Inequalities In The Promised Land Summary

In this paper I will discuss Inequality In The Promised Land by E. L’Heureuz Lewis-McCoy. McCoy examines the underlying inequality and micro racial aggressions present within the seemingly diverse and progressive Rolling Acres Public School system. Three major themes I will focus on are the concerted cultivation approach to parenting, the disparity in the ability of students of different races to acquire access to resources, and how the engagement of poor and middle class parents impacts their children’s education. I will also discuss “Marked: Race, Crime & Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration” by Devah Pager. Pager’s work focuses on the effects that the criminal justice system has on ex-inmates, more specifically the effects of race

and criminal records on employment opportunities. The second work “Getting a Job Is There a MotherHood Penalty?” by Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Benard, and In Paik, highlights the pay and evaluation penalties that mothers face in the workplace in comparison to their nonmother counterparts. Finally, in “Social Networks and Status Attainment” Nan Lin, examines the role of social networks on attaining jobs of higher status.
One of McCoys main focuses is on the “concerted cultivation” approach to parenting and it affects different student’s access to resources and opportunities.

Researcher Annette Laureau proposed the theory of concerted cultivation which “is practiced by middle-class families and is often characterized by the enrollment of children in structured extracurricular activities with adult supervision” (5). For example, my family considers themselves members of the middle-class and used this approach to raise me. Throughout elementary school, I was engaged in after-school organized programs and/or sports, including origami, drama, soccer, and basketball. McCoy argues “these socialization experiences serve as fields of learning where their children develop cultural capital that proves to be advantageous” (5). I agree with the part of McCoys argument which declares that these experiences and activities provide advantages to those who participate. For example, I currently ask my parents why they had signed me up for so many activities and their answer is always so that I would know how to interact with people, form relationships, and consecutively become a well-rounded person. I think that this approach has proved successful in my case because I was in the top 5 of my high school class, had been accepted to a prestigious university and started a successful YouTube channel all before turning 18. I believe this to be due to the skills I acquired, the networks I maintained and took advantage of from my extracurricular activities, as well as the hard work I

applied.
Another one of McCoy’s main focuses is on the access to resources that occurs between students of different races. McCoy takes the lives of white student Danny Morris and black student LeBron Downing, classmates at River Elementary, to clearly depict the inequality in the ability to acquire access to resources. Danny is a member of a white middle-class family from the predominately white Stone Hinge area with a household income surpassing $125,000 (49). Danny’s parents practice the concerted cultivation approach heavily emphasizing doing well in school, following your dreams, and working hard. Danny is a diligent student and is involved in several extracurricular activities, with hockey at the forefront. “For Danny, playing sports and doing well in school were inextricably linked. For his parents, the teams he had access to were important for social and academic reasons” (51). Although I played basketball instead of hockey growing up, the same connection between academia and the game existed. For example, to remain on the team, I had to maintain at least a B+ average. The teams that had an academic requirement were largely comprised of intelligent children who came from affluent families with ample networks. It was important to my parents that I uphold my enrollment, not only to be surrounded my positive influences, but to use the connections when applying to colleges. Connecting back to the concept of concerted cultivation and the skills and connections that result, Danny has advantages LeBron who does not have access to an equivalent organized activity.
In contrast to the Morris family, Lebron is a member of the Downing family, a black middle-class family with an income below $75,000 (55). From this difference between the annual incomes of both middle-class families, one of the many disparities that perpetrate inequality is illustrated. Unlike the Morris family who had easy access to the resources and opportunities of RAPS, the Downing family, like most African American families had to work harder to receive access to them. I do not think that it is fair that black families have to work harder for something that is easily accessed by most white people. I think that because the school system is aware of the inequality, that they should do everything in their power to make equal opportunities available to all students regardless of their race, social-class, and home-life. Although LeBron had been involved in some activities that had authority figures, the Downing’s have had negative experiences with programs of these kind. The Downing’s tell McCoy a story about how LeBron had attended a summer camp, but how he came home one day complaining about how the counselors referred to all of the black children as “scholarship kids” and ostracized them (54). I think that whether or not a child has a scholarship in order to obtain access to a resource, that they should be treated equally. I was stunned when reading that the counselors made assumptions about an entire group of people based on a select few. This clearly shows the ignorance of some people and how much stereotypes and assumptions still continue to promote racism and inequality.
McCoy also focuses on the social class of parents and how it affects their children’s education. To demonstrate this point, McCoy uses the events of poor black mother Ms. Martin and Middle-Class black mother Ms. Towles. McCoy recalls Ms. Martin’s negative experiences with her daughter Raven’s fourth-grade teacher Mr. Marks (75). Ms. Martin had been viewed by Ms. Marks as an unengaged parent because she had missed the first open house and the opportunity to be added to the email list (78). I do not think that it is fair that Mr. Marks has a negative bias towards Raven because of her mother’s absence at the first open house. I think that more of an effort should have been made on behalf of the teacher to ensure that all parents were notified of these methods of communication. As Chase mentioned in class, the teacher could have done something as easy as sending out a mass email instead of having an exclusive list. Ms. Martin was labeled a “problem parent” by the teacher and the school staff for attempting to be engaged in her daughter’s education and for trying to do something nice for her child’s class, such as sending Raven to school with cupcakes on her birthday (77). In contrast, Mr. Marks had a favorable attitude towards Ms. Towles because she physically active within the school community was a lawyer (76). I do not think that a parents job should influence how a teacher feels towards a certain student. I think that each student should be given individual attention and not be compared because of their social status. I think that if somebody has an initial bias towards someone that they are ultimately preventing them from moving up the social ladder.
Pager highlights how the criminal justice system has become a major source of inequality and stratification in society and how association with the system has different