3: Rich kid, Poor kid

When discussing socioeconomic classes and their influence in the classroom, it is natural to talk about the lower classes. The children from home below the poverty line, the ones who may not eat a meal other than their free lunch at school, the ones who do not have regular access to showers, the ones who have to work under the table to help their families make ends meet. This is understandable given that teachers tend to choose the profession in order to help those less fortunate or help kids attain opportunities they did not think would ever be possible, but avoiding prejudice based on socioeconomic status is not only a matter of how to treat the lower classes. Children from upper class families are not in any way immune to social prejudices, especially in classrooms, and it is equally unfair to make assumptions about the homeless children in one's classroom and upper class children.

Chinn discusses the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which allows homeless children to attend school regardless of circumstances beyond their control. However, in California today, homeless children are turned away from public schools because they do not have proof of vaccinations. This makes sense for the well-being of the majority of the children, but it forces schools like the Mustard Seed School of Sacramento to pick up where the system has fallen short and educate these children. A child should not be deprived of the same educational opportunities afforded by our government to all citizens due to the circumstances of his/her family, but that is the reality of the situation. When such children are able to come into a mainstream classroom, they need to learn lessons they might not get anywhere else-- social skills, morals, hygiene. We should be aware as teachers of the homeless and lower class children when we prepare our students for the world (as some are seeing a much harsher world as a child than we ever have) for they can break the cycle if we do our jobs right.

While avoiding discrimination based off socioeconomic status, it is also important to not judge the children coming from upper class homes. The majority of the population coming from the middle class brings the casting out of all students who do not fit into that category, including the upper class students. It is typically assumed that life is always easy for the rich--if that were the case, the drug overdose rate in Hollywood would not be what it is. It's like another culture only observed through television shows and magazine articles, so people assume that the wealthy always sit in their mansions and spoil their children and buy away all their worries. In reality, the majority of the wealthy non-celebrities in America keep modest appearances. They do not tend to lead extravagant lives and pour money over their children. The majority of them worked a great deal to get to that point, so they want to instill that same work ethic and determination into their children by not giving them every thing they want without working for it. Many times, these children will become aware of the bitterness or prejudice other students may have toward upper class individuals and will try to hide their families' wealth from their peers. Growing up with doctors for parents, the children in my family all tried to play down the fact we had any money as much as possible because being middle class was how to fit in. Other students or teachers would assume that if our parents had money, that meant things were just easier for us. In reality, our parents grew up extremely poor, my mother immigrating from Cuba and being raised on food stamps. Our parents taught us from an early age that nothing matters more than education and hard work; that's how they got where they did and it would be the way we would get where we wanted to be. To say things like the wealthy value their food for its presentation or that legacies are their main possessions is laughable, as well as rather offensive. It is completely out of line to make judgements about anyone's priorities in life or their values based off their class, especially when those judgements are made by outside classes rather than asking the individuals themselves.

In our classrooms, it is important to give all students an environment where they can feel safe and welcome in every way. Whether those students be lower class, upper class, black, Jewish, etc., they should all have a classroom to learn and thrive in. The environment of the classroom starts with the teacher and it is thus vital that the teacher not bring their prior conceptions of any group into the room.