Low-Income Parents' Opinions about the Social Class Composition of Schools

Abstract

Social class school segregation has not been the focus of much attention either on the level of school policy-making or in research journals. It has been observed that middle-class parents strive to enable their children to attend predominantly middle-class schools, which they define as "good schools," but there is little information on the school preferences of low-income parents, particularly relating to the social class composition of schools. Naturalistic methodology, involving home interviews with 35 low-income parents, was utilized to assess parents' perceptions of their low-income schools and to learn their opinions about social class school desegregation. Low-income parents were found to be aware of the class character of local schools and to believe that high-income schools were of superior quality. Although parents suggested that problems would result from mixing poor and rich children, especially for the poor children, the majority (94 percent) were in favor of social class school desegregation. Respondents expressed a belief that attending desegregated schools would be a more realistic preparation for social interaction in adult life. They also felt that their children would obtain a better education in desegregated schools.