Conducted content analysis of advice-seeking letters penned between 1925 and 1939 by fathers and mothers concerned with childrearing. Findings support proposition that culture of fatherhood and conduct of fatherhood in Depression-era America were at odds. Found connection between culture of fatherhood and attitudes of mothers toward fathers.…

Discusses the film "American Beauty" in light of a reading of Karl Marx. Finds that the film shows the circularity which marks bourgeois society, even though the rhythm of industry and renovation of the society masks it. States that Marx praises the industry, invention, and innovation of the bourgeoisie. (BT)

Models of curricula development in higher education pay scant attention to the role of self-interested actors in the construction of knowledge. Rather, it is assumed that curricula develop on the basis of fission within disciplines, fusion between fields, the exertion of pressure by the state or other stakeholders, or the development of knowledge…

More working-class students are entering universities--mainly because the restructuring of the American economy has made a college degree an entry-level requirement for mid- and low-level jobs, the kind that call for manipulating information rather than steel or concrete. Despite these changing job demands, however, the class structure of the…

This article attempts to provide some transparency with regard to how the intersection of race and class negatively affects African Americans in their effort to fight for social justice with regard to classism. Based on the explicit historical attempt to definitively make race and class synonymous, such a manufactured intersection is powerfully…

Maternal elaboration and autonomy support during reminiscing facilitate middle-class children's autobiographical narrative skills. In this study, low-income Hispanic, White, and Black mothers' elaboration and autonomy support in reminiscing were examined in relation to children's joint and independent autobiographical narratives and engagement.…

According to Tschannen-Moran, "Principals and teachers need to build trusting relationships with students and parents in order to accomplish their essential goal of fostering student achievement and equipping students for citizenship." In the context of organizational trust, this study explored such relationships with six, middle-class…

Government programs currently mandate direct parental input in school governance. In comparing the actions of low-income Latino parents with those of middle-income White and Asian parents within the context of school governance, we found that although both groups actively sought and achieved reforms in order to improve their children's education,…

Tracing the life of Sir Cyril Norwood, one of England's most prominent and influential educators, this book investigates the historical development of secondary education in England and Wales during the early twentieth century. During this time, an enduring ideal of secondary education associated with Sir Cyril Norwood became dominant. This was…

This article draws from a three-year ethnographic study of girls and their mothers in a high-poverty, predominantly white community. Informed by critical and feminist theories of social class, I present four cases that highlight psychosocial tensions within the mother-daughter-teacher-researcher triangle and argue that white, middle-class female…

The impact of social class was explored on Brazilian mothers' and daughters' conceptions of who should, and who actually would control decisions regarding the daughters' actions. Participants were 126 middle class and 126 lower class girls aged 11-16 years, and their mothers. No social class differences were found in daughters' judgments about who…

The New Orleans Public Schools is a struggling district of 63,000 students. The district's student population has been decreasing over the past decade. Most of the city's white families have retreated to neighboring parishes or put their children in private schools. Middle-class and professional African-American families rely heavily on the city's…

This article explores a framework for an ethics of choice in urban education. It outlines the educational ambitions and ambivalences of a group of middle class families in one locality. The research on which we draw involved interviews with 28 middle class parents in the London Borough of Hackney and is part of a comparative study of urban middle…

Oppositional culture theory is a widely accepted explanation for disparities in academic performance between middle class Whites and middle class African Americans. The authors make the case that oppositional culture theory has its roots in cultural deficit theory popularized in the early 1960s and present a significant body of evidence to refute…