Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [115]
Not surprisingly, neither Melanie nor her mother looks forward to doing homework. Melanie’s first line of defense is to take the offense, as the following excerpt from a field note shows. Climbing into the family’s minivan after school, Melanie immediately mentions—and simultaneously downplays—the fact that she has homework:
MS. HANDLON (in a cheery voice): How are you?
MELANIE: Okay. (pause) I only have math homework today.
MS. HANDLON: How many problems?
MELANIE: Ten. Well, maybe twenty.
MS. HANDLON: That’s not too bad. Only math?
MELANIE: Yeah.
Her mother is not ready to drop the topic, however. Probing, she inquires about other subjects. Reluctantly, Melanie discloses the rest of her homework load. She is hesitant but truthful:
MS. HANDLON: You don’t have any social studies?
MELANIE: Well, maybe a little.
MS. HANDLON: What about spelling?
MELANIE: Oh, yeah. I have a spelling test tomorrow.
Once home, Melanie takes time to snack and relax before beginning her homework. She asks permission to put on music. Gleefully, she selects “The Nutcracker” and turns the volume up loud on the stereo. With mother and daughter sitting together at the dining room table, the homework session begins.
MELANIE: What do I do?
Melanie’s mother reads the directions out loud and goes over the first problem with Melanie.
MS. HANDLON: See? You carry this remainder and put it in this box.
MELANIE: Oh.
As they move to the second problem, Ms. Handlon continues to help Melanie in a very hands-on fashion.
MS. HANDLON: Okay, what do we do here? How many times will seven go into fifty-two? Well, what’s five times seven?
MELANIE: Thirty-five.
MS. HANDLON: Right. So, that’s too small. So, what’s seven times six? What’s seven times seven?
MELANIE: Forty-two. Forty-nine.
MS. HANDLON: Right. So, where do you put that? And what’s the remainder? You have to borrow. Right. And then put the remainder in the next box. And how do you do this problem?
On another problem, Melanie resists her mother’s effort to make the task seem easier:
MS. HANDLON: This is an easy problem.
MELANIE: These are hard.
MS. HANDLON: It’s five! You know your fives.
MELANIE: I know my ones, my fives, and my tens.
MS. HANDLON: So, count by fives. (Melanie counts.)
MS. HANDLON: Right. So what’s the answer? (Melanie gives an answer.)
MS. HANDLON: Right. And where do you put that? (Melanie writes it down. Ms. Handlon takes the pencil and erases Melanie’s entry.)
MS. HANDLON: Not there. (Melanie tries again.)
MS. HANDLON: Right. And where’s the remainder? (Melanie says an answer.)
MS. HANDLON: No. What’s the remainder? (Melanie gives another answer.)
MS. HANDLON: Right, and put that there. And then carry that to the next problem. Good.
Melanie and her mother proceed in this fashion for about fifteen minutes. Then the interaction starts to break down. From Melanie’s perspective, the problems are hard and she thinks she can’t do them. She wants to stop. Her interest flags and her answers are increasingly far off base. Ms. Handlon reacts quickly.
MELANIE: This is hard.
MS. HANDLON: Melanie, I think you’re making this harder than it is. How did you do it in school?
MELANIE: We used cubes.
MS. HANDLON: How did you figure out the problems?
MELANIE: We worked as a group.
MS. HANDLON: Who was in your group?
MELANIE: Emily was. But we all worked together.
MS. HANDLON (suggesting a new strategy): Would it help if you used pennies?
When Melanie nods, her mother searches briefly in drawers and in her purse. She comes up with several stacks of pennies, which she puts on the table. Melanie starts lining the pennies up in two adjacent, horizontal lines. She stands up to do this and moves a little to the side of the table. Ms. Handlon comes over, stands next to her and asks, “What are you doing?” Without giving Melanie a chance to explain, Ms. Handlon moves the pennies out of the rows Melanie has organized.