Analysis Of ' Ain 't No Makin '

Our achievement ideology is based on the idea that the U.S. is full of opportunity and anyone can accomplish success in our society if they work hard enough. Many grow up thinking education is the ladder that will allow for this social mobility and all you have to do is be willing to work hard enough to earn it. But what about children who grow up thinking differently? Why do some strive for high paying careers while others refuse school and are seemingly ok with staying working class? MacLeod challenges the notion that America is the land of opportunity with research he conducted while in college. He uses the research of several reproduction theorists to show that schools not only are not great equalizers, as most think, but

Children who grow up in a poor area go to school where there are 50 kids in one class and individual attention is never given, and children of high class families will go to schools that have smaller class sizes and individual attention. Even when a poor child goes to a better schoolteachers will question if the work done is their own and also only expect hard work from the rich kids. “if you are a child of low income parents, the chances are good that you will receive limited and often careless attention from adults in your high school.” Theodore Sizer “Horace’s Compromise,” “If you are the child of upper-middle income parents, the chances are good that you will receive substantial and careful attention.” (203) These quotes from another author showcase that school in America is often times based on the social standing of the parents.

control, such as financial issues, segregation, suspensions and drop-outs rates, subtractive schooling, and school climate negatively impacts their overall performance. Jay MacLeod brings to light these issues in his book, Ain’t No Makin’ It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood. The book, which reports the author’s findings on fifteen boys living in public housing and their overall educational and life success over several years. The book centered around the achievement ideology, which is the belief that success can be obtained through hard work and education. Under this belief, factors such as race and socioeconomic status do not impact one’s success so long as there is a strong work ethic. He described two groups who had a different perspective of the achievement ideology (MacLeod, 2009). The white boys, called the Hallway Hangers, did not agree with ideology and believed they were being cheated out of what was rightfully theirs by minority students. They put no effort into their schooling and were highly involved in criminal life. Meanwhile, the Brothers, were black males who strongly believed in the Achievement theory. They worked hard not only with school but in other things as well and believed they would soon be rewarded for their efforts. Another theme that MacLeod covered was the idea that these boys were “pushed into jumping.” He describes that this idea is based on the fact these individuals in spite of the circumstances in which they were born are either able to does they please and see it, also known as jumping or are forced to do certain things therefore, “pushed into jumping.” In utter agreeance, minority individuals are “pushed into jumping” and if they are at any point failing, then educators and schools need to collaborate with the community to assure these students stay in school.

Social Class and Education”. It opens by discussing research conducted in the 1960’s in an effort to identify factors contributing to differences in the academic achievement of Whites and Blacks (Banks & Banks, 2013). Researchers hypothesized that the achievement gaps were mainly the result of disparities in school resources and characteristics, but found that there is a high correlation between achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) (Banks & Banks, 2013). Furthermore, attention is drawn to the class stratification which exists in our educational system and works to maintain inequality through exclusion strategies such as ability grouping and tracking (Banks & Banks, 2013). Evidence of the correlation between social class and

In Jay McLeod’s influential book, Ain’t No Makin’ It (2009), he discovers new sociological theories and social reproduction through his research over many years. Through social reproduction McLeod shows us how education’s role gets passed down from one generation to the next from class inequality. He claims that aspirations/lack of aspirations is being reproduced. He deeply examines two resident groups of male youths that have opposing views on what their aspirations are in life. McLeod also deciphers what the American Dream is according to them. “The American Dream is held out as a genuine prospect for anyone with the drive to achieve it” (McLeod 2009: 3).

The economy plays a major role in young black males attaining a genuine education. Many U.S. citizens struggle to pay for college each year. Government resources, such as student loans, help students fund their cost for an education. However, we pay back the student loans and interest rates after we are finished with school. Numerous African-American males attend college for a semester or two, but the percentage of them who graduates is significantly low. For the ones who don’t graduate, it was a complete waste of their time and money. The worst of this impoverishment is that there is no sense of impoverishment (Percy).

