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Finn (education, State U. of New York at Buffalo) denies the common claim that the poor are not smart enough or are merely too lazy to excel at literacy. Instead, he argues that the poor have commonly received what he calls domesticating education which leads to productive, docile citizens, while the wealthier students get empowering education, allowing them to maintain their positions of power. He draws on his own experiences as a teacher with a working class background to elucidate some differences among classes in communication styles and assumptions, and discusses methods developed by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire for teaching working class students. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A Must Read for Every Classroom Teacher

Michael (Buffalo, New York) - from Amazon

Partick J. Finn's book Literacy With an Attitude is an excellent book that presents a view of public schooling in working class communities that every teacher and parent should read. Finn argues, from a long list of research that is presented in an easy readin­g and personal style, that schools in working-class neighborhoods do not generally provide the form of literacy instruction [reading and writing] that prepares working class children for occupations of leadership and power, but instead, prepares them for occupations in manual labor, retail, and the like. Finn argues that this is not done intentionally with any overt plot, but rather, is accomplished as part of the normal social order in a society made up of professional, middle, and working class persons.

Finn describes how this process works, and does so in a very convincing manner--indeed, it is difficult to put his book down once he gets rolling on this description. He concludes this book with descriptions of how to escape this form of literacy instruction and how teachers and schools can deliver literacy instruction that is enriching, leads to powerful understandings, and changes ways of thinking, not just ways of reading and writing: i.e., literacy with an attitude.