Finn "Literacy with an Attitde"

 This article could not have a better tittle “Literacy with an Attitude” I can appreciate an author who is honest with their experiences instead of sugar coating the truth. Also the fact that he is able to write about his family’s history including his disability which led him to his teaching career was an attempt to gain his readers attention and interests.

Although this quote is not surprising to me it is rather disturbing “The theory was that the slowest students would get more attention in smaller classes. The reality was that as the year wore on there were spaces available in the lower classes to dump troublesome students from higher classes.” (Finn pg. 3)  This is something I can relate to not for myself but, I have seen this happen to many students I attended high school with. The Charter School I attended was not established, it was fairly new. In fact, my class was the third class to graduate from that particular school. The teachers there would take the students who were disruptive smart or not and dump them into one class. Seems to me that they were being labeled as slow students because, they had lower level work they had to do. This also relates to the film The Freedom Writers, Kozol’s Amazing Grace and White Privilege article. These readings are related because, the staff, principal, teachers etc. were all white and working class. Perhaps they cannot relate or understand the struggle many African Americans or minorities endure on a daily basis just because of their culture.

Here is a link a review of Finns article by a scholar from McGill University

http://www.centreforliteracy.qc.ca/sites/default/files/Book_Review_ClassnLitcy.pdf