Middle Class vs Working Class Child Rearing

An article, “What It Takes to Make a Student,” in NewYork Times Magazine (November 26, 2006), author Paul Tough takes a close look at some charter schools that seem to be having unusual success in closing the education gap. The excellent article also looks at the entire issue what we know about compensatory education. At one point he discusses the research of Annette Lareau comparing cultural influences on child rearing. Lareau’s research team observed middle class and working class families – basically moving in with the families for three weeks of close scrutiny.

Lareau found that parents in middle class families engaged their children in conversations as equals, treating them like apprentice adults and encouraging them to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and negotiate rules. They planned and scheduled countless activities to enhance their children’s development.

The working class families did things differently. They allowed their children much more freedom to fill in their afternoons and weekends as they chose, but much less freedom to talk back, question authority or haggle over rules and consequences. Children were instructed to defer to adults and treat them with respect.

Lareau described the costs and benefits of both methods. The approach followed by middle class parents places intense demands of them – not only do they spend more time managing their children’s lives, but also their children argue with them, complain about their competence and disparage their decisions. Working class children, by contrast, learn how to be members of informal peer groups, how to manage their own time, and how to strategize.

However, Lareau also found that in school and beyond, the qualities that middle class children develop are consistently valued over the ones that poor and working class children develop. Middle class children become used to adults taking their concerns seriously, so they grow up with a sense of entitlement, which gives them a confidence, in the classroom and elsewhere, that working class children lack. According to Lareau, these cultural differences translate into a distinct advantage for middle class children in school, on standardized achievement tests and, later in life, in the workplace.

Be a Friend of Exchange Press

If you have benefited from ExchangeEveryDay, Exchange magazine, our books or other training products, or the World Forum, we invite you to share the word about us with your peers. You can download or order a wide variety of Exchange promotional materials by going to our Promotion Desk

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

© 2005 Child Care Information Exchange - All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Return to Site