13.7 Going Deeper
Elizabeth B. Pearce
Having looked at education from birth through adulthood, as well as at paid and unpaid employment, this section has some additional resources for you.
First, there are some resources that the authors used but could not fit into the chapter. If there was something that really piqued your interest and made you want to learn more, it may be listed in this table. This is also a resource for students who may have an assignment to research a particular topic or who need to identify a topic for a final project. Scan through “Want to Learn More?” if you are interested.
Next, you will see a set of reflective questions. You may be assigned these questions as a chapter review, or perhaps you will be using them as discussion questions in class. These questions are designed to help you apply the chapter concepts, develop your sociological imagination, reflect, and use an equity lens. Look over the “Reflective Questions” if you’d like to explore your own thinking more thoroughly.
After that, you will see the same list of key terms that appeared at the start of the chapter. They may help you with your additional exploration or research.
Finally, some chapters include activities that the instructor may use in the classroom.
Want to Learn More?
- To review the most comprehensive study of childcare in the United States to date, see the NICHD Study of Early Childhood and Youth Development.
- If you’d like to understand more about how public schools reinforce generational poverty, watch this video: “How America’s Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty” with educator Kandice Sumner.
- Curious about pandemic parenting? Look at these two studies:
- To read the full article by Lise Nelson about undocumented immigrant labor, check it out here.
Reflective Questions
- How does the “childcare trilemma” affect equity for families? Consider both families who work in childcare as well as families who use childcare.
- Reflect on the choices families make in order to secure childcare and K–12 education that is desirable. What other parts of their lives may be affected by these decisions? What challenges do they face?
- When you read the section about post-secondary education, what parts did you connect with the most? What else affects your family that was not mentioned?
- Reflect on your reading as well as your personal experience. How does student debt affect family decisions and family life?
- How do gender and parenting overlap to create advantage and disadvantage in the workforce?
- When you reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic, in what ways did it affect your familial relationships (especially as connected to education and work)?
- If you were writing the laws and regulations around taxes and social security related to union formations and kinship groups, what would they look like?
Key Terms
- Achievement gap: significant and persistent disparity in academic performance or educational attainment between different groups of students.
- Care wor