To find the term 'underclass' offensive and to think teachers shouldn't be teaching students about it?

[Opalite]

I was talking to DD and she was saying how her teacher told the class about 'underclass, working class, middle class and upper class' we were watching TV and it mentioned middle class, DD said that we're underclass and her teacher had told her about it yesterday
Is it outdated? I find it offensive and I don't think it's right for her teacher to be telling them these things as if they're facts or as if they matter

from wiki

The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. The general idea that a class system includes a population under the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences (e.g., lumpenproletariat).
However, the specific term "underclass" was popularized during the last half of the 20th century, first by social scientists of American poverty and then by American journalists. The underclass concept has been a point of controversy among social scientists

it just means the people right at the bottom doesnt it

Yes and no!

If you are studying the interwar period, the relationship to emerging fascist ideology, and how that was promoted through the arts, is more than just 'at the bottom'

Which is why I hope OP will return with more context.

presumably it would overlap with the unwaged to some extent but I dont imagine that the two categories align completely

I'm not clever or knowledgeable enough to argue the rights and wrongs of definitions, but I do know that I'd be mightily pissed off (and probably hurt and insulted) if a child of mine was led to believe she was a member of any 'underclass,' whether it was wrapped up as a sociogical term or not.

The pupils were, implicitly or maybe even directly, invited to look at each other and speculate as to what their peers might 'be.' Horrible, whatever age they might be.

My understanding of the word is that it originated as a way of describing people who were leaving school and becoming available for work at a time of deep recession, when there was no hopf of finding a job, possibly ever.
Not necessarily intentionally derogative, but the termhas now been extended to apply to so many diferent categories, encompassing both the unfortunate by chance and those who find themselves in reduced circumstances by 'choice.'

Again, utterly shit for a teacher to be talking about people in those terms, especially knowing the crcumstances of their pupils.

Everyone has the right to hold their head high - whatever happened to 'every child matters?'

DD is 12 and says that the conversation trailed into this
The teacher said that these are the classes; underclass, working class, middle class and upper class and described each one.
My daughter wasn't happy about being 'below' other classes of people so I expect that other students in the class felt the same.

so we shouldnt mention socio economic status or admit that hierarchies exist because people not at the top will be offended?

Pretend that we live in an equal society??
what about raising the consciousness of the oppressed to that they can erm rise up and overthrow the capitalist overlords

What was the text that led to the teacher talking about class structure at all?

Can your dd tell you why she identified herself as underclass?

Teachers must teach facts. If you're not happy about the class system then get out there and change it but you can't complain that the teacher tells the truth.

I think the teacher is describing the five class system I grew up with, but badly. Lowerclass, Workingclass, Middleclass, Upperclass, Aristocracy.

My family were Lowerclass and it didn't matter because everyone at school was either lowerclass or workingclass apart from some of the teachers.

Well Lazysuzanne, I think that categorising people into these classes is limiting and I don't see the point at all. It's not just because the term offends people, I don't see how it can be a positive thing to separate people into these categories? I think it's outdated and should be irrelevant now...

Opalite but doesn't that just pretend people aren't being affected by things when they are?

how can it be irrelevant Opalite, a persons position in the social hierarchy has huge implications.
There are massive inequalities in our culture, if we pretend they dont exist we will never address them.

Surely is patently obvious they there are people who have vast amounts of wealth and status, whilst some have none at all.
This is a fact,not some old fashioned idea.

Perhaps you are getting confused with something more rigid like the caste system where people are assigned from birth to different categories and have little hope of escaping?

But they aren't being taught about it in that way at all. They're being told that this is how it is and are expected to accept that.
I also don't think that the things that determine which class you fit into mean anything, I don't think any of it should even be given this attention
My point isn't that some people are rich and some are poor, it's that these things shouldn't define anybody and that teaching these things as facts does just that really

"should be irrelevant now..."

Is the text a modern one then?

Meditrina like I said, the conversation trailed off to her speaking about the class system. She wasn't actually explaining something from the book, it wasn't part of the curriculum

'I also don't think that the things that determine which class you fit into mean anything'

broadly speaking social class is determined by income, level of education and social status, you dont think those things mean anything?
really Oplalite...really??

of course it doesnt absolutely and completely define someone but it casts a big shadow, or halo.

I feel a John Lennon quote coming on....
'you think you're so clever and classless and free'

denying that class means anything is what marx would have called false consciousness surely, thats what people in power want the rest of us to think

I don't think the people in power want us to think it means anything, I think they want us to be limited by our class

I just think that things like this set barriers up in peoples minds, in this case childrens minds

But the things that really determine which class you're in do affect things. Not understanding why you're being treated a particular way does you no favours. IMO if you know it's because of class at least it's not so personal, it's just their limited understanding and fear.

I give up, if you want to live your life as if there is no hierarchy and we're all equal then thats up to you Opalite.

I prefer to know as much as possible about the workings of the social system that I inhabit!

OP, you are either kidding yourself, or spectacularly missing the point if you think that class shouldn't be discussed ever in relation to English literature at school.

I understand why it's upset you but the reality is secondary is where it all changes and all those things we hoped to protect our kids from become harder and harder to really ignore, and thats were knowledge and being able to understand what's going on and be comfortable with who you are regardless of how others classify you become important.

So it came out of the blue, unconnected to curriculum-specified texts or themes relevant to them?

Then yes, I agree it is odd, in the same way that it would be odd for a physics lesson to deviatie into Mahler.