Table Of ContentDOCUMENT RESUME
RC 021 996
ED 430 765
Lawrence, Barbara Kent
AUTHOR
Working Memory: The Influence of Culture on Aspirations.
TITLE
1998-00-00
PUB DATE
464p.; Ph.D. Dissertation, Boston University Dissertation of
NOTE
the Year, 1998, National Rural Education Association.
Photographs and figures may not reproduce clearly.
Doctoral Dissertations (041)
Dissertations/Theses
PUB TYPE
MF01/PC19 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Academic Aspiration; Case Studies; Consolidated Schools;
DESCRIPTORS
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
*Maine (Tremont)
IDENTIFIERS
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
(3) the culture and
(2) the development of self and aspirations;
methods;
history of Tremont, Maine, and the conflict between native and dominant
(6) schooling
a portrait of Tremont;
(4) the history of Maine;
cultures;
(5)
(7) the Tremont community and elementary school;
on Mount Desert Island;
(8)
(9) interviews about
students' transition to the consolidated high school;
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)
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BOSTON UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Dissertation
WORKING MEMORY: The Influence of Culture
on 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 OF
EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research
and Improvement
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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
I am grateful to my children Michael and
Many people have helped me with this study.
I appreciate the help
Elizabeth for their support and patience, and to Michael for his fine editing.
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,
I thank Dr. Robert Cobb, Dean of the
and I am grateful to him and to his able and patient staff.
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 credit myself with the wisdom to have chosen three men who
I had a terrific committee.
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
I am deeply grateful for the many contributions of my Three Musketeers, not only
dissertation.
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.
I thank each of the people on Mount Desert Island, and
This has been a labor of love.
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
I read, amusing
my desk while I worked in front of the computer or next to me on the couch while
times, a lonely process.
me and keeping me company in what might otherwise have been, at
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
which they go on to
Maine's elementary school children achieve on national tests and the rate at
tuition is a daunting
post-secondary education. In a state with low per capita income, college
post-secondary
barrier; however, it is only a small part of the reason Maine students do not pursue
education.
"Yankee"
Forged on the eastern frontier and isolated by geography, Maine's homogeneous
family, community,
population created a culture valuing hard work, independence, pragmatism,
displaying characteristics of
tolerance of eccentricity, love of the land, and abhorrence of debt, and
70.6% of Mainers were born
"peasant" society including fatalism, pettiness, and insularity. Today
taught to respect adults, work hard and
in Maine, and the population is 98.4% white. Children are
sufficient.
graduate from high school, but a high school degree is thought
children. The Civil War devastated
The history of the state also impacts the education of its
people searching for a romantic
Maine's once thriving economy. Into an economic void came
guests. Some visitors had
vision of Maine, created and sustained because it attracted paying
inferior, a pattern that continues. The
different values and made local people serving them feel
effects.
pattern of migrating to find work had other insidious
in a small rural school in which the families,
We see the effects of this history and self-image
However, we also see that these
community and school work together to educate children.
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 only works one way," Alice remarked. "I can't remember things before they
happen."
"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards," the Queen remarked.
Carroll, 1981:155
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue.
1
20
Chapter One: Research Methods
37
Chapter Two: Development of Self and Aspirations
59
Chapter Three: The Culture
109
Chapter Four: A History of Maine
Sketches of Bar Harbor
158
Chapter Five: Portrait of Tremont, Maine
Sketches of Tremont
194
Chapter Six: Schooling On Mount Desert Island
Sketches of Southwest Harbor
215
Chapter Seven: The People and Their School
237
Chapter Eight: Transition to the High School
Sketches of Northeast Harbor
276
Chapter Nine: Connections
294
Chapter Ten: Conclusions
306
Epilogue: Suggestions
327
APPENDICES
Appendix One: Construct Validity Evidence for the Student Aspirations Survey
328
by Jonathan A. Plucker
340
Appendix Two: Results of the Student Aspirations Survey, Tremont, Maine, 1997.
410
BIBLIOGRAPHY
425
CURRICULUM VITAE
ix
