It ain't all bad

The reality of taking a sociology of ed class is that when we look at the whole system, it can be a bit depressing and overwhelming. And yet, there are wonderful learning spaces happening, and some of them are even in schools! We'll talk about some more examples in class, but for now, here's some fantastic work happening over at the Diploma Plus program in Charlestown High School.

Discussion questions week two: MacLeod and hooks

Post your discussion questions here, based on what you're thinking about from MacLeod and hooks' writings.

Also, don't forget to bring a draft of your schooling autobio to class. Hard copy to be able to share with someone.

Discussion Questions: Bourdieu and Freire

Discussion Groups

Hello All,

On 1/31, we will start meeting in our discussion groups. Below are the groups - the first name in the group list is the discussion group leader for this coming week, and I'll leave the order of discussion leader to you to figure out from there. Discussion leaders are to post questions to the blog for that week's readings by noon on Tuesday. If you're the first one to post a discussion question, start a new threat (don't respond to this thread), and other discussion leaders can then post to that thread:

Group One
Cecilia Rannefors
Sarah Beth Theaker
Renee Perez
Julia Haddad
Monica Cioffi

Two
Molly Marotta
Maggie Nixon
Maggie Maguire
Alex Chipman


Three
Cassidy Clarity
Annelise Eaton
Christa Hulbert
Jennifer O'Brien
Erica Tasch

Four
Melanie Courtemanche
Jaclyn Fedoffi
Yeah Eun Park
Keith White
Maureen Kavanaugh
Annie Isaacs

Five
Jagedish Yedetore
Jennifer Braman
Shannon DeBari
Sofia Garza-Villalobos
Brendan Kennedy
Danica Ramsey-Brimberg

Six
Timothy Broderick
Jaclyn Demari
Mauricio Zelaya
Courtney Hart
Jill Levasseur
Gisel Saillant

Seven
Nicole Buck
Laura Ducie
Jennifer Hayes
Rachel Olson
Vanessa Saravia

People Like Us

Hi Everyone

"People like us" is an important common text that we will refer to many times throughout the course. For example, Joe Queenan's discussion in the kitchen supply store is one of the best, widely accessible explanations I've ever heard to explain cultural capital. "Tartuffo Bianco could mean engine fluid for all we know, but it evokes class and sophistication." Here's the website for the film - explore and try out some of the games. 

I've posted below some questions to prompt reflections and analysis from you here on our blog. Respond and build on each others' responses - let's make this a virtual conversation. We'll carry through your reflections and understanding as we take on theories of schooling as social reproduction, with the help of Pierre Bourdieu on 1/31.

1. What are the ways that class is defined by people in the documentary? Is it about money? Money and other stuff, what other stuff? race? gender? manners? style?

2. Do you think that most people still think of the U.S. as a classless, egalitarian society, or a society with a sizeable middle class? Is it actually either of those, and if it's not, why might some still believe that? In other words, why might some people deny that class distinctions exist?

3. What did this video make you reconsider about your own class background and how you've been "classed," that is, how you've been socialized to think about your own and others' class? For example, were you socialized not to discuss class (this is pretty common)? How did that socialization happen? 

You do NOT need to respond to all three; give us a paragraph on your thoughts on one. If you're the first to post about one of the questions, start a new thread and then others can build on that. 

Blog posting problems

In case you can view but not post to the blog, and you've tried accepting the invitation and get an error message saying that the invitation has expired (even though it clearly has not), blogger.com says to try the following:

• Restart your browser. Log out of Blogger, then close all your browser windows. Open a new one and try the invitation again.
• Copy and paste the link, instead of clicking it. Many web-based email services (e.g. Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc.) cause problems with the way they modify links to display them on their own sites. If this is the case, you'll need to copy and paste the link into its own browser window in order to use it.
• Have the invitation sent to a different address. You can accept an invitation from any account, or create a new account with any email address, regardless of which address was used to send the invitation. So if one address doesn't work, try another one. Let me know if you have a different address I can send the invitation to, in all caps like this: LPS@BC.EDU

Group research and presentation topics

Please add ideas for possible topics to explore and present to the class. This is one of the ways you can write yourself into the course and your work:

* school violence
* college student debt
* school closings
* English only movements
* ethnic studies
* hip hop pedagogy


what else?

Changing Education Paradigms

Full video from the excerpt we watched in class about changing education paradigms