The Stratification of Reading and Sturbridge: The Vocational Enabler

Reading Massachusetts is the atypical suburb of Boston. Sturbridge Massachusetts is a typical rural former mill town. While there is a great deal of economic stratification between the two. There is little difference in them racially, nor in family systems. Despite this, Reading has a great deal more money for schooling, and thus scores much better than Sturbridge on standardized tests. The break-up of Vocational and Standard students at Sturbridge' regional high school helps perpetuate class consciousness.

The town was first populated in 1639, and was incorporated in 1644. The town enjoyed a population boon after World War II, and what was then left of the family owned farms were finally sold off at that time. The remnants of the founding families of Reading can still be seen throughout the town. In the town graveyard, located behind what was once the city common, there are countless gravestones featuring the name "Bancroft": the largest founding family of Reading. They are also are memorialized by a street which runs from one side of the town to the other. Reading takes pride in its long history, from Revolutionary War soldiers, to the occasional historical reenactment; Reading is a typical upper middle class suburb (http://www.state.ma.us/dhcd/iprofile/479.pdf).

Sturbridge Massachusetts is a rural town which is known mostly for its history. Established in 1738, Sturbridge was originally a milling town which used water from the local river for power. After the decline and closing of the mills, Sturbridge became just another depopulated mid-Massachusetts town (http://www.town.sturbridge.ma.us/). Ironically, it was the same rich industrialists whose loss had nearly destroyed the city which led to its resurgence over the past fifty years. The Wells family, of neighboring Southbridge, owned an extensive collection of artifacts from the early 1800s. It was this collection that helped found what is now called "Old Sturbridge Village": a large outdoor museum featuring authentic housing, dress, occupations, and animals of the early 1800s. Nearly every child in grade school in central and western Massachusetts has visited "Old Sturbridge Village" (http://www.osv.org/). Were it not for the life brought to Sturbridge by its unique museum, the town would probably still be shell of former milling glory (http://www.state.ma.us/dhcd/iprofile/287.pdf).

Reading is made up like most of non-urban Massachusetts. Of the population of 2,3553, 96.5 percent is white. The Hispanic population is .8%. Nearly homogenous populations such as this are common in Massachusetts. The majority of non-white residents of the state live in ethnically centered neighborhoods in and around Boston, such as the Portuguese in New Bedford or African Americans in Jamaica Plain. The majority (74.1%) of the population of Reading live in Family households. 63.5% of the population live in households containing a married couple. There is a population (17.5) of people in Reading that rent housing which is owned by someone else. These numbers are fairly typical for non-urban towns around Boston (http://www.state.ma.us/dhcd/iprofile/479.pdf).

The population of Sturbridge is very similar to the population of Reading. Like Reading, Sturbridge is nearly homogeneous: 97.1% white. The difference between Reading and Sturbridge in this regard can be accounted for entirely by the population of Asian immigrants. Reading is 2.2% Asian, while Sturbridge is only 1.1 %. Like Reading, the majority of the Sturbridge population live in Family households (72.2%). 60.7% of the population live in households containing a married couple. While these numbers are similar to Reading, the number of people who rent houses is Sturbridge is slightly higher than those in Reading (22.4%). Other than this, this population of Reading and Sturbridge are not greatly different demographically (http://www.state.ma.us/dhcd/iprofile/287.pdf.)

Though the two towns are not dramatically different, Reading has a much higher socio-economic status than Sturbridge. This difference can be seen most clearly in the worth of houses which were sold in the year 2003. In 2003, the average price of houses bought was $218,450. In Reading, the average price was $423,750 (http://rers.thewarrengroup.com/townstats/results.asp). Clearly Reading has much higher property value. The truth of this is reflected in higher property taxes paid by those living in Reading. In addition to this, the average income for those living in Reading in the year 2001 was $42,309 (http://www.detma.org/lmi/local/Reading.html). In Sturbridge, this number drops to $27,850 (http://www.detma.org/lmi/local/Sturbridge.html). This dichotomy of house worth and average wage effects the amount of money which is given to public services, and more importantly: schools.

