Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [117]
Given the efforts of Ms. Nettles and other teachers at school and Ms. Handlon’s efforts at home, why does Melanie continue to flounder? The classroom and resource teachers firmly reject Ms. Handlon’s contention that her daughter has too much homework and that Melanie’s confidence is fatally undermined by the educators’ tendency to emphasize her mistakes and shortcomings instead of praising her progress. Ms. Nettles estimates that the work she assigns the children to do at home can be completed in thirty to forty-five minutes. Garrett Tallinger, who is in Melanie’s class, routinely finishes the homework (without his parents’ help) in less than this amount of time. Neither do the teachers see any indication that Melanie is “intimidated” or “overwhelmed” by her day-to-day classroom experiences. Ms. Nettles agrees that Melanie “struggles” and that she may have a learning disability, but she rejects Ms. Handlon’s view that Melanie is miserable in the classroom:
The whole bit about her not having success in school . . . If you’re not here to observe how she is—but I am. And [Melanie] seems content. She seems fine. It’s almost like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Melanie’s teachers think her school experience could be much improved if, among other things, Ms. Handlon would comply more consistently with the universalistic, bureaucratic rules of school. Ms. Nettles, in particular, is annoyed by the fact that Melanie habitually arrives late to class. With unusual directness, she complains about this to Ms. Handlon during the parent-teacher conference:
She comes in very late. She usually is the last one here. I mean, I don’t even mark her absent any more . . . But some kids are here as early as ten minutes to nine, so if she’s coming at ten after they’ve already had a twenty-minute head start. So, maybe just getting [Melanie here and] started a little bit earlier would be helpful.
Similarly, Ms. Nettles is dismayed by Ms. Handlon’s failure to follow up with the paperwork necessary to get Melanie tested for learning disabilities. She reveals her frustration in a comment to the researcher after the parent-teacher conference has concluded:
I mean, I really pushed and stressed to [Ms. Handlon] to have [Melanie] tested because I think she does have a lot of learning problems. And we must have had those forms home to her like a month ago, and the last time I asked they still weren’t back.
The elementary school has an on-site reading specialist; she works with Melanie three times a week. It shocks Ms. Nettles that Ms. Handlon has never met this resource teacher.
Most people who have their child seeing a reading specialist will make it a point to set up conferences. I mean, Nita is doing as many conferences because she meets with many different grade levels—and it’s like that never occurred to her. I mean, [Melanie’s] been seeing her for two years. Don’t you think you’d want some feedback?
Ms. Nettles is certain that Ms. Handlon knows Melanie sees the reading specialist each week; when Melanie’s absences mount up, her mother explicitly inquires about the reading material her daughter needs to review. In Ms. Nettles’s opinion, it is Melanie’s mother’s duty to arrange a meeting with the reading specialist. Moreover, she feels that it is Ms. Handlon, not the resource teacher, who should be responsible for taking the initiative to request such a meeting.
In addition to failing to meet the teachers’ expectations in some areas, Ms. Handlon is not always successful in her efforts to forge a closer