Vicki And Thanh Pat Thomson Analysis

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PART A: Pat Thomson, author of ‘Vicki and Thanh’ schooling the rustbelt kids: making the difference in changing times, presents an article that portrays the different levels of success that is expected when comparing an Australian student to a student that has a cultural background. At the beginning of the article we are introduced to Vicki and Thanh, both the age of 5 and about to start their first day of school. The concept of a ‘virtual schoolbag’ (Thomson, P 2002, p. 1) is also presented in which each child brings to school full with prior learning and experiences. Thomson explains the organic relationship between what is learnt at home and what is learnt at school when comparing Vicki and Thanh’s virtual schoolbags. The author displays…show more content…
It was said that one ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ of inequity was to ‘educate the parents’ (Thomson, P 2002, p. 3) and encourage them to ‘supervise’ their children whilst doing homework. This suggests that with the parent’s encouragement and reinforcement towards the child, they are more likely to want to succeed and feel they have the right to succeed, instead of there being a boundary between the advantaged and disadvantaged children. The parents of both Vicki and Thanh want the best for their children, to graduate and achieve a ‘university’ (Thomson, P 2002, p.2) degree. However Vicki is more likely to succeed because of her parent’s educational background and will be able to provide the support that she needs going through school, whereas Thanh will have to find other sources for educational help because his parents do not have the knowledge that he…show more content…
The issues of socio-economic status, geographical location and lack of prior learning did not affect the level of success and happiness Emily experienced at school. Emily was able to come to school and use her knowledge previously learnt in classroom and around other students. The setting of the school was familiar to Emily which gave her a higher advantage over those students coming into the school similar to Thanh, who may not have the skills and abilities she

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