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The Pitiable Poor : Classism and Racism in Ruby Payne’s Framework

The Pitiable Poor : Classism and Racism in Ruby Payne’s Framework. by Paul C. Gorski at the White Privilege Conference 2006. I. Introduction and Agenda. Who is present? Who am I?. A. Agenda. Setting the Context Introduction of Ruby Payne’s framework

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The Pitiable Poor : Classism and Racism in Ruby Payne’s Framework

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  1. The Pitiable Poor:Classism and Racism in Ruby Payne’s Framework by Paul C. Gorski at the White Privilege Conference 2006

  2. I. Introduction and Agenda • Who is present? • Who am I? The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  3. A. Agenda • Setting the Context • Introduction of Ruby Payne’s framework • Introduction of the lens for critical reflection • Critical Reflection 1: Conservative frame of reference The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  4. A. Agenda (cont’d) • Critical Reflection 2: Failure to acknowledge systemic classism and racism • Critical Reflection 3: Deficit perspective • Additional points for reflection • An authentic framework for understanding poverty and eradicating classism • Discussion The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  5. Part II: Setting the Context

  6. II. Setting the Context:My Intentions • Focus on Payne’s work and positionality in relation to that work, not on Payne, the individual person • Assume positive intentions in Payne’s work, but don’t assume that positive intentions lead to positive impact • Raise sometimes-difficult questions in the pursuit of deeper understanding and the elimination classism and racism from schools and society The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  7. II. Setting the Context:Starting with What We Know • Decades of documentation on systemic class and race inequities in and out of schools • Growing concern over Ruby Payne’s work among activists and educators (many people engaging in this critique) • Increasingly conservative education system – high-stakes testing, standards movement, prescribed curricula, NCLB, growing cost of higher education; socioenomically disadvantaged students and students of color are most adversely affected • Increasingly conservative public policy, cutting programs for socioeconomically disadvantaged families The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  8. II. Setting the Context:Starting with What We Know, Pt. II “Poor children bear the brunt of almost every imaginable social ill. In disproportionate numbers, they suffer hunger and homelessness; untreated sickness…; lead poisoning and other forms of environmental pollution… The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  9. II. Setting the Context:Starting with What We Know, Pt. III “… These same children are assigned, again in skewed numbers, to the nation’s worst public schools—schools in the worst states of disrepair and with the lowest levels of per-pupil funding. Not surprisingly, therefore, poor children as a group lag far behind others in educational achievement” (Books, 2004). The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  10. Part III:Payne’s Framework

  11. III. Introducing Payne’s Framework:The Hidden Rules “Economic realities create ‘hidden rules,’ unspoken cueing mechanisms that reflect agreed upon tacit understandings, which the group uses to negotiate reality” (Payne, 2002, p. 1). Payne establishes her understanding of these hidden rules as they pertain to various values and relationships for people in poverty, the middle class, and the upper class. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  12. III. Introducing Payne’s Framework:The Purpose of the Framework • to help educators better understand the culture that students from families in poverty carry into school with them, and • to instruct educators on the importance of and techniques for teaching students in poverty the hidden rules of the middle class—values upon which the public school system is built. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  13. Part IV:Lens for Critical Reflection

  14. IV. Lens for Critical Reflection:Critical Social Theory • Situated in historical and political context (as everything is) • Challenges theories and practices that simplify complexities, ignore systemic oppression, and as a result, fail to uncover the power and privilege dynamics of social conditions • Addresses both content and context of work, including the source’s positionality The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  15. Part V:Conservative Frame

