Finn: Questions for Class Discussion

1.What is empowering education?

2. What is powerful literacy?

3. What is domesticating education and what does this lead to?

4. Finn writes about social dynamics and mechanisms that have led to the present state of affairs. Discuss some of the mechanisms.

5. Describe the differences of working class schools, middle class schools, affluent professional schools, and executive elite schools and how each type of school produces students who are prepared for life in very different ways. Discuss this.

6. Do you agree with Finn's statement, " Those who are the smartest and work the hardest go the furthest?" Who's kidding whom? When students begin school in such different systems, the odds are set against them." Explain why or why not.

7. What are the main differences in the characteristics of Dialogue and Anti-dialogue chart?


I found this article interesting.The descriptions of the schools and their designation as executive elite, affluent professional, middle class, and working class,the type of student the educators are deliberately trying to create and the future the specific schools have scripted for these students, according to social status, was appalling to me. The information in this article encourages me to help my students receive the education they are entitled to,to help them reach their goals, and to pursue the life they choose, not the one they were assigned to.