Teachers are the Victim of the Socioeconomic Background of their Students 

Ben Vitale

I would like to establish that my family indoctrination played the leading role in how I connected with education, and life itself. I am sure that all of my teachers were not able to deal effectively with me because of my family background. Academia must realize that a student’s parents are indeed his first and most trusted teachers!

I come from an Italian immigrant family. My parents were not able to help me with geometry, algebra, trigonometry or English; we all spoke mostly Italian! This situation still exists today but only the nationality has changed.

My father and mother had an 8^th grade education; they lived by a completely different set of values. In my case the values instilled in me by my parents were a stumbling block for my teachers! “I was told that a man was expected to work like a Horse, and bring home the pay check!” A college education was not on my parents radar screen; not one person in my entire family went to college at that time.

My actions were directed by the values instilled in me by my parents! I rejected almost every subject in high school because it did not fit in the template that was instilled in me by my parents and everyone else around me; we were all essentially immigrants and saw absolutely no value in algebra and trigonometry!

I would like to make an important point about the power of family indoctrination; that I will explain later in this article! Please be patient with me; this will appear to be unrelated to the subject of this article! My Father also told me that Baseball, Football, and Basketball were all stupid! “In Baseball they hit a ball with a stick, and men run in a circle!” ”In Football the players slam into each other in order to get a ball!” “In Basketball the players throw a ball into a hoop!” As you can see, my father did not like sports! The significance of this paragraph will “come to light,” later in this article!

My father indoctrinated me with two things that he believed could help me to succeed in life. My Dad was a house painter and he taught me how to paint a house when I was 10 years old; painting put food on our table, so he wanted me to have that skill. My father also had a vision that Electronics was the way of the future; he knew nothing at all about electronics but he did something amazing that eventually led to my very successful career in Electronics. During the course of my father’s job as a house painter, he often had to dispose of abandoned radios before he could start painting an apartment; he brought those radios home and gave them to me! OK! I knew “zero” about electronics, but I had a wonderful time stripping all of the parts from these old radios and electronic equipment! I got so involved with electronics that I asked Santa Clause for a piece of Electronics test equipment for Christmas; So... I was the only 12 year old in all of Brooklyn who owned an Electronics Multimeter. I did not like school but I studied Electronics at the local Library, with a passion.   

The point that I am trying to make is that a person’s parents have the most profound effect on the way a student deals with education, not his teachers. I walked into Jr High School with the “Memory Stick” of my mind already programmed! My teachers had the best intensions but my mental programming took precedence! I can remember saying to myself while in school; “why do I have to memorize this c**p?” I absolutely could not study a subject unless I had a practical need for the subject matter. I was indoctrinated to be job oriented; I believed that Geometry could not help me to make a living, but a paint brush could!  My grandfather was also a house painter and he paid the bills by using a paint brush!

My father gave me positive reinforcement every time I disassembled an old radio. I feel so fortunate; and often think of youths that received absolutely no positive reinforcement from their parents! So… I did my best to get a C in school, because I thought that I would never need the subject matter that was covered. As soon as I progressed to my senior year in High School, I realized that Geometry, Trigonometry, and Algebra were indeed necessary in order to advance to college level courses in Electronics.

On the positive side… Up until I entered my senior year in high school,” my father was the only teacher that I listened to! What if my father did not present me with his vision about the future of Electronics; I would be a House Painter today. Remember… I was trained to be a painter at age 10! If I had become a painter I would not have experienced the mental and financial rewards that I got from working in Electronics!

Teachers are as good as the students that are in their classes; and students are as good as the information that is instilled in them by their parent, parents, or peers! If a teacher is teaching the children of academic parents, he should be very successful. If that same teacher is given the task of teaching the children of immigrant parents, he may not be able to reach his intended goals. A given teacher should not be judged by the progress that his students make, without considering their family background. In my case, all of my teachers must have been considered to be failures, because my mind was already programmed by the very strong indoctrination of my parents.

In my case I repeatedly settled for a C in many subjects, including Algebra and Geometry because I was not motivated to spend any time, on class subject matter, that I was convinced I would never need. If my teachers were evaluated at that time they would have been considered to be failures! Why would I want to study English; we all spoke Italian! I absolutely refused to learn something that was not consistent with the indoctrination that was firmly implanted in the “Memory Stick,” of my mind!  

As you can see, all students cannot be placed into the same mold! As it turned out I couldn’t be happier with my success in the workplace! I reached and exceeded my goals in an unconventional way, but most of my teachers were powerless to help me because my father was the prime mover in my life!

Sports Hummm… To this day I have absolutely no desire to play or learn about Baseball, Football, and Basketball! Is it possible that my family indoctrination had something to do with this?  I am convinced that in my case, my teachers were not able to connect with me because of my previous mental programming!

Why should teachers be evaluated by the “Common Core” progress of their students? Teaching the child of academic parents, is a blessing to a teacher! Teaching the child of an immigrant family such as mine can be impossible. Academia must provide extensive orientation sessions for the Parents, before their children can be expected to respond to their teachers. I believe that the children of academic parents and the children of immigrant parents have nothing in common.

It is not fair to penalize teachers that were assigned the task of teaching the children of non- academic parents! May I suggest a test! Transfer teachers that are doing a fantastic job at teaching “college bound students,” to a ghetto school, where most of the students, come from a non-academic, background! I really do not believe that the “top notch teachers” would be able to maintain their current high rating!   

I did ultimately migrate into a very successful career in electronics, because of the direction that I received from my first teacher… My father!

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