  16. V. Conservative Frame:Conceptualizing “Conservative” • Aimed at conserving status quo rather than facilitating substantial shifts in consciousness or policy • Inconsistent with philosophies of education equity, multicultural education, etc. • Consistent with and supportive of a variety of other conservative social and educational policies (NCLB, high-stakes testing, assimilation) The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  17. V. Conservative Frame: The Critical Context, Pt. 1 Ruby Payne has written in uncritical support of No Child Left Behind. • Four-part series for Instructional Leader • From part 1: “Do We Really Need the Legislation No Child Left Behind? ... The short answer is yes” (2003, p. 3). • This, despite living in Texas, where NCLB’s precursors led were devastating to socioeconomically disadvantaged students and students of color The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  18. V. Conservative Frame: The Critical Context, Pt. 2 Ruby Payne cites extreme right-wing sources in her work. • Staying with NCLB series, she cites: • Thomas Sowell (who she also identifies as her “hero”), fellow of the right-wing Hoover Institution and a leading conservative critic of any progressive school reform • Hernando de Soto, right-wing economist • Hannity and Colmes of Fox News The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  19. V. Conservative Frame: The Critical Context, Pt. 3 Follow the money. Payne has contributed thousands of dollars to the Bush/Cheney campaigns. • This, despite the fact that Bush’s policies have been at best negligent toward socioeconomically disadvantaged people • A tool: Federal Election Commission Web site (web) • Note: Not a judgment of intent, but an attempt to understand Payne’s work in context The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  20. V. Conservative Frame: The Reframing of Poverty, Pt. 1 Conservative Reframing 1: Blaming poverty on what are outcomes of and not reasons for poverty: “Poverty is caused by interrelated factors: parental employment status and earnings, family structure, and parental education” (2001, p. 12) • These don’t cause poverty. They reflect the impact of poverty (Rank, 2004). The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  21. V. Conservative Frame: The Reframing of Poverty, Pt. 2 Conservative Reframing 2: “Culture” or “mindset” of poverty • But, “Research has repeatedly demonstrated that those who fall below the poverty line…hold the same fundamental aspirations, beliefs, and hopes” (Rank, 2005, p. 48) as wealthy or middle class people. • In other words, research shows that the “mindset” or “culture” of poverty DOES NOT EXIST. • Such a focus diverts attention from classism. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  22. Part VI:Failure to Address Classism“The principal subject of poverty research…ought to be the forces, processes, agents, and institutions…that decide a proportion of the population will end up poor.” (Gans)

  23. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: The Data Compared with low-poverty schools, high-poverty schools have: • More teachers teaching in areas outside their certification; • More serious teacher turnover problems; • More teacher vacancies; • Larger numbers of substitute teachers; • More limited access to computers and the Internet; • Inadequate facilities (such as science labs); The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  24. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: The Data (cont’d) • More dirty or inoperative bathrooms; • More evidence of vermin such as cockroaches and rats; • Insufficient classroom materials • Less rigorous curricula; • Fewer experienced teachers; • Lower teacher salaries; • Larger class sizes; and • Less funding. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  25. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: The Data (References) Barton, P.E. (2004). Why does the gap persist? Educational Leadership 62(3), 8-13. Barton, P.E. (2003). Parsing the achievement gap: Baselines for tracking progress. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Carey, K. (2005). The funding gap 2004: Many states still shortchange low-income and minority students. Washington, D.C.: The Education Trust. National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (2004). Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education: A two-tiered education system. Washington, D.C.: Author. Rank, M.R. (2004). One nation, underprivileged: Why American poverty affects us all. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  26. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: The Question Ruby Payne doesn’t mention a single one of these “savage inequalities” in A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Can we understand the relationship between poverty and education without considering the ways in which the education system contributes to classism and the cycle of poverty? The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  27. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: The Other Question What is the problem?: • That students don’t know the “culture” of the middle class; or • That the education system is designed to privilege middle class and wealthy students at the expense of socioeconomically disadvantaged students? • From the critical social theory perspective, addressing the former without addressing the latter is an expression of privilege. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  28. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: No “Power and Privilege” Context • Avoids discussion of class power and privilege as they relate to: • High-stakes testing • Tracking • Re-segregation of schools • Curriculum • Expectations • All issues that uphold classist power and privilege structure in schools The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  29. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: Agents of Assimilation? What does it mean that Ruby Payne is asking teachers, most of whom are white and middle class, to teach socioeconomically disadvantaged students the “culture” of the middle class? By not addressing systemic classism, is she asking us to assimilate students into the very system that oppresses them? The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  30. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: Band-Aid Reform? Payne provides a couple useful short-term strategies and add-ons that help students acculturate to a hostile system (see pp. 94-96). But the question left unaddressed: How can we transform policies and practices so that these short-term strategies won’t be necessary? The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  31. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: Summarizing Without…attention to relations of domination and subordination as they reside in economic class, the attention to ‘cultural backgrounds’ of students is inadequate on two counts: First, culture is importantly influenced by economic class in contemporary society, and second, school cultures devalue the knowledge and practices of the working and poverty classes while privileging the knowledge and practices of the propertied classes. (Tozer, 2000, p. 156) The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  32. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: Summarizing Pt. 2 Most scholars do not conjecture about the class structure, recent intensification of social class distinctions, or proliferation of tools designed to solidify and reify distinctions. They do spend time trying to explain the class-correlated differential educational outcomes in ways that are not attributed to their own desires or actions. (Brantlinger, 2003, p. 21) The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  33. VI. Ignoring Systemic Classism: The Effect • Allows people from middle and upper classes—people privileged by the education system—to avoid responsibility for classism • Can never effectively serve the needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged without understanding systemic classism • The “Taco Night” effect The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  34. Part VII:The Deficit Perspective

