begin with the acknowledgement and understanding of how it is—in what specific ways and through what specific practices—that the work of schooling, curriculum, and pedagogy is implicated in the making of social differences that make an unjust difference. (p. 117)

Learning to be Impoverished

The low-income families in this study do not choose to passively reproduce their own educational disadvantage for their children. In fact, many mothers act diligently to try to ensure that their own educational experiences are not replicated, but often simply do not have the means to let that happen. From my observations, these low-income parents try to provide educationally stimulating activities for their children and a home environment supportive of learning, but often they do not feel that they have the ability to become more involved with the school, particularly when the system has failed them. Natalie illustrates this point when she states:

Some [children] can't learn it though. Like my oldest son like I said, he's got a short attention disorder. It's harder for him to learn. He writes backwards. If it's "Y-E" he puts "E-Y". He has words mixed up. His ps are different than bs and ds. And they kept telling me, "he'll grow out of it. They all go through it."

For this participant, the fact that educational authorities believe that her son will grow out of a learning problem about which she is concerned negates her personal fear that he will not be able to overcome his disability and attain success in school. When a parent who seeks answers to her child's learning problems receives such an answer, that the problem is natural and one that he will "grow out of", the parent has implicitly been informed that her concern is inconsequential and, possibly, a nuisance. Hence, it is hardly surprising that low-income parents have little faith in their ability to participate in the educational experiences of their children when this perception is corroborated by the system itself.