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Sitting in African American Studies class on a Tuesday morning a young black student from DC asked me what resistance meant. I thought he was making a joke but somehow he was serious. Coming from a Montgomery county school system which has a superior educational background, I noticed when coming to the University of Maryland students from less affluent areas did not have the same values in education that I held. Students from the Prince Georgia’s county area and even some from the DC area do not know some of the basic math and English curriculum that is necessary to prosper in college. Is it the fact that these kids are not intelligent? No it is the lack of funding in schools who are populated by students who are not “worthy” enough for a “Montgomery county” education. Social class has everything to do with education levels of which students are ranked. Students with the higher education levels generally come from higher class communities and lower education levels generally come from lower class areas. Students Gate keeping is a system that guides students from one class structure to another or keeps them at that same level. Guiding a lower class student into a higher social class would also give them a more proficient education but this is only a privilege not a right. Gate keeping is a dysfunctional system that doesn't offer an equal opportunity for higher learning but instead reaffirms poverty.
Children from low income families are more likely to find themselves in the same class structure as their parents. Children from less affluent communities are channeled toward job positions similar toward their parent's social standing. Children from both rural and urban poverty areas are more likely to attend public schools with a limited range of educational resources. Oakes says that, "A person's position is likely to be reaffirmed by the treatment received in school"(Oakes and Lipton). These public schools in poverty areas tend to be high in terms of...