The School Choices of Stably Working Class Parents: Impermanence and Stress Amidst Inequality

• In Event: 523 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 18. Social Class, Sexuality, and Education: Session I

Abstract

Policies of school choice have proliferated in cities across the country, and Chicago is no exception. Parents are now faced with a wide variety of schooling options. Recent literature has mostly focused on how upper middle class parents exercise choice. As such, little is known about how working class parents make decisions about schools. This paper investigates how working class parents in Chicago acquire information about school choice, evaluate their chosen schools, and make school plans for the future. More specifically, this paper uncovers how working class parents make sense of the unequal school choice landscape in Chicago. This paper relies on semi-structured, in-depth interview data from 21 White, Black, and Latino working class parents from several selected neighborhoods in Chicago who have children in elementary or middle school. The analysis reveals that working class parents are stratified by their level of access to school choice information. Yet, even those parents who are skilled at navigating the contours of school choice still perceive their school decisions as impermanent and flexible. Parents also express insecurity about their choices for high school. Due to the unequal distribution of high quality high schools in Chicago, working class parents are forced to consider emotionally or financially costly alternatives for their children. While some parents accept this reality, others argue for a more egalitarian school district.
This paper has policy implications for school districts and educational advocates by shedding light on how school choice is both utilized and scrutinized by working class parents.

Author

• Max Cuddy, University of Illinois at Chicago