One of my favourite professors was Lisa Desmoulins, with a great connection to other course prequesites such as, "Literary Theory and Criticism", it was amazing to get such rich perspectives on so many different topics surrounding society, specifically in relation to education.
The following is the essay assignment.
Superheroes (Group 8)
Tuesday March 05, 2013
Dr. L. Desmoulins
Critical Issues in Education
No One Wants One-Tenth of a Pie
W.E.B. Du Bois speaks of the Talented Tenth as a saving grace to the rest of the population which they represent, in terms of the paper Du Bois is speaking of Black folk.
“Three tasks lay before me; first to show from the past that the talented tenth as they have risen among American Negroes have been worthy of leadership; secondly to show how these men may be educated and developed; and thirdly to show their relation to the Negro Problem.”(pg.192, Critical Issues in Education)
This idea of a Talented Tenth is a universal concept though, and can be applied to many other underprivileged or struggling populations that may not even have to do with race or underprivileged individuals. Du Bois asks readers to ponder this question “How then shall the leaders of a struggling people be trained and the hands of the risen few strengthened?” (193, Critical Issues in Education) This question allows readers to understand this issue as more than just an issue felt amongst races, but socioeconomic classes as well. Each time a tenth is created in a classroom setting, theoretically that tenth will educate more diversely and to the larger crowd than the privileged. A specimen from the privileged part of population may only teach from the perspective or to the knowledge level of the privileged individuals which in turn reciprocates the under privileged mentality and thusly only resulting in a tenth have an equal opportunity to that of the privileged individuals (or one comparable to theirs). So fro example in the American classroom setting, one could say that in most classrooms there is a split of socioeconimic upper and lower class students. This split will ultimately create two separate paths for students based on financial security of family to provide healthy brain stimulating snacks, musical opportunity, and even field trip class projects. Some students suffering from this under privilege (a tenth) may rise from it to further speak and teach to others who suffered the same as they did. But the other students who do not rise from this under privilege shall reciprocate it into later generations as well as to peers.
Theoretically speaking, having a teacher experienced in both aspects of the socioeconomic status or any marginalizing factor for that matter should be the best thing for students and create a collective intelligence. But as right this may be, there are the possible counter effects of this theory. To begin, if the school system began to favour under privileged students more and more over time this could possibly just tip the scales in the other direction and thusly creating a gap between what privileged students may be capable of versus what they are achieving. This over representation of the under privileged population may also create a change in the sort of education that is seen as available, therefore just putting another form of education in higher regards than the other instead of eliminating that “high regard” mentality.
My Experience with The Talented Tenth: Tai Gould
Being of Asian descent, through my academic life I have experienced the stereotype of excelling in the areas of math and science. As a kid in elementary school I was pushed into doing a lot of extra curricular courses involving both the math and sciences courses. I was expected to receive high marks and when I did not, I was frowned upon. Luckily, I was not the only person in my class who was of an Asian background. There were a few other kids that I grew up with that were held to the same standard as myself because of our race. At first, in the primary and elementary grades I did not think of this as a negative impact on my life, but as I started high school and began harder courses, it was less likely for me to shake the stereotype. The names that kids call others if they happen to be smarter aren’t necessarily the nicest: nerd, geek, and loser are amongst the more common. There were many clubs throughout high school that I probably would have enjoyed, but avoided joining because they were mainly made up of those with an Asian background and I wanted so badly to avoid the stereotype. Looking back on the fact that that was the only reason that stopped me from joining makes me a little upset. If society hadn’t cast such a high standard on to my background and the names that come with such a standard, I may have felt more comfortable joining in. The class that society has created for those who may actually be smarter or those who are just stereotyped makes for a lifetime, or at least several years, of insecurity and less of a chance that they will want to go and make friends.
My Experience with The Talented Tenth: Maddy
While I attended high school there were socioeconomic class issue and segregation. Second language’s that my high school offered were either French or Ojibwe causing a race segregation. Students who were not Aboriginal were automatically put in the French course causing a separation. In order for myself to enroll in Ojibwe I would have had to apply because I am not Aboriginal ( it would be the same for Ojibwe students going into French). I did not question this but now that I reflect through the reading “The Talented Tenth” I see this as a separation of race that caused disconnection and lack of socialization between the two groups
My Experience with The Talented Tenth: Chelsie Dubinsky
Being in the French Immersion program my entire life, I personally have been part of a socioeconomic class issue. Growing up as a French Immersion student, my French class and myself were titled the "Frenchies" and we did not associate with the English student population. Being an outsider from the rest of the students was the socioeconomic class issue. As a child I did not see this as an issue, but now as I reflect through “The Talented Tenth”, I realize we were put into a social classification. There were only one or two French Immersion classes; therefore we were always in the same class every year. The English students would not socialize with us because socializing with the “Frenchies” was considered “not cool”. This put a huge impact on our socialization skills with other students. The segregation of French Immersion students put myself in risk of knowing how to meet new people and develop my social skills.
