Disadvantaged children and school.

Listening to the news gives me pause for thought. It sounds as though all the schools need is more resources and they can solve the problem of disadvantaged children catching more affluent in educational attainment. From my experience that is not the whole picture. There has to be a change in attitude of many parents concerning learning. There is still a feeling among many working class parents in this country that education is a wast of time. I have heard it said many times the best thing is to get out of school and trying to earn some money. Then the children find their aspirations thwarted by a lack of qualifications and they have few options than crime.
It is still a boast by many working class men that they have never read a book. How depressing to live in a house with no books and no culture. Maybe some of the money should be used to educate parents.
In my novel about growing up and becoming upwardly mobile An Ordinary Life, Caroline says to Tom,  “ Tom Houseman, no matter what you and your brother might say, you were never working class. No don’t protest because I expect you know what I mean. Your parents made sure that the two of you were always striving to better yourselves. As far as I can recall, there was never any talk of either of you getting a working job. You were very well mannered and ate off china plates with linen table clothes. Your mother would have nothing to do with the man selling things on tick. No you were not working class. You might be left wing labour but you are not working class socialists.”

            Tom laughed. “ You might be right, I suppose. Working class and middle class are not about money but about attitudes to the way life should be lived. My Dad was left wing labour but his politics were grounded in the trades union movement far more than in political parties. He wanted workers rights and a fairer share of the financial cake. He actually thought the same way as Mike Pearce about workers earning the wealth and therefore having a right to a bigger share but he was not so dogmatic about nationalisation.”
So part of the trouble is low aspirations of the society around these children making it difficult to rise above their background.
Buy An Ordinary Life by Edmund Gubbins from Amazon or download to electronic devises like kindle.