Collaborative Cultivation: How Private College Counselors Help Privileged Parents Raise their Teenage Children

• In Event: 523 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Parental Involvement and Higher Education

Abstract

A growing number of studies have demonstrated that the ways in which parents raise their children not only vary by their class locations but also significantly influence their children’s chances to receive higher education. This article uses privileged families who hired Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) as an instance to examine how privileged parents collaborate with individuals whom they consider educational experts to support the next generation in the college admissions arena. Drawing primarily on interviews with parents who work with IECs, we introduce the concept of “collaborative cultivation” to analyze the processes whereby advantaged parents rely on the expertise and expert status of private counselors to cope with their and their children’s vulnerability in the college race while at the same time preparing their children for the unknown future. We find that the decision to work with an IEC embodies important social and cultural components of what good parenting means in the contemporary United States. Collaborating with an IEC enables privileged parents to reassure themselves and their children about their readiness for the game, cultivate the generation’s unique but fragile selves, and locate the school that can nurture their children professionally, socially and culturally. In so doing, this article advances scholarly understanding of how expert advice orients contemporary parenting as children move out of infancy and toddlerhood and transition into early adulthood.

Authors

• Jill M. Smith, Brandeis University

• Ken Chih-Yan Sun, Hong Kong Baptist University