Country kids can do it too

Being raised in a typically rural community my perceptions of culture and identity were facilitated by the inexorable fact that stereotypes run rampant. The sense of ‘self’ developed at an early age is crucial to the interplay of cultural and environmental decisions made. This is especially interesting when considering my educational experiences were co educational and public sphere run. As a result of this I feel I have a highly developed understanding of the interactions between class groups, gender groups, and cultural groups. 

In a schooling environment in which ‘lock downs’ occurred on a monthly basis, one quickly becomes an adept judge of character. Whilst minority groups are often viewed as suspicious in the outside world, school culture creates new and different perceptions of the existing stereotypes. I learnt quickly that girls fight much more harshly and with much less honour then boys, that respect is extremely hard earned and extremely easy to lose and that central to everything, one must be confident to identify and accept not only their own culture but those surrounding them if they wish to survive the murky waters of adolescence.

In this regard I must rebut Leondaro’s (2004) argument that whites are carefully taught not to notice white privilege, as I was often made more than aware of this situation in an educational environment. Furthermore I must highlight that the equal parts distinct and interlocking acts of oppression do not have to be a result of being white so much as it is having been raised in an middle class upwards back ground. The most fundamentally challenging oppression seen within our increasingly commercialized educational landscape is the inability to be financially secure. This instability is the root of many issues within the educational system, as it impacts heavily upon a students entire life. 27.8% of students who leave a formal educational environment do so as a result of the inability to work and go to school at the same time (Australian Bureau of Statistics). This is particularly relevant to my cultural understanding of education as I was raised in an environment in which family is everything and they must be supported first above all else. If this means schooling comes secondars so siblings must be fed it’s a sacrifice many rural school student is willing to make.

Culture politics is interesting to me as I attended a school with a fairly low socio economic background, especially comparatively to those who have experienced private schools. Apple (1996) I believe highlighted the issues faced as a result of privatization, and the commercialization of education as a product, yet I feel that this legitimizing inequality can be taken much further than that. It is not the resources so much as the employment of those resources to help students. The gap between rural and inter city education results seem to be widening each year, and this can be seen largely I believe by attendance rates. In the year in which I graduated, attendance rates sate at 85%, at least ten percent lower than those of higher achieving schools (MySchools website). 

This is not to say that these students are inherently set to fail, each person has their own struggles and education is a path one must willingly want to walk. If these students are ready to fight for their future we must be there to guide them through it, encourage them and give them goals. Equally, if it gets just a little too must we must be their pillars of support, reminding them they do have someone, they don't have to resort to violence or crime as a call for help, and we will always believe that there is a chance to improve their lives. Mostly what disadvantaged students need is a way to move beyond the identity their education makes them form, the culture they think traps them into a circle of poverty and violence. These students need hope.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Scoial Trends 2006. Retrieved from:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/bb8db737e2af84b8ca2571780015701e/e29750ff86d9e72cca2571b00014b9e3!OpenDocument

Apple, M. W. (1996). Cultural politics and education. New York: Teachers College Press. Chapter 1

Leaonardo, Z (2004). The color of supremacy: Beyond the discourse of white privilege, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36(2), 137-152

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs 2005, National Report on Schooling in Australia 2004, Curriculum Corporation for MCEETYA, Melbourne.

My Schools Website 2011. Retrieved from:

http://www.myschool.edu.au