Cultural Deprivation Defined A lack of those particular

Cultural Deprivation • Defined: A lack of those particular kinds of learning that are important for success in school – Lower-class children as deprived of this culture – Reference point: American schools • “There are no schools in our society in which the knowledge and skills particular to lower-class groups are valued and fostered” • Monolithic Lower-Class Culture that is deprived of education and “proper” linguistic skills that reflect critical thinking and intelligence. – Sources of deprivation: home life, parenting and the reproduction of deprivation, values [BLAMING THE VICTIM]

Sensory Deprivation vs. Cultural Deprivation • Sensory Deprivation: depriving an individual of the sensory stimulation necessary for proper neural maturation – Sensory stimulation: visual stimulation, and touch impacts development such as learning to sit, stand, walk, and speak – Inference: Intellectual development is linked to varied sensory experiences. • May remedy achievement gap between classes by providing such experiences • Critique: Implies an educational quality to stimuli. However, it is not how educational the stimuli is, but the variety, intensity, and patterning of the stimuli – none of which requires the use of expensive toys or middle or upper class settings.

Verbal vs. Non-verbal Factors in Cultural Deprivation • Concrete, Exploratory learning vs. verbal learning – Lack of concrete learning has little to do with intellectual and academic deficiencies – Lack of verbal learning as responsible for deficiencies • Source of verbal deficiencies= the family – language use is passed on to small children from family members – implies that lower-class adults do not know how to speak or teach the “proper” use of English • Conclusion: Cultural deprivation synonymous with language deprivation

Language “Deficiencies” of Lower. Class Children • Failure to master certain uses of language – ASSUMPTIONS • Language as not of vital importance to lower-class families (survival doesn’t depend on cognitive language use) – Cognitive uses of language as limited in lower class homes in favor of language to used to control behavior, to express emotions, and to share experiences – Lacks explanation, description, inquiry, analysis, comparison, reasoning, and deduction • Cognitive language use as primarily important for the “transmission of knowledge” • Conclusion: Lower-class children as deprived of culture that can only be learned if taught. Actually deprived of the tools necessary to learn. Those tools are cognitive language.

Language Development of Lower. Class Children • Sentences as “giant words” – There is a general understanding of the meaning of sentences but not if they are broken down into distinct words. – EX: “He bih daw. ” vs. “He’s a big dog. ” – Conclusion: amalgamation of noises vs. breaking sentences into parts/words. This eventually impacts the capacity to master grammar. • Sounds similar to language use among all children. However, privileged children use fully formed words within sentences rather than noises. – Privileged children use a modified grammar as they omit words they do not understand.

Social and Emotional Problems • Disadvantaged children are socially and emotionally deprived – Results in personality problems • Critique: No evidence to support claim 1. If cases of personality disturbance among poor children are more common, it is still unfair and impractical to categorize the majority as such. 2. Older children frequently show the damaging affects of school failure on personality development. The remedy is unclear except to foster self-confidence. 3. Emotional disturbances can be produced by misguided management practices (holding children too much) 4. Inappropriate socialization by the parents can be remedied through socializing children in class. “Teaching naive children to act in a new situation. ”

Using the Critique of Social/Emotional Problems 1. If cases of personality disturbance among poor children are more common, it is still unfair and impractical to categorize the majority as such. Critique of Cultural Deprivation 1. Using a monolithic construction of lowerclass culture that blames the family is problematic 2. Older children frequently show the damaging affects of school failure on personality development. The remedy is unclear except to foster self-confidence. 2. School failure as the source of the problem not the result of the problem. Even if the source of the problem is the family (which it isn’t) this begs the question as to why the school system failed the children’s parents? The source is the system itself. 3. Emotional disturbances can be produced by misguided management practices (holding children too much) 3. Achievement gaps can be produced by misguided teaching and schooling practices. For example, teachers and counselors may project stereotypes onto the children thus supporting the reproduction of inequalities 4. Inappropriate socialization by the parents can be remedied through socializing children in class. “Teaching naive children to act in a new situation. ” Not psychotherapy 4. Why is socialization and teaching cognitive language use any different? Both refer to teaching children new functions of old patterns supposedly passed down through the family.

Subtractive Schooling- ANA MARIA • Liked education in Mexico • Read complex texts there/ does not read complex texts in her US school • Teachers in Mexico focused on critical thinking and ownership of texts – Ex: they used Don Quixote to emphasize the importance of dreams and imagination which culminated in writing assignments and poem composition • Sites teacher interest in her life as very high. – Teachers in Mexico visit her home twice a year and one encouraged her to seek out social work as a career. • Desires to be “somebody” in the U. S. and then return to do social work in Mexico • Defends teachers in the U. S. as having to work in a corrupt system – Large class size

Subtractive Schooling- LINDA • • • Liked education in Mexico Read complex texts there/ does not read complex texts in her US school Teacher in Mexico helped forge her love of learning Poor conditions of the schools in Mexico yet attendance was high- desire to learn was high Sites Mexican identity and cultural practices as valuable and effective in the learning process Linda believes that hard work is rewarded by teachers but that teachers should love all of their students. – It is the teachers job to inspire hard work • Lack of teachers’ attention in U. S. schools – lack of caring on the teachers’ parts – Verbally abusive and culturally insensitive ESL teacher • Cousins failed in US elementary schools

Subtractive Schooling- FITO • Positive school experiences in Mexico • Male teachers helped serve as father figures including spankings for poor behavior – Even though teachers were also literally an extension of his family, he claims that this type of “parenting” by teachers in a small town is widely practiced – These teachers inspired him to work hard • Good communication between his father and his other family members even though his father lived in the US while he lived in Mexico (system of accountability)

Subtractive Schooling- Lazaro • Reflects on his mastery of math in Mexico vs. his struggles with the subject in the U. S – cites his capacity to tackle more complex math problems in Mexico vs. U. S. – Is he dumb in the U. S. ? Are his teachers bad in the U. S. ? • Believes that hard work results in teachers’ affection “If you work hard they’ll like you”

What can we learn from these narratives? • Students are very much aware of the politics of schooling • There is a difference in academic performance and teacher support between their schools in Mexico and their schools in the U. S. Why? What is the impact? • They site better resources in U. S. schools but better educational experiences in Mexico. Why? • Their schools in Mexico fostered critical thinking and analysis of complex literature. – Would these students be classified in the U. S as culturally deprived/linguistically deprived? If so, what is cultural deprivation?