Middle-class parents’ determination to give their children as many advantages as possible continued over time. In some cases, without any input from educators, these parents critically assessed their children’s skills and found them wanting. The Marshalls, for instance, felt that Stacey needed additional support in math before she began high school. She was passing all of her middle-school classes, but she was not excelling. Ms. Marshall, worried that Stacey had a “weakness” in math, enrolled her in a summer algebra class she hoped would give Stacey a “boost”:
I had her take a summer school course . . . just to build up that confidence. I had seen in seventh and eighth grade that weakness. She was the only one in the summer school class who was taking it and hadn’t failed it. That gave her the boost that she needed. . . . She didn’t want to go but she went. She definitely went. She definitely appreciated it her freshman year because she ended up being “the best” in her ninth grade algebra class.
Even when Stacey was hundreds of miles away at college, Ms. Marshall continued to give her detailed advice on course selection (e.g., steering her away from an intensive calculus course: “I can’t see fitting a calculus course into a four-week period for someone who dislikes math as much as Stacey”), and she stressed the importance of Stacey working closely with her academic advisor. In short, the kind of monitoring and interventions that Ms. Marshall devoted to Stacey’s gymnastics and schooling when she was ten years old continued, in a somewhat different form, as Stacey passed through adolescence into young adulthood. Although she was a young adult, in crucial ways her mother viewed her as a child who would benefit from continuous monitoring and assistance.
Similarly, Mr. and Ms. Handlon kept up vigorous oversight of their daughter’s schooling. They too critically assessed the advice of professionals before acting (or not) on it. In middle school, when educators recommended that Melanie repeat a grade, the Handlons rejected that advice. This was not an easy decision for Ms. Handlon (“I come from a family of teachers”), but she felt that Melanie really needed “to get out of that environment.” When Melanie was in high school, Ms. Handlon also worked closely with her teachers. For example, despite being a happy and adept school cheerleader (which “surprised and amazed” her mother), Melanie insisted that she was terrified of public speaking. Giving a short public speech was a requirement for graduation, however. Ms. Handlon went to the school and negotiated an arrangement whereby Melanie was permitted to give her speech to a small, private audience.
The middle-class youth tended to have smaller hurdles than those faced by working-class and poor youth, but their parents made vigorous efforts to help their children surmount them. For example, as his son’s interest in playing college basketball deepened, Mr. Tallinger spoke to the coach of Garrett’s summer-league team about increasing his playing time.43 Since college coaches scout at summer games, playing time can be crucial for securing a sports scholarship. After Mr. Tallinger’s intervention, Garrett’s playing time increased “some.” Ms. Williams provided timely assistance when Alexander’s summer internship fell through at the last minute. She helped her son develop a new plan for the summer that would allow him to develop his premed interests and skills.
Some problems middle-class parents could not fix. For example, Ms. Marshall could only commiserate with her daughter when she got a low grade in an important premed course. The course grade was impossible to change. Similarly, despite daily reminders from her mother, Melanie simply stopped attending her community college courses. She did not formally withdraw, so she failed the semester. In these situations, parents had to let their children find their own way. Thus, being middle-class did not prevent young adults from facing important challenges. Still, when the youth ran into significant problems, their parents often were ready, willing, and able to intervene with officials in institutions, and these interventions often helped.
Working-Class and Poor Families: Accomplishment of Natural Growth Continues For working-class and poor youth, whose parents appeared to continue the pattern of accomplishment of natural growth, educational careers were handled at school, by teachers and counselors, and the students themselves.44 Educational decision-making was not a family affair. For example, Harold started high school in a college-prep program:
[L]ike ninth grade, I was in the magnet charter, that was like the top charter—in the school they do all college-bound work. So I was cool. The magnet was in just like math and science.
He expected to continue in this college-prep program, although he had received a D in English his freshman year and had been late to school a few times. On the first day of his sophomore year, however, the teacher told Harold that he was no longer in that program:
So they kind of kicked me out [of] that charter and put me into another charter. The other charter, the work was easier, so I started, you know how you just start chillin’ more, so if I could have stayed in [the] magnet, I would have been cool. The work was harder, but that was like on my pace. It gave me a challenge.
Harold would have preferred to stay in the other program; had he been middle-class, he might have. Other researchers have shown middle-class parents successfully intervening to secure their children’s position in high-ranking courses, even when the children do not qualify.45 In Harold’s case, however, there was no such intervention. His parents thought the school would make decisions that were in their son’s best interests.
Moreover, even when the youth requested their parents’ help, successful outcomes were not a certainty. For example, Harold was an avid and talented athlete. He loved basketball, but he had the build of a football player. At his high school, the same teacher coached the football and basketball teams. Worried about damaging his knees, Harold refused to try out for the football team. When, despite being a formidable player, he was not selected for the basketball team, Harold was devastated. He was convinced that the decision reflected the coach’s anger with him for not playing football. After talking to the coach and appealing to the school’s principal proved unsuccessful, Harold wanted to transfer to a different high school, where he could play on a basketball team. He had played with some of the players from that school in a city league: “I knew like a couple of players on their basketball team. . . . I’ve never been a problem child; . . . my grades were average or above average.”
From his perspective, transferring to another public high school seemed a viable option.46 Because there was considerable paperwork involved, he needed his father’s assistance. But Harold’s father’s approach to child rearing precluded this type of involvement. Mr. McAllister depended on educators to handle school matters. He did not routinely approach educators to intervene in school matters. In addition, according to Harold, his father “didn’t really care about basketball. . . . He was boxing and like that’s it.” Mr. McAllister did not pursue the transfer. Harold “sometimes” talked with his mother about these school problems, “but like nothing ever happened.”