"Unequal Childhoods"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the theoretical underpinnings of Annette Lareau's "Unequal Childhoods". The paper explains that Lareau's believes that children in America are invariably -- and unequally -- affected by their culture, race and socioeconomic background. Lareau suggests that this duality creates a state of inequality in childhood education and opportunity, beginning in the home and being perpetuated in the schools. The paper further explains that Lareua believes this divide occurs more along cultural lines than racial ones. The paper critiques and explores the accuracy of Lareau's underlying assumption that the middle-class cultivates their children as natural 'resources' while the lower and working classes do not have the resources to do so. The paper concludes by examining the implications of Lareau's work for educators and school administrators.

From the Paper:

"Thus the divisions of the American nation that exist from childhood onward, despite civil rights and more recent efforts to introduce multiculturalism to the classroom, begin in the home, not in racial divisions. In one of the earliest examples chronicled by Lareau, in an emerging Black middle class neighborhood studied by the author, a Lexus containing a boy named Alexander Williams, only ten minutes away from an affluent White suburb, ferries the Black fourth grader home from a school open house. Alexander's mother thinks about her business meeting the next day, and Alexander chatters about his piano lessons."

More papers on "Unequal Childhoods":

• Book Review # 94417 : "'Unequal Childhoods'"
• Book Review # 94168 : "Dubois and Ruiz' "Unequal Sisters"
• Essay # 34878 : "Unequal Pay and Gender Discrimination"

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