But the lads were all movements, save when the teacher’s stare might freeze one of them momentarily; they would gossip surreptitiously, or pass open remarks that were on the verge of direct insubordination but could be explained away if challenged. The lads recognized that work would be much more like school, but they actively looked forward to it. They expected to gain no direct satisfaction from the work environment, but were impatient for wages. Far from taking the jobs they did – in tyre fitting, carpet laying, plumbing, painting and decorating – from feelings of inferiority, they held an attitude of dismissive superiority towards work, as they had towards school. They enjoyed the adult status that came from working, but were not interested in ‘making a career’ for themselves. As Willis points out, work in blue collar settings often involves quite similar cultural features to those the lads created in their counter school culture – banter, quick wit and the skill to subvert the demands of authority figures when necessary. Only later in their lives might they come to see themselves as trapped in arduous, unrewarding labour. When they have families, they might perhaps look back on education retrospectively, and see it – hopelessly – as having been the only escape. Yet if they try to pass this view on to their own children, they are likely to have no more success than their own parents did.

Gender and Education

The formal curriculum in schools, apart from participation in games, no longer distinguishes in any systematic way between boys and girls. However, there are various other ‘points of entry’ for the development of gender differences in education. These include teacher expectations, school rituals and other aspects of a hidden curriculum. Although rules are gradually loosening, regulations which compel girls to wear dresses or skirts in school from one of the most obvious ways in which gender typing occur. The consequences go beyond mere appearance. As a result of the clothes she wears, a girl lacks the freedom to sit casually, to join in rough and tumble games, or sometimes to run as fast as she is able. School textbooks also help to perpetuate gender images. Although this again is changing, story books in primary schools often portrays boys as showing initiative and independence, while girls, if they appear at all, are more passive and watch their brothers. Stories written especially for girls often have an element of adventure in them, but this usually takes the form of intrigues or mysteries in a domestic or school setting. Boys’ adventure stories are more wide-ranging, having heroes who travel off to distant places or are sturdily independent in other ways (Statham 1986). At the secondary level, females tend to be ‘invisible’ in most science and maths textbooks, perpetuating the view that these are ‘male subjects’.

References

Bernstein, Basil.1975. Class, Codes and Control. Vol. 3, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Bourdieu, Pierre.1986. Distinction: A Social Critique of Judgements of Taste. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

-1988. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity.

Bourdieu, Pierre and Jean-Claude Passeron. 1977. Reproduction: In Education, Society and Culture, London: Sage.

Illich, Evan D. 1973. Deschooling Society. Harmond-Sworth: Penguin.

Tizard, Barbara and Martin Hughes. 1984. Young Children Learning, Talking and Thinking at Home and at School. London: Fontana.

Tough, Joan. 1976. Listening to Children Talking. London: Ward Lock Educational.

Willis, Paul. 1977. Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. London: Saxon House.

Webb, Rob and Hall Westergaard. 1991. Social Stratification, Culture and Education, Sociology Review.