Socio-Economic Staus and Culture

Why is it important to understand the Socio-Economic Status (SES) and cultural perspective? Isn't our job to teach to the standards, not culture? Well... it depends on what we are educating for and against. 

If educators and learners look at one another as objects, no different from the chairs in the room, then we shouldn't worry at all about the cultural and economic experiences and perspective of one another. This is particularly unfair for students. Seeing as we educators have the power of immense institutions behind us, the power dynamics of our relationships with our students means they must bend to our will. In a nearly-identical manner, teachers feel they must bend to the will of the institutions that house them. Educators don't like this babying of their professionalism and intelligence just as students don't like our babying of their learning and intelligence either. 

So...

We all need to step back, take a look at all those things that factor into our own identities, and keep that in mind as we try to move forward with others- whether they be other students, educators, parents, or the checker at Wal-Mart. How is it SO clear to us we can't teach a subject we don't know, but so strange to us that we think we can teach another person who we don't know?

Understanding the identity of ourselves and our students MUST provide the foundation for everything we do in the classroom. Our identities must be openly shared if we want students to open up to us as well. Here is some preliminary socio-economic data about HMS.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

This data is screened from the 2010 Census information. Each pink-edged area has roughly the same population. 

• Blue indicates 7.0-13.5% of the area's population lives in poverty.
• Yellow indicates 19.3-28.1% of the area's population lives in poverty.
• Red indicates 28.1-63% of the area's population lives in poverty. 

RESOURCES ON IDENTITY AND CULTURE

500 Años del PuebloChicano: 500 Years of Chicano History
Role Models and Academic Identity Among White Students and Students of Color
Unpacking the Knapsack of White Identity