to pursue a college education in this field, her father can help her get there because he’s done it already and can guide her through applying to colleges and other steps toward the attainment of her goal. He also has professional connections and can help her get a job once she graduates. A low-income, working class father who is a janitor probably cannot help his son succeed in science to the same extent that the middle-class girl succeeded. This father does not have or have access to the same resources that the middle-class father has. No matter how much he encourages his son to do well, he cannot offer the same advantages that the middle-class family can. Poor families typically lack educational tools and intellectual stimuli in the home (computers, books/magazines, etc.) (Spring, 82). In Ain’t No Makin’ It, MacLeod gave us an example of the parents who couldn’t offer their kids much more than encouragement: the “Brothers” had high goals and worked hard, but in almost every case failed to reach their goals. The parents’ expectations were in place, but they weren’t enough. Low-income parents are a product of the same “sorting machine” (the public school system) (Oakes, 75, quoting MacLeod) that their children are now experiencing, so they don’t have the skills necessary to teach their children differently than they were taught. Some educators think that teaching parents how to help their children learn would be a big step toward overcoming social-class barriers in education (Spring, 102). Because different types of skills are often taught in different levels of tracking, the people in lower tracks (a majority of which are low-income students) were taught to behave, cooperate with others, follow instructions, and were prepared for working class jobs. Now these students are parents who have high goals for their kids, but their own educational experience has not ...
