The school dictates which literacies are important and often the literacy practised in the home is not valued or validated. Those children who do not grow up in a home with the dominant culture's values are marginalized by the school and the government as a result. Reading and writing activities need to be more in-tune with their minority experiences. If the low-income families are not literate, they are not able to participate fully in the many aspects of society that demand literacy competencies.

Schooling for Poverty

Paratore (1995) and Delpit (1995) note that teachers continue to hold many false assumptions about the literacy experiences and attitudes toward learning in non-mainstream families. Teachers in this study view parents' poor attendance at parent-teacher meetings as a shirking of their responsibilities. In one home visit, immediately after a parent-teacher night, I was asked by Michelle what day it was. When I informed her of the day, she replied, "Damn, I missed the meeting at school last night. I wanted to go…I was thinking it was tonight." This response seems to tie in with the theme of present time orientation discussed earlier and the difficulty that parents have with long term planning. Although notices are sent in advance to inform parents about upcoming school events, Michelle does not make note of them and is not orientated herself to the day. Natalie also stresses the importance of these meetings, "Gotta go for updates…find out what they need…find out what's going on. It's very important." Yet, despite what Natalie says about participation, her attendance is noted by school staff to be inconsistent.

Natalie knows that she is not part of the majority and mainstream of schools and society. She feels that this is one problem she faces in dealing with school staff:

I think everybody would treat you differently if you had a better education like if you didn't grow up with the life that you had, or if you had a good job or lived in a different area. I feel that you are looked down upon because of where you live…because you're on assistance I mean.