Journal #7: Finn - Reflection

 I think our discussion in class about this reading was very helpful to understanding and connecting it to my life. Looking back at my schooling and trying to make sense of it has been different as I progress through this program. I grew up in a middle class public school district and then switched to an upper class public school for high school. The influences and teachers that I have had definitely impacted my decision to be a teacher. In Finn's A Distinctly Un-American Idea, it says, "In the middle class school, about one-third of the teachers grew up in the neighborhood of the school. Most graduated from the local state teachers college, and many of them lived in the neighborhood of the school" (Finn, 12). I remember a lot of my teachers in middle school teaching at that same school that they had grown up in. Some of them even had some of their colleagues as teachers!

The buildings of my middle class schools were dreary and focused mostly on drilling information into our heads rather than being creative. After I transitioned to a higher class district, I saw many changes in my education. Again, a lot of my teachers actually went to Ponaganset themselves, but their learning styles were a lot different. We did more projects focused around creativity such as a blackout poetry project in US History or creating informational posters and pamphlets for health class. Because of this change, it changed my view on how children should be learning. Rather than preferring lecture based learning, I started to see education from a different approach and wanting to embrace creativity. 

One point I can bring to class is to talk about how we can change this system of believing you have to stay in the same class you were born into. A way we can break this habitual system is to offer more opportunities for all students to grow and learn so they can make any decisions they want to (going to college, trade school, etc.) and not being forced into anything because they don't have access. Below is an article giving examples from people about their personal experiences with class.

Has your class changed over the course of your lifetime?