Dividing Classes: How the Middle Class Negotiates and Rationalizes School Advantage

In this study of the school system of an Indiana town, Ellen Brantlinger studies educational expectations within segments of the middle class that have fairly high levels of attainment. Building on her findings, she examines the relationship between class structure and educational success. This book asserts the need to look beyond poor peoples' values and aspirations—and rather to consider the values of dominant groups—to explain class stratification and educational outcomes.

In this critical ethnography of U.S. middle class school parents, teachers, and administrators, Brantlinger (curriculum and instruction, Indiana U. Bloomington) examines how relatively advantaged individuals pursue further schooling advantages to the detriment of poorer classes and rationalize their actions. She describes a dissonance between liberal values of equity and preferences for segregated schooling. She also explores class differences between teachers at affluent and disadvantaged schools, describing how teachers from poorer backgrounds oppose class stratification (to reuse the double entendre contained in the book's title) but are not powerful enough to fight it. Distributed by Taylor & Francis. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Ellen Brantlinger is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University, Bloomington.