| The middle class is an important part of society.In the process of social change,they not only resist the exclusion from the upper class,but also guard against the possibility of the upheaval from grassroots and declining social class,namely,the double crisis.They do not have strong economic capital to rely on,only to maintain their social status through education.In this context,parents from middle-class families have high expectations for their children’s education and attach great importance to it,and many of them are even full of anxiety about their children ’s education.There are a lot of online articles and reports on education anxiety from middle-class parents,which illustrate their worrying about children’s attending prestigious schools and maintaining the status of the class.These anxieties surround their active and intensive participation in the education of their children.At the same time,there are more voices of “useless education” amongst the working class but less participation in children’s education,which is opposed to the idea of the middle-class parents,namely,maintaining class status through education.Why is there a difference in parent participation between middle-class parents and working-class parents under the same social background? Why are these differences formed? This study attempts to answer the above questions by interviewing and analyzing 23 middle-class parents and 17 working-class parents.It finds that there are six differences between middle-class parents and working-class parents.Firstly,there is no distinct difference between the parents of two classes in raising and caring for their children.They can provide children with basic food,clothing,housing,and transportation.Secondly,regarding academic communication,most middle-class parents communicate with their children very well.They will discuss the academic performance with their children.When the children have problems in their study,their parents will help the them and give them appropriate encouragement.They also communicate with their children on issues such as their learning attitude,learning habits,learning interests,mental health,and future development.Working class parents generally communicate less with their children and have more conflicts.Thirdly,in terms of academic planning,middle-class parents will choose schools for their children in advance and prepare for them,such as purchasing houses at a particular school district,attending targeted training classes,and probing into the admission policies and placement information of various schools.Working-class parents seldom choose schools for their children,and most of them choose to go to their counterpart schools close to home.Fourthly,in terms of academic guidance,most middle-class parents have the experience of accompanying their children to do homework,assisting and answering questions for the children.By contrast,the working-class parents rarely accompany their children to do homework.Even if some parents want to,they will be rejected by their children.Fifth,in terms of off-campus training,middle-class parents will choose training classes for their children earlier,match various types of classes for children,and choose more subjects.The children from the working class have less time to participate in off-campus training;their parents also seldom select training schools for them,and most of their parents let the children choose for themselves.Sixthly,in terms of managing children’s time and daily life,middle-class parents will be stricter particularly control the children’s time to play with mobile phones and watch TV.The working-class parents have more relaxed management of their children,and they have loose control over the time spent in playing games and mobile phones.The reason for the above differences is mainly due to differences in economic capital and cultural capital between the parents of the two strata.In terms of economic capital,middleclass parents with sufficient economic capital can support their children in choosing schools,send their children to training institutions earlier,and even buy school districts for their children;while working-class parents can only stay certain ideas of participation because of lack of economic capital In thought,it cannot be realized.In terms of cultural capital,there are two specific types of cultural capital that affect parental participation: One is institutionalized cultural capital: middle-class parents have institutionalized cultural capital that matches the school culture,and can provide guidance and inspection work for their children.Supervise children to develop good learning habits;lack of institutionalized cultural capital for working class parents,they are less able to provide appropriate academic help and academic guidance for children,and less involved in children’s academics.The second is the specific cultural capital,which mainly includes: educational concepts,educational capabilities,and educational expectations.In terms of educational concepts,middle-class parents pay more attention to the education of their children.They believe that the family environment and family education are also important;and the educational concept of the working class is to take the course and believe that learning is the child ’s own business,so they participate in the education of children a bit less.In terms of educational ability,middle-class parents will improve their educational ability through active learning,such as learning articles about child care,taking systematic courses on family education,and scientifically participating in the education of children by improving their educational ability;while the working class Parents have always maintained a low level of educational abilities.They have not taken the initiative to seek help for learning,so their participation in children’s academic and educational activities is low.In terms of educational expectations,middle-class parents generally have higher educational expectations for their children.They hope that their children can enter key universities and continue their studies.This higher expectation drives them to participate more in education;while the educational expectations of working-class parents Very low,so there is little participation in education. |
