Abstract
There is a distinct class difference in the way that children are taught school behavior. Teachers in affluent schools use more implicit teaching techniques while teachers of low-income children are more explicit in their teaching of behavior. This stems largely from the alignment of the home culture of middle class children to school behavior and the difference between the home culture of low-income children to school codes. However, middle class children learn behavior at home implicitly. This study examines the possibility of low-income children learning school behavior implicitly while at school. The researcher observed two Chicago Head Start centers—one using implicit instruction and one teaching behavior explicitly—over a period of 5 months. Observational data showed that the children that learned school behavior through implicit teaching techniques better internalized school behavior and, by extension, middle class codes.
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Notes
The ability to delay gratification and having a future orientation, while important middle class codes, are not developmentally appropriate for the age of the children in this study.
I was assigned to the sites by their managing agencies. Unfortunately, as I was placed where it was most convenient for the agency, I was not able to match the two populations for race. However, both populations are of racial/ethnic groups that have a history of discrimination and have had great difficulty moving into higher socio-economic levels.
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Smith, S.C. Cultural Relay in Early Childhood Education: Methods of Teaching School Behavior to Low-Income Children. Urban Rev 44, 571–588 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0205-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0205-6