Classism. Period.

Creative title, I know.

But I think it deserves to be stated outright.  Its often forgotten over the other "-isms" that we commonly think of.  Ironically, in my opinion, it is one of the more prevalent and wide-ranging inclusivity issues that youth deal with.  On a very superficial level, we judge people by how well kept they are, if they have the trendy clothes/styles and whether or not they have the latest Apple gizmo (this is especially true in younger kids).  Commercials and media don't help this idea either.  So I don't think we have to even go as far as looking at poverty to see classism in everyday life and easily in our classrooms.

But looking at the more serious issue of child poverty.  Reading the 2003 Report Card on Child Poverty, by the Canadian Council on Social Development, I was astonished to read that 390,000 children live below the poverty line.  14.4%.  Imagine having 4 kids in each one of your class below the poverty line.

To me, it makes me wonder as to why we don't see classism as much as an issue as I've seen in the past.  Is there some reason we don't want to talk about it?

Most of my teaching experiences so far have been in summer school.  Sadly that means there is a whole bunch of material to cover and not a whole lot of time to worry about a lot of "under the surface" kind of issues such as the "-isms".  To me, a successful day was if the students came to class and didn't get into a fight (the ratio of successful days to unsuccessful days was about 1:1).  So it makes me excited to get my own class and actually have the time to establish a classroom atmosphere.  And for an inclusivity issue that does not get brought into schools all that often, this will definitely be another "-ism" that will be in the back of my mind while trying to create the best environment my classroom can be.