Reading Memorial High School is a standard college preparation High School. It offers the usual breadth of pre-college courses, as well as several AP classes in Biology, History, English, Chemistry, Calculus, and Anatomy and Physiology. Sturbridge High School also offers these classes (http://reading.k12.ma.us/rmhs/). The largest difference between the two High Schools is that the students of Sturbridge travel to a regional high school which shares space with a vocational and technical high school. At a "Voc" (pronounced "voke"), students can learn trades such as carpentry, electronics, cooking, and beauty. The addition of these vocational classes lends expectancy and legitimacy to students who attend vocational classes. Those in Reading in wish so attend these classes have to enroll in the North West Regional Vocational High School, several miles away. These students do not interact with Reading Memorial High School students very often, and there is a certain stigma which accompanies students at "The Voc". This stigma is avoided by Sturbridge, because of the greater interaction between the college preparation and vocational students.

The MCAS Test is a standardized test which has been implemented into the curriculum of Massachusetts over the past several years. It is designed to help the school systems statewide understand how their students compare academically to those in the rest of the state. The MCAS may someday be used to determine if students will be allowed to graduate. The 10^th graders at Reading Memorial High School who took the MCAS in 2003 scored markedly better than those in Sturbridge. The percentage of those scoring "Advanced" (the highest category of score) in English was 36% in Reading, as compared with 19% in Reading. In Reading, the percentage of those who took the test and failed was 0%. In Sturbridge, this percentage climbed to 8%. Even more shocking, the Vocational department of the Sturbridge regional High School had only 2% Advanced, as compared with 27% who took the test and failed. These trends continue to the Mathematics portion of the test. Reading had 80% of students the top two passing categories, and 2% who took the test and failed. The regional high school had 61% in the top two categories, and 12% failures. The vocational high school had 48% in the top two categories, and 23% in the failing category (http://www.doe.mass.edu.mcas/results.html).

These numbers speak not only to the stratification between the suburban haves and the rural have-nots, but also to the stratification between those who go to the vocational and standard portions of the regional high school. The score variation between Reading and Sturbridge is to be expected because of the Higher Socio-Economic status, as shown in house prices and average income. I hypothesize that the clear difference between class at the Regional High school suppresses class consciousness. The two "classes" of vocational and standard students at the regional high school have each other to be opposed too. I would guess that neither group spends much time comparing themselves to those students in richer suburbs of Boston. In this way class consciousness is suppressed, because the oppressed group has someone to either feel better than, or oppressed by. This relationship, however, is (quite literally) miles away from the real class oppression which is occurring in the state.

Works Cited

"Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Employment and Training: Reading" http://www.detma.org/lmi/local/Reading.html, Acc. 5/2/04

"Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Employment and Training: Sturbridge" http://www.detma.org/lmi/local/Sturbridge.html, Acc. 5/2/04

"dhcd Massachusetts: Reading" http://www.state.ma.us/dhcd/iprofile/479.pdf Acc. /5/2/04

"dhcd Massachusetts: Sturbridge" http://www.state.ma.us/dhcd/iprofile/287.pdf, Acc. 5/2/04

"Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System: MCAS Resuslt... Reading, Sturbridge" http://www.doe.mass.edu.mcas/results.html Acc. 5/2/04

"Old Sturbridge Village" http://www.osv.org/, Acc. 5/2/04

"Reading Memorial High School" http://reading.k12.ma.us/rmhs/, Acc. 5/2/04

"The Warren Group: Town Statistics: Massachusetts... Reading, Sturbridge"

http://rers.thewarrengroup.com/townstats/results.asp, Acc. 5/2/04

"Town of Sturbridge Massachusetts" http://www.town.sturbridge.ma.us/, Acc. 5/2/04