Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [164]
Wendy’s mother very much wanted her to go to college, and the high school counselor helped with the application process. Wendy was admitted to a small Catholic college about two hours away, but in the end, she informed her parents that she was “not going.” In recounting that decision, Wendy tells me, tearfully, that she was afraid she would be unable to do college-level work.
Wendy and Ryan are happy together. She describes him as a “nice guy” who is “really shy.” She also mentions that he had a “troubled” past and “used to drink a lot.” They have a traditional marriage. Ryan does not cook or wash dishes. But he is a devoted father who “help[s] . . . with Clara.” Wendy says she enjoys being a stay-at-home mother. She hopes to “take night classes” someday and earn an early childhood education degree. Her goal is to have a home-based day care business.
Tyrec Taylor (African American, working-class) and I meet in the living room of the house his mother bought a few years earlier. Tyrec, who is tall and wears his hair in long, neatly kept cornrows, is wearing an ironed white T-shirt and casual pants. A tattoo on his forearm bears his nickname, “Ty.” His manner is quiet, low-key. Although he visits his mother often, Tyrec lives with his father (and his father’s girlfriend).
Tyrec attended three different high schools. His mother helped him apply to a respected charter school. He was accepted and did well academically. But he missed his friends and longed for an opportunity to play high school basketball. Ms. Taylor permitted Tyrec to transfer to Lower Richmond High in the middle of his sophomore year, a decision she bitterly regrets. “Once I got in school with my friends, I was just running loose,” Tyrec confesses. He passed only three courses (and became ineligible to play basketball). At sixteen, he “got locked up” because, he tells me, “I was running with the wrong people.” The case went to court, but “I didn’t get found guilty or nothing,” Tyrec reports. Upon release from juvenile hall, he moved in with his father.
Ms. Taylor’s efforts to get Tyrec back into a charter school failed. Frantically worried about him returning to Lower Richmond, she persuaded her ex-husband to take out a $6,000 loan, promising that she would repay half of it, to cover Tyrec’s senior year at a private school. There, Tyrec regained a sense of stability, met his (current) girlfriend, and focused more on schoolwork. His parents’ shouldering of substantial debt on his behalf led him to feel, as he puts it, “like I better pass.” He graduated.
Tyrec never took the SAT or ACT, and he seems to have taken few of the high school courses four-year colleges require for admission. He enrolled in the local community college for two semesters, spread over a four-year period. He took four courses (two were required remedial classes) at a cost of $2,500, which he and his father paid for in cash. His mother helped cover the cost of his books.
Tyrec’s work experiences have been erratic. He has worked in fast food restaurants and in a shopping mall; he has been a sales clerk in a drug store and a convenience store. None of these jobs lasted more than a few months. With his cousin’s help, Tyrec recently landed a highly desirable construction job in lead abatement. After a two-week-long training program (which cost $500), he was certified and immediately began working, for $12.00 per hour.
He says he wants to form a business with his cousin, remodeling homes and selling real estate. But he is often preoccupied with simple survival. Two of his good friends have been