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James Loewen The Land Of Opportunity Summary

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In James W. Loewen’s “The Land of Opportunity,” he states that social class affects the way children are raised. He discusses the inequality in today’s society and how the textbooks in high school do not give any social class information. The students in today’s time are not taught everything they should be taught. He states that your family’s wealth is what makes up your future. Loewen discusses that people with more money can study for the SATs more productively and get a better score than someone who has less money.
Rich babies tend to come out being healthier and weighing more. Rich mothers- to-be are more likely to get prenatal care, receive medical advice, engage in health fitness, and nutrition. Poor mothers- to- be first contact the …show more content…

Teens have a lot of knowledge about privileges in America; they gain the most knowledge about society. They are extremely focused on the media and what they have to say, while they should really be more focused on the true facts and the truth about what is going on in our society. They tend to compare their family’s social position against others as well as comparing their communities to other (more poor or more rich) communities. High school text books are a big factor to these teens knowledge. Studies have proven that only one half of high school text books contain information about society and class. Text books are continuously giving false information. Loewen states that a majority of high school students do not understand any of the continuing issues.
History textbooks leave out a plethora of information regarding social class. Teachers may leave out social class information because they feel it is a touchy subject and do not want to offend students. When students are unaware of the history of social class, they begin to believe false information, such as, poor people deserve to be poor. Loewen does a great job of pointing out student’s misunderstanding of social status and strongly believes that it is the high school text books to

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