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Smartness as a Cultural Practice in Schools:

Smartness as a Cultural Practice in Schools: This study explores smartness as a cultural construct rather than a biological capacity. The cultural construction of smartness has broad consequences related to teacher expectations, student academic identity development, and schooling inequities. This study is based on a 1-year ethnography in a kindergarten classroom, and the author investigates smartness by first historicizing the concept of intelligence and then using the theoretical framework of figured worlds. Through the teachers’ disciplinary and pedagogical practices, students were taught and learned not just whether they were smart themselves, but how other student identities were constructed according to smartness as well. Analysis suggests smartness was used as a mechanism of control and social positioning along racial and class lines. Implications are discussed related to schooling practices and policy. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Educational Research Journal SAGE

Smartness as a Cultural Practice in Schools:

American Educational Research Journal , Volume 49 (3): 23 – Jun 1, 2012

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References (58)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by American Educational Research Association
ISSN
0002-8312
eISSN
1935-1011
DOI
10.3102/0002831211415661
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This study explores smartness as a cultural construct rather than a biological capacity. The cultural construction of smartness has broad consequences related to teacher expectations, student academic identity development, and schooling inequities. This study is based on a 1-year ethnography in a kindergarten classroom, and the author investigates smartness by first historicizing the concept of intelligence and then using the theoretical framework of figured worlds. Through the teachers’ disciplinary and pedagogical practices, students were taught and learned not just whether they were smart themselves, but how other student identities were constructed according to smartness as well. Analysis suggests smartness was used as a mechanism of control and social positioning along racial and class lines. Implications are discussed related to schooling practices and policy.

Journal

American Educational Research JournalSAGE

Published: Jun 1, 2012

Keywords: intelligence,figured worlds,social class,race,equity

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