In a series of mini-case studies in which she observed poor children in pre-schools and schools, Polakow paid particular attention to the policy discourses that shaped the educational experiences of poor black children in the United States in the late 1980s. She drew attention to the economic metaphors used to rationalize budget allocations for pre-schools for “at risk” children, noting that “investing” in children, so they won’t become economic burdens, seemed to be a more convincing argument for providing pleasant and caring environments for children than their existential or humanitarian “worth” (1993, pp. 101–102). She noted that early intervention programs such as the High Scope/Perry Pre-school model were touted as valuable more for their role in diminishing crime rates than for the social and emotional benefits to children and their families. In this way, Polakow argued, poor children are not entitled to quality education, they must wait to be classified and deemed sufficiently “at risk” in order to qualify for compensatory education.

In five portraits of children in public schools, Polakow drew much the same conclusions as Walkerdine and Lucey (1989) regarding the link between the structure of schooling for low income children and their social futures, showing how “early tracking, sorting and classifying, scape-goating and marginalization” (p. 148), in addition to a very rigid and structured curriculum, characterize schooling experiences of poor children. Some teachers linked children’s difficulties in school with their deviant family life with statements such as “These kids just don’t live a normal family life — there’s drug dealing and constant crisis and their mothers are all on welfare” (p. 132). Other teachers were strong advocates and supporters of the children they taught, showing love, compassion, and faith in their ability to succeed. However, the overriding experience of these young children was that expectations for their academic success were low and their academic and behavioural problems were almost always attributed to the parenting of their single mothers and a “lack of male role model” than to the experience of poverty itself.