Jay Macleod 's Ethnography : Ain 't No Makin It, Sheds Light On The Institute Of Education

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.

As a first generation child whose parents immigrated from another country, I was fortunate enough to receive excellent education and opportunities that was not offered to them. During that era, those privileges may have been difficult to obtain due to racial segregation, poor living circumstances, and/or lack of time and commitment due to work. As of today, these issues are no longer a major problem. Although, education has never been better and opportunities have been even more achievable, David Brooks argues that the upper/middle classes are preventing the lower class from “joining their ranks” because of the egocentric methods that modern day families now utilize to their advantage. In his New York Times editorial “How We Are Ruining America,” Brooks explains how we (as the upper/middle class) have been ruining America by preventing the lower class from receiving the same privileges. Brooks then elaborates his argument by giving several examples like: improved parent supervision and planning, zoning restrictions, cultural codes, and even gives a personal experience. Even though Brooks provided a substantial amount of evidence, he mostly utilizes his powerful tone and writing skills to support his argument.

It appears to be that the discussion of race and class in America has become amplified, especially in the last couple of years. For many, it is a touchy subject that hits close to home. With the presence of social media and news that feeds off of racial tension in America, the issues are polarizing and difficult to productively discuss. America’s handling of race and class relations is generally not something to be proud of, and there exists a long history of issues with race. It is clear that there is a lack of understanding and empathy of what others experience toward those who are oppressed. So often it is too easy to dismiss another human’s experiences as reality if one has had no prior encounter with the same challenges. Race is easy to sweep under the rug, but we must address the problem, and it is not a one size fits all solution. It is a problem that has been years in the making and continues to have an enormous impact on our human capital from an economic standpoint. And most of the time, there is a correlation between race and class.

Obama’s “Race to the Top” policy would destroy the greatest asset of the Adjustment Class, a teacher who the students respect and enables the preservation of their street identities. When the Hallway Hangers struggled in school, they attributed their failure to individual inadequacies, rather than a failed system. This is because they, like many lower class

financial issues, segregation, subtractive schooling, and the overall school climate may negatively impact 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 only be obtained through hard work and education (MacLeod, 2009). Under this belief, factors such as race and socioeconomic status do not impact one’s success

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).

Julie Bettie’s book Women Without Class, she describes social groups in Waretown High and their race, gender, and social class composition. Bettie is an observant who is really interested in “women from working-class families across racial/ethnic identities…” (Bettie, pg. 8). She started her project in a community college, where she talks to the first generation of families attending college. Bettie observes that 20 percent high school graduates transfer to community colleges to four-year schools nationally. In addition to this “another 28 percent of Waretown graduates go directly to four-years schools; 3 percent attend trade schools; and the remaining 16 percent are without plans for post-secondary education” (Bettie, pg.11). In other

Most young black American’s believed that they couldn’t become successful in this nation full of oppression. On average, black family’s earned half the income of whites and were twice as likely to be unemployed. Hope of becoming successful for a young black American was grim. Fortunately, one thing

I met Elias G, a black student who lives in my neighborhood and is learning about Anesthesia, at the Foothill College Cafeteria. In this personal interview, he emphasized that none of his close African American friends in his high school have entered universities. As for why, he argues that inequality still remains in college admissions and scholarship systems. Today, higher education seems to be considered the only way in which one can move his social status up in the nation. As a result, many politicians and leaders in the country have emphasized the importance of education. A number of policies regarding education have been published, executed, and planned by those already highly educated in the nation. These policies have been truly successful

The disparity facing African-Americans in education is cyclic in nature in that if a parent lacks the proper education required to possess a high earning power and as a result become another statistic of the lower class of the economy, hence being unable to provide their children with resources such as tutoring and other services that would help provide educational equity for them, these children are stuck lagging behind their upper-class peers that have access to these resources, leaving them with a lesser quality of education and limiting both their future earning power and their future children’s exposure to better educational resources, hence the cycle of educational disparity that plagues the African-Americans as a race.

As United States of America becomes more progressive, there is a minority who is disregarded and feeling shell-shocked. Today, the social and economic changes are having an impact on white Americans without a college degree. According to “The Original Underclass” by Alec Macgillis and Propublica, there is an “obliterated major differences in geography, ethnicity, and culture” between the white working poor and the people living in an urban area. They become pessimistic and their anxiety about their future. In result, they believe that their hard work won’t bring satisfaction and will no longer bring success.

instruction (Kozol, 2005).” In the not so distant past, race mattered greatly as it was and

Because of being black and poor, expectations of Jamal from the public school and the private school are considerably low – the public school teachers are satisfied with Jamal’s average grades, and professor Crawford distrusts Jamal’s excellent writing skills. Although it seems obvious that public schools may be more likely to reinforce social reproduction, and private schools may incline to interrupt social reproduction in Jamal’s case, race and socioeconomic status prove to have similar impact within both school systems. Nevertheless, the conceptualized role of schools in this paper through a special case might not be universal. More analysis should be done on a case by case basis, and the relationship among American schools, social mobility, and social reproduction still remains to be

Now, with an accurate understanding of what the American Dream is, one must really question the validity of an idea that appears to be too virtuous and unrealistic. Brookings.edu, a website that specializes and targets the social aspects of political situations, such as the effects of the Syrian Civil War, notes the disparaging decrease of wealth for Blacks in the United States in 2013. Its surveys and investigations have unsettling results; social mobility for Blacks is much lower than for Whites. They’re more likely to remain in poverty than their fellow White Americans, with exact figures stating, “More than half of black adults raised at the bottom of the income scale remain stuck there as adults, compared to a third of whites.” Sociologist Raj Chetty discovered that a predominant reason for the lack of Black social mobility is the unrelenting discrimination in society (The Other American Dream: Social, Mobility, and Race Opportunity). The labor market specifically is prone to these racist attacks. Employers are more likely to hire a White employee of the same background of a Black person. Jobs that ask for an applicant’s incarceration history tend to directly affect Blacks more because of their higher imprisonment

The Great Migration of African Americans to the north in the 1900s, along with racial tensions and a desire for separate but equal policies, resulted in a vast majority of African Americans to be relocated to Slum cities such as in New York and Chicago. They were relocated to areas where the educational system was, and is, underdeveloped when compared to that of white neighborhoods. A prime example of one of these slums to date in which there exist a large African American population and low educational attainment and low employment is Detroit. Detroit’s population is 83.9% African American and had a public school system that is currently in a $750 million dollar debt. Moreover, It was reported in 2014 that about 77.6% of the population graduate high school but only 12.7% of the population goes to college. From the viewpoint of Bourdieu, it would not be surprising that they are in the dystopian state they are in with this lack of educational success they’ve had. This isn’t only a Detroit problem