Ain’t No Makin’ It is Jay Macleod 's projection of the social, behavioral concepts that define the human mind 's development in relation to exposure and conceptions. This report makes reference to 'the human mind ' because it is the point from which mental representations are made, and beliefs influenced. As such, Jay 's analysis examines the resilience and resistance that the human mind can develop, or its nature of submission when subjected to different environmental conditions. That is so because social behavior is the resultant psychology of interacting with the environment. Projections in the book have been divided into three sections, with portions dedicated to the hallway hangers, who are white kids and other factions to the

The more money and well-off a family is, generally the better education their children will have. This is due to the fact that tutors, extra programs, summer camps, private schooling, etc. are expensive and only available to those who can afford it. This illustrates that this nation does not have an even playing field of opportunities for students. (“Class in America-2006” pg. 155, Gregory Mantsios)

The differences in academic gaps between children and teenagers from low-income neighborhoods and affluent neighborhoods present themselves in the schools the students attend. A study by the Department of Education showed that students in low-income areas did not have access to the same rigorous courses, and when they did, the resources available to the low-income students was lacking compared to the resources the students in high income neighborhoods had access to. In the low-income areas black and Hispanic students were twice as likely to have teachers with less experience, with one or two years in the profession, compared to schools in affluent neighborhoods with well-to-do white students. Another thing increasing the academic gap is that only 22 percent of local districts reported offering pre-kindergarten or other early learning programs for low-income children.

One of the most epidemic problems that greatly affects the American public education today is the economic inequality and the resulting gap of academic achievement between rich and poor public schools. The problem started to exacerbate especially in the last fifty years as the gap is still widening and continue to be unsolved. Of course, poor students who come from financially unfortunate families are the main sect that feels its impact the most. Greg Duncan and Katherine Magnuson, a distinguished professor in education and the latter has a Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy, have showed the strong relationship and the inevitable relevance between the academic achievement of students and their families’ income. They noted that poor students from the bottom ten percent of the socioeconomic classes have been recorded to score at around more than a standard deviation lower than those from the top quintile in math and reading (47). In 1965, it was the first attempt from the government to propose, yet an imperfect, solution to the problem by issuing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Then in 1966, the Coleman Report had a major role in raising public opinion toward this issue and disclosing its real dimensions during the War on Poverty movement. Also, in order to understand the real size of this problem, we must consider all the major factors that contribute to this income achievement gap and its evolution over the

An excess of America's most impeded youngsters grow up without the abilities expected to flourish in the twenty-first century. Whether in instructive accomplishment between salary bunches or racial/ethnic gatherings or crosswise over geographic areas— imbalance endures. Low levels of execution among the most hindered in society make long haul issues, especially in an economy in which higher expertise levels are more esteemed and the wages accessible to less- talented specialists are disintegrating. A few analysts claim, on one hand, that instructive disparity is because of social class and family foundation. Others contend that insufficiently oversaw [sic] schools bear the great part of the obligation regarding low

There is a certain charm to theater that makes you want to get off of your couch and into the audience. Though not a typical production, Dillard Center for the Arts put on a production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ that makes it worth leaving your house on a Friday night. Set in the 1930’s, Ain’t Misbehavin’ brings a Harlem night club to you as you enjoy both dark and lighthearted numbers.

Schools are supposed to be places where all who have the capacity and the willingness to succeed are able to; places where people learn and develop enough to one day go out into the world and contribute to society. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Children who attend public schools in lower income areas are at a comparative disadvantage than their higher income counter parts: due to familial issues, lack of opportunity, and schools being underfunded, statistics have shown that children within lower income families have a harder time succeeding in school.

Because public school systems are primarily financed by local property taxes, children in low-income, property poor areas, are forced to attend schools with significantly less funding than those in in wealthy, high tax districts. Unfortunately, this can lead to an abundance of poor quality schooling systems concentrated in low-income areas, all plagued with underqualified teachers and critical shortages of academic resources. Faced with this immense disadvantage at such a pivotal stage in their lives, it is no surprise, then, that low-income individuals are often unable to compete with the privileged and heavily prepared students of the upper-class for the jobs necessary to elevate their economic status

As part of our conceptual framework, we acknowledge the extensive research that documents a statistically significant gap between school districts that serve students from higher SES families, and school districts that serve students from lower SES families. Since the Coleman Report (1966), over fifty years of research has connected indicators of SES to indicators of student academic achievement (White, 1982; Siren, 2005). Quantitative studies document statistically significant correlations between SES and student achievement on the SAT and ACT (Zwick, 2004), the National Assessment of Educational Progress (McGraw, R., Lubienski, S., & Strutchens, M., 2006), the Programme International for Student Assessment (Perry, L., & McConney, A., 2003), and state-level mastery assessments (Duncan, G, & Murnane, R., 2011).