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By Root 1363 0

interventions in institutions, can also be seen as a form of rationalization, particularly the well-documented trend of “scientific motherhood.” Still, any analysis of the rise of concerted cultivation must also, I believe, grapple with the changing position of the United States in the world economy, and the accompanying decline in highly paid manufacturing jobs and increase in less desirable service-sector jobs. This restructuring makes it very likely that when today’s children are adults, their standard of living will be lower than that of their parents. It means that there will be fewer “good jobs” and more “bad jobs,” and that the competition for them will be intense. Moreover, since children must be successful in school to gain access to desirable positions, many middle-class parents are anxious to make sure their children perform well academically. Institutional gatekeepers, such as college admissions officers, applaud extracurricular activities. Thus, many parents see children’s activities as more than interesting and enjoyable pastimes. They also provide potential advantages for children in the sorting process.

All of these factors may contribute to the rise of a new standard of child rearing in the middle class. As Hays shows, this new standard is legitimated in a variety of ways.26 Professionals actively support advancement of children’s creative and leisure talents, cognitive growth, and school performance through the active involvement of their parents as cultivators. The older logic of child rearing, the accomplishment of natural growth, receives less institutional support. If this analysis is correct, if there has been a shift in the cultural repertoires of child rearing, and if that change has been legitimated, why is there a class difference in child-rearing strategies? Why doesn’t everyone raise their children the same way?

THE ROLE OF RESOURCES

Parents’ economic resources helped create the class differences in child rearing discussed in this book. Children’s activities were expensive. A $25 enrollment fee, which middle-class parents dismissed as “insignificant,” “modest,” or “negligible,” was a formidable expense for all poor families and many in the working class. The enrollment fee was just the tip of the iceberg. Many activities also required special clothing. Stacey Marshall needed gymnastic leotards as well as a training warm-up suit. She had special bags to carry her equipment to and from the gym, and a balance beam at home. Participating in tournaments required paying special fees. Children’s hectic schedules increased the number of meals eaten out, as the families raced from one event to the next. Tournaments out of the local area resulted in special fees as well as hotel bills and restaurant bills. There were special end-of-season events, banquets, and gifts for the coaches. There were assorted hidden costs, such as car maintenance and gas. In 1994, the Tallingers estimated the cost (including all of the factors listed above, except car repair) of Garrett’s activities at $4,000 annually; nor was that figure unusual.27 Thus, in addition to disposable income for the cost of lessons and activities, families usually needed other advantages, such as reliable private transportation and flexibility in work schedules to be able to get children to events. These resources were disproportionately concentrated in middle-class families.

Differences in educational resources are important as well. Middle-class parents’ superior levels of education gave them larger vocabularies and more knowledge. More education facilitated concerted cultivation, particularly with respect to interventions in institutions outside the home. As I have shown, poor and working-class parents had difficulty understanding key terms bantered about by professionals, such as “tetanus shot” or “cavity.” Middle-class parents’ educational backgrounds also gave them the confidence to criticize educational professionals and intervene in school matters. For working-class and poor parents, educators were social superiors. For middle-class