My Experience with The Talented Tenth: Dave Hallas
During my high school career socioeconomic class issues were present, yet rarely acknowledged. Being to largest high school in the city of Hamilton my peers were from a diverse background both ethnically and economically. Most of the schools extracurricular activities involved a fee to participate or to be involved in an excursion to different schools and even different cities. Some student came from an economically struggling family who saw these activities as unnecessary, not seeing the benefits of creating a well-rounded student. Some benefits include time management or prioritizing, fulfilling commitments, relationship building skills, and raises self esteem of the students. Some of the lower class student had a part time jobs to which they could afford to be involved, to which they would become “The Talented Tenth.”
My Experience with The Talented Tenth: Janelle M
During my high school years there was more than one issue of segregation due to socioeconomic class. My school was separated into French and English students which reflects the language separation and social structure separation. Students who were apart of one program were not typically associated with students of the other. Another issue was class structure. My school had a large variety of economic classes. We had the students from the "project neighbourhoods" and welfare housing attending as well as students from a brand new half-million dollar house neighbourhood. The most noticeable segregation was primary schools. Students had come from four main elementary schools with the same friends they have known since kindergarten. These groups of friends typically were maintained which segregated people who were not from that school. For myself I was especially separated because I was new to the area and did not attend any of the schools and had to make new friends who already were set in social segregation. Not having the bonds with these people made it difficult to befriend them and in the end majority of my friends were a group of kids who had recently moved to the area or had not attended one of the main four elementary schools.
My Experience with The Talented Tenth: Carmelo Bono
My experience with the talented tenth that W.E.B. Du Bois speaks of is in relation to the academic classes and applied classes in Secondary schools. I went to a Catholic High School that valued all sorts of students, however, even though the school valued all sorts of students, to this day, I still feel that the education system creates a “talented tenth” more so than the teachers. The teachers taught the classes they were told to teach as well as they probably could have been taught (in most cases), but the problem was the fact that the classes were targeting specifically certain students, creating segregation and ultimately a split between most upper and lower class students. Academic classes are a series of classes that move a student through high school into the direction where academics are the main idea and university is the target. There is then applied classes which are a series of classes that are somewhat based on academics but more so on practical skills themselves “dumbed down” academic classes. The main purpose of this is supposed to be so that students with a higher grade point average can learn with students who are able to move through material at a similar pace to their peers, whether that be faster or slower. This is great in theory, however realistically there is a disservice being done to these students. Students in the applied classes are being funnelled down into college level application versus the potential university level application they may have in other aspects of the education system. This goes the same with academic students, students who go through academic are usually shot looks of disapproval when they ”settle” for college education in comparison to “living up to their full potential” and going to some prestigious university. This “grooming” for college and university level application, would be fine if it was not a groom that restricted students from stepping out of the paths to venture and try different classes that they may not be able to because of their current academic/applied status.
The following are notes used to prepare the essay above.
1. Socioeconomic class issues are largely ignored in American culture. What are the implications of Du Bois’s ideas about the Talented Tenth, in terms of class?
Teachers teach a group, out of that group their split of lower and upper class (50/50). Out of the lower class 1/10 will become successful, and it is their responsibility to teacher from both perspectives, which creates a full understand to their student of both perspective. While the upper class teacher will have a limited view creating another spilt.
Unbalances of the upper class while slowly transform to a dominant majority of the lower class talented tenth.
Upper class gains more attention than the lower class.
2. What are the advantages and limitations of Du Bois’s model?
Advantages:
- equilibrium if both class are shown equal attention
- creates a more open balanced teacher
- help those who of the lower class who gain a better understanding of worldy perspective
Limitations:
- attention shown to one class over the other
- some individuals do not gain representation in some cases
- some aren’t challenged while other or over simulated
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