COMPETENT PARENTS, COMPLEX LIVES - MANAGING PARENTHOOD IN POVERTY

This study builds on earlier ethnography of friendship processes among children attending a Head Start program in a large city in the Midwes t. Here, through intensive interviews and ethnographic observations of a small sample of the Head Start children's families, the researchers examine the values and concerns of lower-class Black mothers regardin g their children's education. Earlier studies have shown that Black pa rents of all income levels place great value on education and have hig h expectations for their children's academic careers. The present rese arch goes beyond these studies by directly addressing the strategies t hat parents employ in acting on these values. The article describes an impressive array of strategies that the study's respondents use to en courage their children's academic achievement and to promote the devel opment of values that will keep them enthusiastic about schooling. The theoretical implications of the findings are then addressed. In parti cular, the discussion highlights the need for an extension of Kohn's w ell-known arguments concerning the relationship between social class a nd conformity. Finally, the researchers stress that longitudinal ethno graphy is a crucial method for developing theoretical understandings o f family socialization processes and children's educational experience s.