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Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore
With respect, do you have empirical data to back this claim up? As a teacher, I work with many children from 'lower' socio-economic categories (or let's be frank and call out the elephant in the room and call them 'classes'). I don't see a trend in who gets encouragement to read and who doesn't. Plenty of lower class kids are encouraged to read (and some actually do) and plenty of upper class kids don't get that encouragement. The "I'm not gonna read when I leave college" attitude is quite prevalent, but it carries with it the implication that its bearer is going to college.
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You will recognize a generality for what it is, and your point is well taken. I taught chemistry, physics and math in a rural midwest high school with a few upper-middle class families and a predominance of farming and mining. My class sizes then were small by today's standards and my sample size was not large.
What I found was that, almost without exception, children of professionals were the better students. It was expected of them by their parents who valued education highly. I had many good students from the rural sector as well. But almost without exception, my academically poorer students came from dysfunctional, lower 'class' (your choice of terminology) families in which education was not valued as highly, or from single parent households in which the student was not adequately monitored (two jobs or graveyard shifts by the parent). No doubt poor students can originate from dysfunctional upper class families and vice versa. I'm not throwing rocks at lower classes by any means - my wife is the daughter of a share cropper who worked his way out of incredible poverty.
My own background is the other side of the coin. I grew up in an upper-middle class suburb devoid of many working class families. There were 576 graduating seniors in my high school class and 97% of us went on to college. High academic achievement was assumed by our parents and failure to turn in homework or study for tests was quickly dealt with by parents who recognized the value of higher education.
The key is parental involvement, as any teacher knows. Without parental support, it is a rare student who can self-motivate and a prized teacher who can fulfill that role in a student's life. In my experience, the observed probability of parental support is higher in families which value education and in which education has had a positive impact on their lives. And, yes, we don't always measure value in terms of money.
I have been out of lower levels of education for many years. But I can tell you that most colleges and universities would never consider a student for enrollment with the average SAT scores we are seeing. It is also telling that a look at the student body enrollment of our best schools is showing an increase in foreign and 'green card' students relative to our own in the U.S. Motivation is still the key, and it begins with reading at the very earliest ages.
Are lower classes more or less likely to encourage reading? Perhaps that has changed in recent years with the advent of electronic devices that are unaffordable to lower classes where books are free at the library. Perhaps the dynamics have changed from my experience and perception of years past. Thanks for your comments. I'm always willing to take another look.