  35. VII. The Deficit Perspective:What Is It? • Explains discrepancies in achievement by pointing to “deficient” cultures and behaviors in a group of people • Draws on stereotypes—usually those already socially established • So, we address poverty by “fixing” poor people instead of fixing the conditions that maintain poverty • Justifies continued oppression The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  36. VII. The Deficit Perspective:Exemplified in Payne’s Framework • The root of her framework—that poverty persists because people in poverty don’t know the rules of the middle class • Drawing on racist and classist stereotypes • Invisibility of the “average” socioeconomically disadvantaged students or families The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  37. People in poverty are bad parents: “The typical pattern in poverty for discipline is to verbally chastise the child, or physically beat the child, then forgive and feed him/her” (p. 37). VII. The Deficit Perspective:Stereotype 1 The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  38. People in poverty are criminals: “Also, individuals in poverty are seldom going to call the police, for two reasons: First, the police may be looking for them…” (pp. 37-38) VII. The Deficit Perspective:Stereotype 2 The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  39. People in poverty are disloyal: “Allegiances may change overnight; favoritism is a way of life” (p. 74). VII. The Deficit Perspective:Stereotype 3 The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  40. People in poverty are violent and “on the streets”: “If students from poverty don’t know how to fight physically, they are going to be in danger on the streets” (p. 100). VII. The Deficit Perspective:Stereotype 4 The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  41. People in poverty are unmotivated addicts: “And for some [people in poverty], alcoholism, laziness, lack of motivation, drug addiction, etc., in effect make the choices for the individual” (p. 148). VII. The Deficit Perspective:Stereotype 5 The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  42. VII. The Deficit Perspective:The Invisible Reality Most people in poverty are responsible, hard-working, drug- and alcohol-free, and not “on the streets.” (Also, a majority live in rural communities and are white.) Where are these people in A Framework for Understanding Poverty? Critical consideration: How do we conceptualize “violent”? The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  43. VII. The Deficit Perspective:The Scenarios Most egregious examples of stereotyping and deficit thinking found in Payne’s Scenarios. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  44. VII. The Deficit Perspective:First Scenario Features John, an 8-year old white boy with an alcoholic single mother. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  45. VII. The Deficit Perspective:Second Scenario Involves Vangie, an African American woman who dropped out of school, had a kid at 14, three more by the age of 18, and now collects welfare. Her boyfriend has been arrested for assault. Her sister is being beaten by her boyfriend. She just “beat the fool out of” her son, Otis, because he was misbehaving at school. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  46. VII. The Deficit Perspective:Third Scenario Oprah, another African American woman, leaves her daughter, Opie, in the care of Opie’s “senile” grandmother and unemployed uncle. Oprah is 32 and has 5 children. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  47. VII. The Deficit Perspective:Fourth Scenario Noemi, a Latina who left school after sixth grade, married at 16, then had five kids in eleven years. Neither she nor her husband, who works sporadically, is familiar with the term “encyclopedia.” She doesn’t speak English. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  48. VII. The Deficit Perspective:Sixth Scenario Ramón, a 25-year-old Latino drug dealer and gang leader, cares for his nephew, Juan, whose father was killed by a rival gang. Juan’s mother is in jail for gang-related activities. Ramón can’t go to a parent-teacher conference because he’s hiding from police. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  49. VII. The Deficit Perspective:Seventh Scenario SueAnn has been married and divorced twice. She’s 33 and a high school drop-out. Her older daughter is pregnant (she had this daughter in high school). Her third husband is unemployed and irresponsible, not wanting to take care of the kids. He was just arrested for driving while intoxicated. The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

  50. VII. The Deficit Perspective:Summarizing the Scenarios • Do these scenarios represent most people in poverty? • Why are 5 out of the 7 scenarios about families of color when most people in poverty are white? • How do these scenarios play into the stereotypes people already have about people in poverty and People of Color? The Pitiable Poor - WPC 2006

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