Social Class Differences in Enrichment Programs

This research, based on participant observation in four enrichment programs, argues that students from working class families are not given equal attention, treatment, opportunities or guidance as those of middle class backgrounds. The research compared two Hamilton Hill after school programs to two summer enrichment programs whose high cost restricted them to middle class families. I argue that schools adopt middle class assumptions about children and thus do not reflect cultural values or systems of students from working class families, who perceive authority differently and have been socialized in a community plagued by violence, crime, and lack of economic resources. Middle class children are more likely to come to school with "cultural capital," that is, ways of behaving and kinds of knowledge recognized as legitimate by teachers.  Working class children come to school with many valuable skills but these kinds of behaviors are less recognized by teachers. Based on a review of the literature and participant observation in four programs, I argue that children from different socioeconomic backgrounds are socialized to different assumptions about authority by the time they reach school and teaching methods should be adapted to these differences.  Educators must learn to take into account the diverse range of students in the classroom and be sensitive to the many perspectives of each child in order to effectively teach and help bridge the achievement gap.