Major points from the School Talk reading by Mica Pollock
-Inequality of opportunity is a process that accumulates over generations
-"Living in poverty just like living in a wealthy household is part of an opportunity context" (Pollock, 2017, p.75).
- Opportunity context application to my life: think about this opportunity context in the way that schools are set up. Schools are districted in such a way that students from urban areas are given less opportunities than those in wealthier schools.
-As a teacher we need to understand our own opportunity contexts.
-I went to school in a wealthier school than those that were districted across town.
-Thorough inequality talk seeks to understand this cumulative history and its opportunity consequences for young people (Pollock, 2017, p.82)
-"Immigrants plug in to neighborhoods and schools with existing patterns of economic advantage or disadvantage" (Pollock, 2017,p.84)
-Schooling is affected by other domains of opportunity examples health care, lack of food, lack of resources.
-As a teacher one small thing that I can do to bridge this is provide snacks to students that are hungry.
-"Analysts say the most important steps to take to conunteract disparities and inadequacies in baseline opportunity across domains would be to invest in living wage jobs for parents" (Pollock, 2017,84).
-Talking about the opportunity contexts that exist can help students push past these power structures.
References
Pollock, M. (2017). Schooltalk: Rethinking What We Say about--And to--Students Every Day. The New Press.
