these questions:

What is knowledge?
Where does it come from?
Can you make knowledge or is it already made?

Anyon noted several findings about what the students in each social class responded. For the working class, she explained how "resistance" was a dominant theme.

I have seen this student resistance when I was in middle school. I had ended up in ESL during my sixth and seventh grade year and so I had students in my class who really didn't care about their education. They didn't care about vocabulary or grammar. Despite all of that I was the only one who actually wanted to improve and get out of ESL. Everyone else just wasted time because they didn't want to be there. But there were times where no one responded to the teacher's questions. Sometimes they took a more active resistance where the students would insult the teacher or bring a can of deodorant spray. (My teacher had a delicate Asthma condition.) So my teacher's well-being and safety was at risk, it was common for her to run out of the room gasping for fresh air. She even had to be taken to the hospital a few times.

But most of the knowledge as Anyon said, "[was] fragmented facts, isolated from context and connection," as well as "practical knowledge." But why is this kind of knowledge chosen for working class schools, instead of the middle class's "possibility" or "individuality" theme? Where does the student's resistance come from?

Working or lower class students live with parents or a parent who struggle to get by. Most of the time, these adults have given up on moving to a better class. They settle for order-dominated work environments and that attitude is transferred to the students, who's teachers have given up on them. The students give up like the adults around them and they begin to fight against the rules that bind them to where they are at. Instead of using that desire for change to improve their lives, they use it in a counter-productive way.

I believe that in order for the students of the working class to change, the adults surrounding them need to change. Children learn from the adults in their lives, and that child sees that everyone is giving up. They will inevitably give up themselves. Then what else is left for them to do? Blame the world around them and resist.

Parents need to encourage their children to work hard in school, and teachers should never give up on or give in to their students. They should pass on Mother Teresa's smile and hope. Yes, it may sound corny and unreal; but truth often takes on those characteristics. We need to think of everything else as something that can be passed on, our opinions, our hate, our positive attitudes, our ethics; it is all passed on from person to person, most of the time without realizing it. But it is up to us to be aware and choose the lasting impression that end up giving.

-Abel Mendoza