- Essay for Princeton University -

Essay On Laureau's Unequal Childhoods

By Carlos W. Murgueitio Roa.

Sociology Class - Princeton University

Annette Laureau conducted an interesting research in which, using the concept of Social Imagination developed by Mills, she tried to tie the level of communication between parents and kids of a certain neighborhood. The Concept of Social Imagination developed by C. Wright Mills says that we as individuals and sociologists should be aware of whatever role we play in certain conditions (space and time) in our neighborhoods, countries and the world, because we are part of what's going on in history. Without being aware of it, we are being actors of the changes we experience and witness in society, no matter if those changes are "good or bad".

In Laureau's book named "Unequal Childhoods" she dwells into the experience of kids living in diverse social environments: From Upper High Class to Working Class. And, inside these environments, she tries to understand what's going on with the children on those classes, meaning how they're developing a higher sense of themselves, intelligence, and how do they behave in their relationships as classmates and students. Using Mills' "Social Imagination", she comes up to the conclusion that kids in the middle and high classes have developed better ways of communicating with their peers and with their school teachers, because their concerted education with after school agendas expands their mind, and they experience more communication with their parents in their own homes, something that also re-inforces their self-steem somehow. Working Class children on the other hand, had no after school education and had fewer moments of communication with their parents, so their communicating skills and self steem were lower.

I am not sure if Laureau's study applies well in Latin American Culture. I live in Ecuador (In Guayaquil City), a small country of South America placed between Colombia and Peru. And things here are a bit different (economically and socially) than in the States. My country has incredible rates of debt with the IMF which seem to never end, and sometimes life here seems pretty much hopeless because of political turmoil. I'll not dwell on that in this essay but rather, how I kind of disagree with Laureau's study because of what I experienced living here in Guayaquil in a middle class family and studying in Upper High Class high schools and colleges.

There's a thought here, among high and middle class families that "the more activities the children has, the more he/she learns". In that aspect, families have the same mindset as Laureau's in her study. But, sometimes I've felt that people put their kids into lots of activities just to keep them busy and away from them. I have given guitar classes and tutored kids in high class families, and what I've seen usually is that kids are kind of away from their parents, because they keep working to make more money, and the only time they see their kids is at late night, in which the kids are completely tired after a whole bunch of useless activities and never ending homework they have from their schools. Sometimes I believe that parents put their childs into useless activities just to "show off" how busy their kids are. 

I might be wrong, though. I am not against after school activities, what I am against is at the unnecesary quantity of activities after school that leave the kids without time to study or rest from their activities from school. Kids from working class environments on the other hand, are a bit more healthier and close to their parents, because usually their parents handle their own little business and go back from work early. They do experience after school activities as well - usually soccer because that's what is most popular here rather than artistic activities - but not in an exaggerated manner just as some of the high and middle class parents put their children into. And, the communication between kids and parents is way much better, and they do experience much higher levels of self steem than their high and middle class peers, even if they live in a harsh environment, because they have learned from their parents to keep going. 

I believe that we should let kids be kids and let them enjoy their childhood, with no pressure from us parents to do what we "believe" is the best for them, and encourage them to pursue their interests.