DOCUMENT RESUME ED 430 765 RC 021 996 AUTHOR Lawrence, Barbara Kent TITLE Working Memory: The Influence of Culture on Aspirations. PUB DATE 1998-00-00 NOTE 464p.; Ph.D. Dissertation, Boston University Dissertation of the Year, 1998, National Rural Education Association. Photographs and figures may not reproduce clearly. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses Doctoral Dissertations (041) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC19 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Academic Aspiration; Case Studies; Consolidated Schools; Cultural Context; *Cultural Influences; *Culture Conflict; Educational Attitudes; Elementary Secondary Education; Ethnography; High Risk Students; Holistic Approach; Local History; Postsecondary Education; *Rural Environment; Rural Schools; *School Community Relationship; Small Schools; *Sociocultural Patterns; State History IDENTIFIERS *Maine (Tremont) ABSTRACT There is an immense gap between the success that Maine's elementary school children achieve on national tests and the rate at which they go on to postsecondary education. This gap is not explained by Maine's low per capita income. Maine's homogeneous population created a culture valuing hard work, independence, pragmatism, family, community, tolerance of eccentricity, and love of the land, yet displaying characteristics of "peasant" society such as fatalism, pettiness, and insularity. Children are taught to respect adults, work hard, and graduate from high school, but the culture does not value postsecondary education. The state's history also impacts its educational system. Into the economic void resulting from the Civil War came paying guests searching for a romantic vision of Maine. Some visitors had different values and made local people serving them feel inferior, a pattern that continues. This dissertation examines the influence of culture and individual and collective histories on academic aspirations through an ethnographic case study of the small town of Tremont on Mount Desert Island, a resort area of rural Maine. Chapters discuss (1) research methods;(2) the development of self and aspirations;(3) the culture and history of Tremont, Maine, and the conflict between native and dominant cultures;(4) the history of Maine; (5) a portrait of Tremont;(6) schooling on Mount Desert Island;(7) the Tremont community and elementary school; (8) students' transition to the consolidated high school;(9) interviews about factors that influence student decisions about postsecondary education; and (10) conclusions and parallels to other rural experiences. An epilogue offers suggestions that build on the strengths of Tremont's people. Appendices describe the Student Aspirations Survey and present survey results. Contains tables, figures, charts, photographs, and 189 references. (Author/TD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Dissertation WORKING MEMORY: The Influence of Cultureon Aspirations by BARBARA KENT LAWRENCE B.A. Bennington College, 1965 M.A. New York University, 1968 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education 1998 U.S. DEPARTMENT OFEDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS EDUCARONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) This document has been received from the personreproduced as 12)4k1,fra_ \049.*Vi- originating it or organization 0 Minor changes have beenmade to improve ve"c_e reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions statedin this docu- ment do not necessarily represent official TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." BEST COPY AVAILABLE © Copyright by BARBARA KENT LAWRENCE 1998 ii3 Approved by First Reader Charles L. Glenn, Ph.D., Ed.D. Professor of Education Second Reader Parker Shipton, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anthropology Third Reader Jay W. Simmons, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have helped me with this study.I am grateful to my children Michael and Elizabeth for their support and patience, and to Michael for his fine editing.I appreciate the help of my friends Dr. Nina Thompson and Joe Dolan and the many teachers at Boston University who encouraged me, especially Professors Karen Boatman and Don Davies. Dr. Russell Quaglia, Director of the National Center for Student Aspirations, provided invaluable direction and support, and I am grateful to him and to his able and patient staff.I thank Dr. Robert Cobb, Dean of the College of Education at the University of Maine, for inspiring me to look more deeply into the reasons behind the gap between the success of Maine students in elementary school and the low rate at which they go on to post-secondary schooling. I had a terrific committee.I credit myself with the wisdom to have chosen three men who had different perspectives, but similar interest in helping me hone my own skills, and who worked well together; I thank them for agreeing to work with me. Charles Glenn knew when to leave me alone and when to pull or push me to rethink or rewrite. Parker Shipton provided thoughtful reading of my text and an anchor in anthropology from which I draw much of my framework. Jay Simmons first gave me a sense of delight in writing and then shepherded me through the dissertation.I am deeply grateful for the many contributions of my Three Musketeers, not only during the process of researching and writing the dissertation, but throughout the courses I took with them that made me want to work with them again. This has been a labor of love.I thank each of the people on Mount Desert Island, and particularly in Tremont, with whom I have spoken over the years and without whose insight I would never have conceived of or completed this study. Especially I thank Principal Val Perkins, Superintendent Howard Colter, Dr. Richard Sherwood of the Maine State Planning Office, Dr. Horace 'Brud' Maxcy and Mr. Frank Antonucci of the Maine Department of Education. Finally, at the risk of sounding frivolous, I thank my cat Mac, who sat for endless hours on my desk while I worked in front of the computer or next to me on the couch whileI read, amusing me and keeping me company in what might otherwise have been, attimes, a lonely process. iv 5 WORKING MEMORY: THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON ASPIRATION (Order No. ) BARBARA KENT LAWRENCE Boston University, School of Education, 1998 Charles L. Glenn, Professor of Education ABSTRACT Through the prism of culture and history I look at the immense gap between the success Maine's elementary school children achieve on national tests and the rate atwhich they go on to post-secondary education. In a state with low per capita income, collegetuition is a daunting barrier; however, it is only a small part of the reason Maine students do not pursuepost-secondary education. Forged on the eastern frontier and isolated by geography, Maine's homogeneous"Yankee" population created a culture valuing hard work, independence, pragmatism,family, community, tolerance of eccentricity, love of the land, and abhorrence of debt, anddisplaying characteristics of "peasant" society including fatalism, pettiness, and insularity. Today70.6% of Mainers were born in Maine, and the population is 98.4% white. Children aretaught to respect adults, work hard and graduate from high school, but a high school degree is thoughtsufficient. The history of the state also impacts the education of itschildren. The Civil War devastated Maine's once thriving economy. Into an economic void camepeople searching for a romantic vision of Maine, created and sustained because it attracted payingguests. Some visitors had different values and made local people serving them feelinferior, a pattern that continues. The pattern of migrating to find work had other insidiouseffects. We see the effects of this history and self-imagein a small rural school in which the families, community and school work together to educate children.However, we also see that these 6 children, remarkably successful throughout grammar school, falter in high school for reasons that tie directly to the culture and history of the area. The high school is not so nurturing and supportive, parents are physically, psychologically and socially distanced from the high school, and the culture does not value post-secondary education. What explains the enormous gap between the academic success of young children in Tremont, Maine and the rate at which they go on to post-secondary education? Only their total environment, including the past, present, and the way those project on their future, what I call their "working memory." 7 vi DEDICATION I dedicate this work to the memory of my step-father, Desmond Fitz Gerald, who gave me a sense of the value of my mind and exercise in using it. 8 vi i WORKING MEMORY: The Influence of Culture on Aspirations A Case Study of Tremont, Maine "It is a poor sort of memory that only works backwards." The title of my dissertation comes from a line in Through the Looking Glass that my step- father was fond of and quoted enough so that when he died the Central Intelligence Agency, for which he worked, used it to introduce a book commemorating his life. "Living backwards!" Alice repeated in great astonishment. "I never heard of such a thing!" "but there's one great advantage in it, that one's memory works both ways." "I'm sure that mine