Comparing 6th Grade Science Classrooms: Inner-City versus Suburb

Abstract

Do teachers in the inner-city have different expectations of their students than teachers in the suburbs? Ethnographic studies of the classroom such as one by Wilcox in 1982 suggest they do. Wilcox describes education as "primarily a process of cultural transmission". In other words, schools in a particular setting or neighborhood aim to instill in their students the cultural norms and behaviors accepted and expected in that setting. This project is an ethnographic study of two sixth grade science classrooms; one in an urban inner-city Detroit, Michigan neighborhood and one in the neighboring suburb of Dearborn. The study examines the way the two classrooms are run by the teachers and their teaching styles by comparing the types of assignments that are given to students and the implications they have on the students’ learning development. Other factors such as a comparison of school funding per pupil and the effect it has on the availability of resources necessary for learning in each classroom were also examined. We found that the Dearborn school students learned how to work individually and in groups whereas the Detroit school students learned only how to work in groups. We also found that Dearborn students were encouraged to read out loud to the class individually whereas Detroit students were often read to by the teacher.