provided them with the skills necessary to help their kids succeed in the next generation. They probably won’t know how to advise their children of practical steps to take toward reaching a high goal: they’ve never been there themselves. Middle-class parents, having been taught the skills necessary to succeed in the professional workplace, can help their children attain the same level of success. These parents know definite steps of action their kids can take that will lead to the same success the parents have experienced. Parents in both classes have been socialized to stay in the social class they were born into, and they pass this same culture on to their children. One way to change this pattern of social reproduction would be to reform tracking programs. The same types of skills should be taught in low tracks that are currently being taught in higher-level tracks: independence, critical thinking skills, creativity, etc. instead of cooperation, conformity, and obeying instructions.There are other factors related to the home environment that affect performance in school; these include alcoholism and drug use, teenage pregnancy among non-married women, and single working mothers’ absence from the home. These problems are more often found in lower-class homes than in higher-class homes. Schools are not equipped to deal with these types of problems. So is it fair to criticize schools for the difference in educational attainment between middle- and low-class children? The home environment should carry most of the blame for the lack of success among low-class students of this generation, but schools can help the next generation of lower-class students to overcome class barriers by understanding and attempting to find solutions to some of the problems that currently exist. Schools can change the tracking system to teach the same types of skills in all levels of tracking, and they c...
