18. The SAT scoring system changed in 2005. The scores presented in this chapter reflect the old system—the one in place at the time the kids in the study took the test with the maximum of 1600, followed by a rough approximation of the equivalent new scores in brackets. The new test consists of three parts with a maximum of 800 each for a total of 2400.
19. It is surprising that Stacey’s score was relatively low—and identical to Melanie’s score. Recall, however, that Stacey never tested well; even in third grade this was a concern. Also, Melanie’s third grade teacher never was convinced that Melanie had a learning disability. Mr. and Mrs. Handlon, however, told me that Melanie was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder.
20. For a discussion of the rise in incarceration, see Bruce Western, Punishment and Inequality. In 2008 approximately 23% of African American high school dropouts were in jail or juvenile detention; for whites the figure was 7%. Dropouts also have much higher rates of unemployment: while 13% of college graduates and 32% of high school graduates were unemployed in 2008, the figure for high school dropouts 16 to 24 years of age was 54%. Black high school dropouts had an unemployment rate of 64%. See Sam Dillon, “Study Finds High Rates of Imprisonment among Dropouts.”
21. See Robert Haveman and Timothy Smeeding, “The Role of Higher Education in Social Mobility”; U.S. Department of Education, “Academic Preparation for College”; U.S. Department of Education, “First-Generation College Students”; Future of Children, America’s High Schools.
22. With the exception of per pupil expenditure, which is from 2006, all other data on the schools in this section are from 2001–2, which was the senior year of high school for the youth. In the case of Lower Richmond, the Common Core of Data reported a senior class enrollment that was 58% of the number of students who had entered the school as freshman. But some of the “missing” students may have transferred to other high schools. It is difficult to estimate the number who dropped out. See John H. Tyler and Magnus Lofstrom, “Finishing High School”; John H. Tyler, “The Economic Benefits of a GED.”
23. See Mitchell Stevens, Creating a Class, for a discussion of how differences in high school guidance systems have implications for college, particularly the recruitment of students by college admission officers.
24. As sociologists and economists have shown, informal social networks are crucial for job access. See Mark Granovetter, “Strength of Weak Ties”; Matthew O. Jackson, Social and Economic Networks.
25. Neither Garrett nor Stacey discussed their college athletic scholarship when asked this question in the interview. I was surprised that two of the middle-class youth in my study ended up with athletic scholarships. It raises questions, of course, of the representativeness of the sample in terms of the children’s participation in organized activities; this question is taken up in Chapter 15. Still, there are signs that many middle-class youth are active in organized sports. Indeed, in their book The Game of Life, James L. Shulman and William G. Bowen found that approximately one-third of students in the liberal arts colleges in their sample were involved in athletics. These students are overwhelmingly from middle-class families. In the Tallinger family, the youngest boy also received an athletic scholarship (to a relatively small Division 1 college), but the middle child, Spencer, never was active in sports. He attended a military college.
26. Some advantages may be especially “taken for granted” and thus invisible to the respondents. For an assessment of the impact of organized activities on a variety of outcomes, see Katerina Bodovski and George Farkas, “ ‘Concerted Cultivation’ and Unequal Achievement in Elementary School”; Jacob Cheadle, “Educational Investment, Family Context, and Children’s Math and Reading Growth”; Elizabeth Covay and William Carbonaro, “After the Bell”; Susan Dumais, “Elementary School Students’ Extracurricular Activities”; Kimberly Maier, Timothy G. Ford, and Barbara Schneider, “Are Middle-Class Families Advantaging Their Children?”; and Jeremy Redford, Jennifer A. Johnson, and Julie Honnold, “Parenting Practices, Cultural Capital, and Educational Outcomes.” Although it is possible that the activities had more benefits than the young adults could articulate, it is hard to assess this issue without more observational data, multiple interviews, and a larger sample of middle-class youth who had been enrolled in organized activities. As a result, the second edition is primarily devoted to the relationships between families and institutions.
27. In The Game of Life, Shulman and Bowen report a significant admission advantage for athletes; in some colleges the admission advantage is higher than the advantage from race or from “legacy” status. They report that 32% of male students at coed liberal arts colleges in 1989 were athletes (p. 33).
28. See Lauren Rivera, “Ivies, Extracurriculars, and Exclusion.”
29. See public health research on the likelihood of low-income youth being exposed to violence as well as the detrimental impact of that exposure on development: David Finkelhor et al., “The Victimization of Children and Youth.” Both Katie and Harold’s sister Alexis reported reoccurring patterns of domestic violence with their partners. The father of Harold’s older sister Lori’s kids is “locked up” for a drug-related violent episode.
30. It is hard to assess these claims. But there have been documented cases of police harassment in this northeastern city as well as arrests of a handful of police officers for corruption.
31. A discussion of the role of the police in communities is beyond the scope of this work, but see Alice Goffman, “On the Run”; Bruce Western, Punishment. Western summarizes the compelling evidence of racial discrimination in the experience of whites and Blacks in the criminal justice system. For evidence of racial discrimination in employment, see Devah Pager, Marked; Pager shows the difficulty convicted felons face in getting a job.
32. Social psychologists suggest that this is common; people in lower-status positions tend to gather information about higher-status people, but higher-status people are less attuned to the actions of lower-status persons. See Susan T. Fiske, “Interpersonal Stratification.”
33. In their book, The Hidden Injuries of Class, Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb argue that even working-class people who make good money yearn to have the respect awarded to the middle class. See also Lois Weis, Class Reunion.
34. Conversely, research suggests that working-class youth blame only themselves for their failures. The youth in my study who dropped out of high school clearly “owned” the outcome as connected to their own dislike of school, lack of academic talent, and lack of comfort in educational settings. Thus, Billy Yanelli’s portrait differed somewhat from his mother’s assessment; he did not appear to see the situation as unfair. Instead, he appeared to see it as almost inevitable. For a longer discussion of Billy’s experience in high school, see the portrait posted online at www.ucpress.edu on the page for the book Unequal Childhoods. See also McLeod, Ain’t No Making It.
35. Conceptually and technically one can separate these processes as a disposition to ask a question or gather information (which would be habitus) and a set of skills involving knowing what to ask and to intervene, as well as a set of skills involving knowing what to do that would result in a payoff in terms of children’s educational experiences (which would be forms of cultural capital). Such disposition and sets of skills usually go together. It is theoretically possible for a middle-class person to have the disposition to assertively control the process at every step of the way but lack the skills to be effectual. Likewise, it is possible for someone to have the skills and not the disposition. In my observations and interviews, however, I have rarely found such disjunctures.