Unequal Childhoods Lareau Analysis

1.) Socialization is the process by which people learn the basic norms, values, and attitudes by observing the people around them. Kids do this from the time they are born to learn how they should act towards others and what things are considered normal. One way that this is done is through the way parents communicate around and to their kids. In Unequal Childhoods Lareau talks about how the language that is used in a child’s household can have long term effects on the child’s future speaking kills.
Lareau talks about how middle and upper class kids are more likely to learn better language skills because they are exposed to more kinds of literature at younger age and would “discuss alternate meanings of words.” Another thing that Lareau talks …show more content…
Lareau talks about how social capital is important for when it comes to the relationships between a child’s parents and the child’s teacher. When it comes to what expectations that the teachers have with the parent’s involvement, they want the parents to be involved in their kids school. Teachers want the parents to be involved in helping the kids with their homework and they want them to be up to date with everything that is going on with their kids. Teachers like this because if the parent is constantly updated they are able to make sure that the child’s educational problems, if they have any, are being presented and fixed. Though some parents do keep up with their children and their teachers, a lot do not. Its here that teachers end up getting stuck with parents that are more likely to lash out at the teacher when their child is doing bad, when they should be trying to talk to them about why their child is doing bad in the class. Another thing that Lareau talks about is the class-based differences in parental involvement. For middle and upper class families they are more likely to be involved, while the lower class families are more likely to not have as much parental involvement. It can be easier for a family from the upper class to be involved because they will have the resources to be able to take the time an get involved, while parents from lower classes might not have the time to be as involved as the teachers need them to be. Over all parental involvement in their child’s education can be very effective if they go about it in the right way. If parents could keep up with what their kids are leaning and what problems they may be having, then they might be able to effectively communicate to the teacher what the problem is and fix it. This is better because when the parent is not as involved