Summer Reading Program

Reader's Guide - Honky by Dalton Conley

Chapter Six: “Learning Class” (pages 65-73)

Content Questions:

1. Where was Conley’s new school, P.S. 41, located?
2. What were some of the initial differences between his old and new schools that Conley noticed on the first day?
3. How is Ozan’s separation from his peers different from Conley’s?
4. Conley’s new obsession with learning is for whose benefit?

Discussion Questions & Journal Ideas:

1. How do you feel about the tactics Conley’s parents used to get him into his new school?  Were they justified, or not?  Why?
2. On pages 70-71, Conley describes the difference between being white in his former school, and being white in P.S. 41.  Explain what you think he means in this section.  Have you ever been in a situation like the one he describes at his old school, where your race or ethnicity gave you a “certain freedom to act however [you] wanted”?
3. On page 71, Conley says that when he went home, he “felt ashamed of the pleasure I had experienced that day at school.  P.S. 41 seemed like a far-of land, a place of sophistication and luxury”.  Why do you think he felt this way?
4. In learning the new social dynamics of P.S. 41, Conley comes to realize that “the most popular kids tended to be those whose parents were the richest or most powerful or held the most prestigious jobs [. . .] .  I made a connection between the relative opulence of their residences, the profession, style, and grace of their parents, and how they behaved and were treated by the other kids at school.  I was learning the language of class” (73).  Think back to your own school years.  In what ways did you see (or not see) such class dynamics?  How do you think such class issues affect children growing up?  What lessons do they teach, and how do we see those lessons played out in the world of adults?

 

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