In Luis Moll’s research, he discovered that instead of a “cultural deficit” (when students are deemed unintelligent or unteachable because they are from a different culture), there is in fact a “culture capital”—or vast wealth of knowledge—within the community of these otherwise unreached students.
Moll did his research with Mexican-American students in school in Tuscon, Arizona. He analyzed the Latino community in Tuscon in regards to the spread of skills and knowledge within the community. When he found that the community had a lot of knowledge, but not what the schools were trying to teach, he encouraged teachers to start teaching in manner that helps the students find meaning. These teachers found that student participation increased drastically when the teacher let them work on subjects that interested them.
While this study took place in Arizona, it is obvious that this study would prove true in whatever area it was done. Foxfire did similar work in Alabama, but regardless of where you are, students are more likely to be interested and involved in the work they are doing if it is a subject that they actually care about. It doesn’t really matter whether the students are English as a second language or students in the backwoods of West Virginia, or even innercity youth—sometimes standard practices just don’t cut it.
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