Everyone who grew up in America should be culturally literate and given the chance to succeed in this country. That however is not always the case and if you come from an ethnic background they odds are usually stacked against you. Society of this nature is wrong but the sad truth is this is how our culture operates. A person from a lower socioeconomic status is going to have to work harder to overcome obstacles set in place by our society to become culturally literate. This type of segregation is harmful for our progress to become a unified country where everyone truly has an equal chance of succeeding.
In “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” an autobiographical account of bell hooks experiences at college. She had to overcome the issue of her race and the fact that she came from a lower social economic class. Both of these components made her feel out of place at college and she found it very difficult trying to belong there.
bell hooks first went to a nearby all girls college that had mostly all white students. She made a friend but her friend envied the high “class” girls. bell hooks “desired” nothing that they had while her friend did. Most girls tried to blend in by using their beauty or style but bell hooks is black and automatically placed as an outcast by her peers.
After her first year her English professor suggested that she go to Stanford University. She was told that the “desire” of going to Stanford was impossible to achieve. Money would be an issue to her family.
When she got to Stanford she thought she could learn about “class” because the college was founded to teach those of all equal class. But it did not turn out that way. There were black professors who she found elitist and who only cared about teaching to other elites. Since hooks was poor and had no “class” she fell into the “shadows”.
bell hooks came to realize that there was no place for low class folks in the academic world. They could join it but would have to leave their past behind to succeed. The students who did not forget, did not last in college. hooks made it because she was taught that hard work, honesty and respect for everyone no matter your class was the most important value to have. She graduated with her “class” intact.
Growing up in central Kansas I did not experience much cultural diversity. Coming from a white middle class family and going to a small rural school with very few minorities there was little cultural difference in my life. The public education gave me a good education and was sent on my way to follow my life long dreams. Never having overcome the challenge of being different or coming from a poor family I had it easy. Connecting with others who had a hard life is challenging for me but I don’t see why anybody should receive a different education just based on where they came from are who they are.
“Preparing Minds for Markets” by Jonathan Kozol writes about the public education systems in urban school in America and how they are preparing students to enter the work force right after school. Some students are not given the choice to pursue a college education. Schools with a curriculum that is job orientated have a large ethic majority of students. Are students who are being taught this way being trapped into lower paying jobs?
Job focused education is starting in the kindergarten classroom where the students are asked what kind of a manager’s job they want. Kozol is taking back in the fact that there is no option for choosing a job of a teacher or an engineer’s job. The principal at this school wanted the children to understand that they could become mangers in this country no matter what they have done, as long as they work hard to get to their goals. That meant even if they had a felony they could overcome that obstacle.
The students are sometimes mentioned as “products” and they work skills they have learned. Kozol wonders if students should be viewed this way and worries that some students would be viewed as a bad investments. The schools in poor neighbor hoods usually settle for a different set of goals than schools have children from middle class families. These curriculums are sometimes swayed by local corporations to adapt the curriculum to their needs. There are schools with posters from corporations covering the walls.
All students need to be given the chance to complete the same quality of education curriculum no matter their social economical class.
Nothing should limit any persons educational opportunities in America. Everyone needs an education to help contribute to society. When there are uneducated people in America who should we blame? Did they fail the education system or did the education system fail them? When these citizen who did not receive an education, there are even instances of people not being able to read, how can they better our culture and society when they are not even a part of it.
The essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”, written by Jonathan Kozol, centers on the challenges and fears that an illiterate person faces living in the American society. He asks why our society and government has failed these individuals while other poorer countries have higher literacy rates than America.
Kozol shows how an Illiterate faces several challenges a day, from trying to read a menu at a restaurant to not being able to read a pill bottle or pay their bills. Even trying to keep a job of a janitor is hard for an illiterate. If they get left a note to do something they cannot read and will not be able to complete the task.
The author tells of how illiterates are afraid of many situations. Travel for illiterates is something most of them fear because if they get lost there is no way for them to read the street signs or read a map. If their child starts choking they cannot open the phonebook and look up the number to the hospital.
Kozol calls illiterates “half-citizens” because they do not know what rights they have so they cannot exercise them. Kozol states that the government keeps “malign neglecting” these citizens. He says that belief in our country’s “democracy” is not true when there are half citizens out there who are illiterate.
We need to treat everyone equally regardless of race, sex, and class. When we don’t we give those people disadvantages that not everyone can overcome and when they don’t they become culturally illiterate. How is a person in our society who does not fit in or understand our culture supposed to succeed? There is no simple solution to this problem but our current method is not working and needs to be changed.
