Page 24 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 24
šolsko polje, letnik xxviii, številka 3–4
of parents) (2014: p. 68). Chicas (and non-preps generally), on the other
hand, engaged in displays that violated adult, middle class norms by en-
gaging publicly in ways that laid claim to adult status before middle class
adults think appropriate (2014: p. 61). For example, having little likeli-
hood of an extended adolescence in higher education like the preps, the
chicas are more ready to see having a baby while still in high school as a
valuable marker of adult status. Motherhood, and the responsibility for
care and nurture that comes with it, can be used to gain respect that might
not otherwise be forthcoming on other grounds (2014: p. 69).
The attitudes that group members share, sometimes implicitly, are
key to these girls’ class futures. As Bettie (2014: p. 72) relates, non-prep
girls seldom wanted to talk about their plans after high school. Indeed,
Bettie observes that “…I saw clearly [that raising the subject] caused the
girls to feel uncertainty and a related stress, so they changed the conver-
sation to music and fashion.” As one example, the “going away to college”
experience was not something the chicas could envision, let alone desire:
it was a prep dream that their class origin, their peer group affiliation,
and the consequences of their peer group choices reserved for the preps
and not for them. Working class “performers” among Bettie’s subjects
could, at most, aspire to attend the local community college while begin-
ning their working and parenting adult lives at the same time (2014: p. 71).
Working class non-performers, such as the largely white “smokers,” could
envision and expect even less for the future. Typically from “hard living”
families with parents who had not finished high scholar or barely done so,
the smokers also had little interest in the school’s curriculum, rarely ex-
pressed plans for after high school, and often simply hoped to hang on to
graduate (2014: pp. 13–4; pp. 85–86).
These constellations of combined class factors clearly have direct im-
plications for the ability of various class actors to achieve the American
Dream of upward mobility although it is important to recognize that or-
igins are not determinative. Bettie (2014: pp. 159–60), for example, care-
fully discusses the differences in orientation that facilitate the transition
from working class culture to aspirational middle class culture and mid-
dle class futures. These class differences also expose class members to oth-
er experiences related to the American Dream as well. As Bettie (2014: pp.
73–6) describes, working class students who want to “make it” are quick
to become targets of those trying to sell them the American Dream in one
package or another. As one example, proprietary, for profit, schools pres-
ent themselves as alternatives to the public and private non-profit sector
by advertising widely, making appealing promises of a better future, de-
ploying deceptive techniques, and targeting the most vulnerable youth –
22
of parents) (2014: p. 68). Chicas (and non-preps generally), on the other
hand, engaged in displays that violated adult, middle class norms by en-
gaging publicly in ways that laid claim to adult status before middle class
adults think appropriate (2014: p. 61). For example, having little likeli-
hood of an extended adolescence in higher education like the preps, the
chicas are more ready to see having a baby while still in high school as a
valuable marker of adult status. Motherhood, and the responsibility for
care and nurture that comes with it, can be used to gain respect that might
not otherwise be forthcoming on other grounds (2014: p. 69).
The attitudes that group members share, sometimes implicitly, are
key to these girls’ class futures. As Bettie (2014: p. 72) relates, non-prep
girls seldom wanted to talk about their plans after high school. Indeed,
Bettie observes that “…I saw clearly [that raising the subject] caused the
girls to feel uncertainty and a related stress, so they changed the conver-
sation to music and fashion.” As one example, the “going away to college”
experience was not something the chicas could envision, let alone desire:
it was a prep dream that their class origin, their peer group affiliation,
and the consequences of their peer group choices reserved for the preps
and not for them. Working class “performers” among Bettie’s subjects
could, at most, aspire to attend the local community college while begin-
ning their working and parenting adult lives at the same time (2014: p. 71).
Working class non-performers, such as the largely white “smokers,” could
envision and expect even less for the future. Typically from “hard living”
families with parents who had not finished high scholar or barely done so,
the smokers also had little interest in the school’s curriculum, rarely ex-
pressed plans for after high school, and often simply hoped to hang on to
graduate (2014: pp. 13–4; pp. 85–86).
These constellations of combined class factors clearly have direct im-
plications for the ability of various class actors to achieve the American
Dream of upward mobility although it is important to recognize that or-
igins are not determinative. Bettie (2014: pp. 159–60), for example, care-
fully discusses the differences in orientation that facilitate the transition
from working class culture to aspirational middle class culture and mid-
dle class futures. These class differences also expose class members to oth-
er experiences related to the American Dream as well. As Bettie (2014: pp.
73–6) describes, working class students who want to “make it” are quick
to become targets of those trying to sell them the American Dream in one
package or another. As one example, proprietary, for profit, schools pres-
ent themselves as alternatives to the public and private non-profit sector
by advertising widely, making appealing promises of a better future, de-
ploying deceptive techniques, and targeting the most vulnerable youth –
22
