Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [230]
CHAPTER 8: CONCERTED CULTIVATION IN ORGANIZATIONAL SPHERES
1. For similar results on parent involvement in schooling see Elizabeth Useem, “Student Selection into Course Sequences in Mathematics,” Annette Lareau, Home Advantage, and the U. S. Department of Education, The Condition of Education, 2001. But see also John Diamond, “Beyond Social Class.”
2. During the summer, the girls went to spend a week visiting their maternal grandparents, but after a few days, they called home, clamoring for their parents to come and get them. They found life with these elderly relatives unduly restrictive.
3. The field-worker was shocked. She noted that Stacey’s remark “[was] something that would have gotten a lot of kids slapped in the mouth.”
4. It is also possible, of course, that children could learn helplessness and dependence upon their parents to fix life problems for them.
5. As Appendix A explains, Stacey was not a student at Swan and thus was in a different district. While the cutoff for entrance to the gifted program at Swan School is 125 (which Garrett Tallinger missed by a few points), at her school the cutoff was 130.
6. When I asked Ms. Marshall what she would have said to the coach, she explained that she would start by tackling the problem indirectly:
That I’m concerned, that she’s a little uncomfortable at lunchtime. I would probably ask, I’d say, “How are things?” I would start out with, “Is everything okay?” You know, “Do you know my kid Fern? I’m just a little concerned because she said, she’s, you know, she’s eating alone.” Or, “I just, I’d like for this to be a wholesome experience and just wonder. . . . ”
7. In the language of Pierre Bourdieu, the Marshall family was reading “the field.” (See Appendix B for a discussion of the concept of field.)
CHAPTER 9: CONCERTED CULTIVATION GONE AWRY
1. Indeed, Ms. Handlon reported, “The first week I had to walk her to her class. She wouldn’t get out of the car unless I did.” She said that Melanie was not crying, but “I could tell she was just scared and she asked, ‘Will you walk me in?’ It was probably about a week and then she was confident enough for me to just drop her at the door so she could go in by herself.”
2. When we interviewed Ms. Handlon in the fall, she estimated that in the previous two weeks she had had eight casual conversations with other mothers about school matters. The conversations were often brief and occurred before or after Melanie’s organized activities (e.g., Girl Scouts, meetings, church) or before or after school.
3. Note that these are preexisting networks; Ms. Handlon does not have to build them. She chooses to participate and then draws on the information she learns.
4. Ms. Handlon does not usually help either of the older boys. Harry generally does little homework; his grades suffer. Their mother is dismayed by this, but she feels she needs to let the boys, especially Harry, learn for themselves that they need to do their homework.
5. Since home observations were confidential, we did not tell the teachers what we observed.
6. Negotiations were routine, as this Saturday morning when Tommy decides to make some fresh juice: Mrs. Handlon says that it is fine to use this squeezer.
Tommy says, “Can I use the electric one?” Mrs. Handlon says, “No use this one.” Tommy says, “Why can’t I use the electric one?” Mrs. Handlon says, “This one is here.” Tommy says, “I don’t mean to argue but the electric one is already out.” Mrs. Handlon says, “Well that must mean somebody used it. All right, you can use it if you rinse it out when you’re done.”
Mrs. Handlon sounds a little frustrated at the end of this conversation.
7. Note that Ms. Handlon had fewer class resources than did Ms. Marshall. She had considerably less education, and in her job as a secretary she did not exert the same kind of managerial authority. Her husband had more class resources, but he was not active in managing Melanie’s schooling. Thus, it is possible that Ms. Handlon’s inability to effectively activate class resources could be linked to her own,