Abstract
Human capital theories that dominate the educational theories of our times, focusing upon skills, test scores, and competition in economic markets often deny the existence of other relevant and valid ways of looking at learners and teaching, and in so doing deny other purposes of healthy communities. Theorists have argued that pedagogic approaches resting on these Human Capital arguments result in “apolitical” or decontextualized systems of thinking and are often misapplied to other contexts. Such thinkers have argued for more socially responsive alternatives (Baptiste, 2001; Penn, 2005; Rodriguez, 2009). One result of such narrowing of thinking is a focus on assumed links between academic achievement and employment opportunity (Lightfoot-Rueda & Peach, introduction of this volume) often at the expense of social relevance of curriculum in the young child’s classroom, a cornerstone of student motivation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adair, J. (2008). White pre-service teachers and “de-privileged spaces.” Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(4), 189–206.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1934/1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Michael Holquist (Ed.) & C. Emerson & M. Holquist (Trans.). Austin and London: University of Texas Press.
Baptiste, I. (2001). Educating lone wolves: Pedagogical implications of human capital theory. Adult Education Quarterly, 51(3), 184–201.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. Republished in I. Szeman & T. Kaposy (Eds.) (2011), Cultural theory: An anthology (pp. 81–93). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Brooks, J. G., & Brooks, M. G. (1993). Considering the possibilities. In In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Brooks, M. G., & Brooks, J. G. (2004). The courage to be constructivist. In A. S. Canestrari & B. A. Marlowe (Eds.), Educational foundations: An anthology of critical readings. London: Sage Publications.
Compton-Lilly, C. (2003). Reading families. The literate lives of urban children. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.
Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (1993). Through the lens of a critical friend. Educational Leadership, 51(2), 49–51.
Fennimore, B. (2008). Talk about children. In C. Genishi & L. Goodwin (Eds.), Diversities in early childhood education: Rethinking and doing (pp. 185–200). Routledge: Taylor & Francis.
Heilman, E. (2008). Hegemonies and “transgressions” of family: Tales of pride and prejudice. In T. Turner-Vorbeck & M. Miller Marsh (Eds.), Other Kinds of Families: Embracing Diversity in Schools (7–27). New York:Teacher College Press.
Hökkä, P., Eteläpelto, A., & Rasku-Puttonen, H. (2012). The professional agency of teacher educators amid academic discourses. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 38(1), 83–102.
Johnson, A. S., Baker, A., & Bruner, L. (2007). Interdependence, garbage dumping, and feral dogs: Exploring three life world resources of young children in rural school. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(6), 371–377.
Kroeger, J. (2005). Social heteroglossia: The contentious practice or potential place of middle-class parents in home-school relations. The Urban Review, 37(1), 1–30.
Kroeger, J., & Lash, M. (2011). Asking, listening, and learning: Toward a more thorough method of inquiry in home-school relations. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 268–277.
Kroeger, J., & Myers, C. Y. (2013). Deconstructing myths about families in poverty: Working for young children & communities through curriculum in the primary grades, examples from pre-service teaching and talk. Research paper presented to the Critical and Reconceptualist Special Interest Group at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
Kroeger, J., Pech, S., & Cope, J. (2009). Investigating change in field sites through mentor and candidate dialogues. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 30, 328–345.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Lareau, A. (2000). Home advantage: Social class and parental intervention in elementary education. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Lareau, A. (2003). Unequal childhoods: Class, race and family life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Nafukho, F. M., Hairston, N. R., Brooks, K. (2004). Human capital theory: Implications for human resource development. Human Resource Development International, 7(4), 545–551.
National Youth Leadership Council. (2010). The service learning cycle. The Generator, 28(3), 2.
Penn, H. (2005). Understanding early childhood: Issues and controversies. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Pushor, D. (2010). Are schools doing enough to learn about families? In M. M. Marsh & T. Turner-Vorbeck (Eds.), (Mis)understanding families: Learning from real families in our schools (pp. 4–16). New York: Teachers College Press.
Rodriguez, L. F. (2009). Dialoguing, cultural capital, and student engagement: Toward a hip hop pedagogy in high school and university classroom. Equity & Excellence in Education, 42(1), 20–35.
Street, C. (2005). Funds of knowledge at work in the writing classroom. Theory to Practice. Multicultural Education, 13(2), 1–4.
Tashagorri, A., & Teddlie, C. (2010). Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Trainor, A. A. (2010). Reexamining the promise of parent participation in special education: An analysis of cultural and social capital. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 41(3), 245–263.
Wegman, K. M., & Bowen, G. L. (2010). Strengthening connections between schools and diverse families: A cultural capital perspective. The Prevention Researcher, 17(3), 7–12.
Wertsch, J. V. (1991). Voices of the mind: Sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. New York: Oxford University Press.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2015 Theodora Lightfoot-Rueda and Ruth Lynn Peach
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kroeger, J. (2015). And You Gotta Believe Me: When Social and Human Capital Collide. In: Lightfoot-Rueda, T., Peach, R.L. (eds) Global Perspectives on Human Capital in Early Childhood Education. Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137490865_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137490865_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56201-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-49086-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)