THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES THE APPARENTLY UNBREACHABLE SOCIOECONOMIC GAP BETWEEN UPPER-MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILIES AND WELFARE FAMILIES WHO LIVE ON ONE BLOCK IN THE WEST SIDE OF MANHATTAN. IN THIS CONTEXT THE ARTICLE CHALLENGES THE MIDDLE-CLASS ORIENTATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE "PHI DELTA KAPPAN," VOLUME 45, NUMBER 2,…

Even though enrollment in elementary schools and national literacy rates have increased greatly in India since its independence in 1949, the number of dropouts and illiterate individuals will also continue to increase unless the needs of the socially disadvantaged are identified and met. The majority of the dropouts and the illiterates belong to…

Though America's students are increasingly diverse, most preservice educators have white, middle-class perspectives and cannot imagine teaching in multicultural urban schools. Six preservice teachers describe their experiences visiting a Harlem school, demonstrating that even brief visits can prompt students to critically examine their implicit…

In a review of historical efforts to improve the condition of the poor by education, it is noted that these attempts failed to lessen the problems of poverty. In the past the capitalist factory system demanded a cheap labor supply and therefore education was viewed only as a necessary vocational preparation. The contemporary issues of poverty and…

Although there are only about 2,000 active speakers of the Hawaiian language, there exists a coherent system of nonverbal behavior which can be identified as Hawaiian and which contrasts sharply with middle class white American behavior. Teachers of Hawaiian children should be aware of this in order to avoid potential misunderstandings in the…

Many white, middle-class teachers tend to dismiss their students' cultures and judge parental involvement by their own behavioral norms. Many nontraditional literary experiences occur as parents and children go about their daily lives. Teachers may also have limited views of parental competence, motivation, and home-school collaboration. Teachers…

The results of Osgood's Semantic Differential Scale, administered to 81 teachers, revealed that teachers saw themselves as "fair, alert, active, good" and, above all, "clean." The fact that these teachers were inclined to see Mexican American, black, and Caucasian students in much the same light (making only minor…

This comparison of values held by junior college freshmen and faculty is part of a larger study being conducted by the ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges to develop guidelines for institutional assessment and/or program development. Part I of this monograph discusses the generation gap as it applies particularly to values and goals of American…

This report offers the results of an effort to trace a value profile of school superintendents, who are distinguished both by a high level of professional education and by a need to relate effectively with those who have a lower level of education. The intent was to examine the growing polarity between a highly educated liberal…

This paper presents a Marxist reply to a philosophical discourse on the role of the "progressive" teacher in the education of children. The position under attack is that teachers themselves, no matter how progressive, are a part of the social hierarchy and impose middle class values on children, thus perpetuating the system. They are, in…

Teachers' social origins influence their reactions to students. Low-status and minority students experience difficulties in the classrooms of high-status teachers. Outcomes of these relationships are that the students are seen as less mature and less is expected of them. A model of teacher-pupil background congruence is proposed. (Author/VM)

THREE SEPARATE STUDIES WERE MADE RELATING TO THE AREA OF RACIAL ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTION. SEVERAL ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLIE THE STUDY--(1) THE CAUCASIAN POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES HARBORS A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF RACIAL PREJUDICE TOWARD NEGROES, (2) URBAN TEACHING STAFFS WHICH ARE DRAWN CHIEFLY FROM CAUCASIAN, MIDDLE-CLASS COMMUNITIES SHARE THE…

STRADDLING TWO CULTURES, MEXICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE HAMPERED BY LANGUAGE BARRIERS AND IDENTITY PROBLEMS. THEIR SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT IS FURTHER HINDERED BY THE CULTURAL GAP WHICH EXISTS BETWEEN THEM AND THEIR ANGLO TEACHERS, AND BY THEIR CHARACTERISTIC NONCOMPETITIVE VALUES. MOREOVER, THE PATRIARCHAL, EXTENDED STRUCTURE OF THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN…

This cross-cultural study of social class and parent involvement in schools brings together data from Boston, Massachusetts, Liverpool, England, and Portugal. Interviews conducted with 350 teachers and low income parents sought to understand the nature and extent of the contacts between schools and families. The perspective was that children grow…