Annette Lareau's Unequal Childhood Education

One of the major causes of underachievement is the lack of economic capital, proposed by Pierre Bourdieu (1984), that a working class family possess. As item A states, ‘sociologists claim that factors outside the school, such as parental attitudes and parental income, are the main causes of working class underachievement.’ Children who belong to a working class background may not be able to afford the necessary equipment or meet the

Primary education, Supplemental tutoring, summer camps, secondary education, family activities, higher education, first full-time job, subsequent employment, present employment with the age of the person, present residence, second residences"(pp.336-340). He lets you look into the life of different people, some from upper-class families and some from lower class families. The reader can see for themselves that the way they are brought up, whether it is from and upper-class family or lower-class family, it affects them. It

The book Unequal Childhoods describes observations made by Annette Lareau to shed light on the significance of social class and how it affects student’s learning. Lareau presents her observations by highlighting the two dominant ways of parenting that ultimately affect how successful students become as they transition into adulthood. These styles of parenting consist of Concerted Cultivation where parents put through kids through structured activities, and Accomplishment of Natural Growth where unrestrictive freedom and directives are exercised (20-22).

She also talks about how middle class parenting differs from the other social class. The middle class parents mostly dominate the lives of their children while the working class parents cannot concentrate that much on their kids. She also brought a name for this phenomena called “Concerted Cultivation”.

Throughout history, public schools have suffered and still continue to fail while the rest of the world is moving ahead. There are various barriers that have prevented low-income student from succeeding with the rest of the world. Parent involvement plays a role because if they lack higher levels of education, most likely this will cause the student to have a disadvantage. Also, because of families with

The income’s level affect children scializacion due to they feel not welcome if they do not dress like everyone in the group or if they do not participate in activities like fieldtrips, parties, etc. Low income families do not make enough money to cover all these expensive school sctivities. Then,

In the study Lareau conducted, it can be see that working class and poor families differ slightly in that being poor means less resources and a means of a greater struggle for the child. The similarities found explain why being lower class has it benefits in some areas then if you were middle or upper class. Now Lareau is not telling people to raise their children one way or that being rich is better because even the rich have many disadvantages their children encounter. Lareau emphasizes, “Overall, daily life for working-class and poor children is slower paced, less pressured, and less structured than for their middle- and

In this article the author explains how the schools are based on a class system and higher-class areas have better recourses and more classes offered. Higher-class societies have better equipment, new technology, modern facilities, better books, and better teachers. Not only are the school’s educational facilities better the extracurricular activities are also better. For example sports facilities, training facilities, band, art, all because these lower class schools cant afford what these lower class schools can. Students in lower end districts are actually ending up worse off then the higher end students. Meaning attrition rate, drop out rate, sat scores and much more.

Regardless of social class most parents wish for their children to be happy, healthy, and successful; however, parents disagree on the best way to raise their children to be all of those things, which is when social class determines the parents’ child rearing method. Whether a child comes from a working class or middle class family affects the child’s development and socialization; and consequently the child’s future.

Exploring the nuances of race and social position beginning in childhood and culminating in adulthood Lareau explores different approaches exercised by parents in raising children. Separating families into three categories, including: middle-class, working-class, and poor, the author began her study. Attempting to answer the question, “What is the outcome of these different philosophies and approaches to child rearing?” Lareau discovers that the answer was found in the “transmission of differential advantages” (Lareau 2011:5). Accordingly, these advantages equip children with tools to navigate through life progressively or prohibitively respective to the individual instruction obtained in childhood. In unearthing these discoveries, the author employed the use of ethnography through naturalistic observation utilizing field notes and taped recordings of interviews with family members.

In a child’s upbringing, the concept of social class and race plays a pivotal role in a child’s growth and development. In the ethnographic study, “ Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life”, the author, Annette Lareau argue that the influences of children with distinct socioeconomic backgrounds can determine how a child will be raised. The author primarily focuses on two distinctive practices of child-rearing: concerted cultivation and the accomplishments of natural growth. Lareau explains that both of these distinctive patterns of childrearing have their own benefits and drawbacks, but emphasizes on how concerted cultivation and parent involvement allows children to gain a deeper understanding of the world and the ability to fluently interact with social institutions. Also, the practice of concerted cultivation allows children to develop skills that are shown to be beneficial for the future. In contrast, the practice of natural growth limits the child’s language and communication skills, in which they are not adequately prepared for the challenges of adulthood. In my opinion, I believe that the way a child is raised has a significant impact on a child’s future.

In the article “Culture of Success”, Brink Lindsey is quite equivocal; first Lindsey claims that low income is affecting education, but based on the surveys and research conducted he invalidates, his claims. Apart from low income, the main reason which Lindsey considers is lack of parental education, working for long hours to support the family and because of this they, do not involve more in their child's life, and do not give the motivation to develop

In roughly 95 million middle-class American homes the notion of making last minute plans to share quality time with family and friends is challenging. With their priority for leisure time being focused on their children’s futures, making plans often involves two to four weeks advance notice. However, 200 million working-class and poverty level families accommodate those last minute plans with ease. Parenting styles in American families is what Annette Lareau addresses in Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Lareau identifies middle-class families as concerted cultivators, mothers and fathers that dominate their children’s lives with established, controlled and organized activities intended to give them experiences that

“Lessons from Home,” by Delprit shows that the issues that children have at home influences their academic work. Students who are middle-class have an advantage because their home background matches that of most school teacher. The teachers need to have opportunities to learn to connect to children’s families. Schools should regard family involvement and have meetings within their community. Parent involvement improves children’s education and promotes a positive influence. Luckily, Andrea does get help from her mom and is doing pretty well in school. Parents need to have an influence because the teachers are not always with the students and cannot be checking up on them all the time.

Research on human development has been much devoted towards determining when one should expect children to be capable of certain skills. Every day, our communities develop as generations of individuals make choices and invent solutions to changing circumstances. Our ongoing daily activities, ranging from learning when to brush our teeth, to learning the numbers on a telephone. Barbara Rogoff’s The Cultural Nature of Human Development discusses cultural patterns as they relate to human development. Human development is a cultural process by which devices such as language and literacy are employed by means of learning from one another. To date, the study of human development has been largely based around research and theoretical knowledge coming from middle-class communities in Europe, as well as North America. Questions such as “When does children’s intellectual development permit them to be responsible for others?” and “When can they be trusted to take care of an infant?” are vital in recognizing cultural approaches among different cultural communities. Rogoff’s work discusses the importance of increasing the understanding of the cultural basis of our own lives as those of our neighbors and those individuals we do not know personally.