Talking points #8 Anyon

1. "Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps."
Anyon talks about how the working class schools are evaluated differently than the other schools. She talks about how in math the kids are shown how to do a problem and aren't taught why they do it and how it relates to other things in math. I think this isn't really fair. It basically is putting children behind children in other schools. In order to actually learn something you have to understand it, and these children probably don't understand it, they are just "memorizing" the steps. I think the children also should be taught how it relates to real life situations and where you might use that math again.

2. "Work tasks do not usually request creativity. Serious attention is rarely given in school work on how the children develop or express their own feelings and ideas, either linguistically or in graphic form."
I thought this was really important to being up because creativity in a child is very important. Children all have creative minds when they are growing up. Adults tend to take that away from them, and that is actually a bad thing. Having a creative mind can help children in school and also in their everyday life. Creative thinking is part of being mentally healthy and helps them grow better cognitivly. It helps they develop problem solving and being able to see things from different points of view.

3. "In the affluent professional school, work is creative activity carried out independently. The students are continually asked to express and apply ideas and concepts. Work involves individual thought and expressiveness, expansion and illustration of ideas, and choice of appropriate method and material."
This whole section comletly shocked me. It was rediculous that this school recieved so much higher treatment and curriculum than the middle class and working class schools. They got to use their creativness and were not only shown the steps to problems and writing, but were also explained why and how they work. This school is preparing students better for life and for further school, whereas the lower schools weren't doing that, which is completly unfair because all schools should be equal.

I didn't really enjoy reading this article. It was hard to get into at the beginning and only got easier to read when it was explaining the schools. I like how the article broke down the information by type of school, but I think she could have made it a little more interesting and intriging to read. This reminds me of seperate but equal. These schools seem completly unequal and it isn't fair that just because their parents are of the working class that these children aren't prepared for white-collar jobs or anything out of the norm of their enviornment.