Not since Scammon Wattenberg’s The Real Majority has this politically incorrect slice of American demography been so closely examined: As exotic as the red-crested tree rat—though admittedly less rare—the white suburban mother is a complicated and understudied mammal. This article from the Journal of Social Education lifts that curtain and reveals many of their exotic habits, practices and preferences. For example, these mothers regularly shop for black yoga pants at Target, underreport their wine consumption, don’t understand the rules of soccer but fervently tout the prowess of their children’s teams, believe that Miley Cyrus should “put some clothes on, young lady,” and think they could be “besties” with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. When queried about their views on education, 72 percent strongly agree with the statement, “The school system in America is totally going down the tubes.” An overwhelming majority of that subset (94 percent), however, agree with the addendum, “Not my kid’s school, of course.” Most think the teachers their children had were “great,” though many make an exception for “that one teacher who gave my child a B–.” Of the respondents, 83 percent anticipate that their child will enroll in Harvard, Yale, or Stanford.* A full 90 percent were angered by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s characterization of them as “white suburban moms”; 10 percent were offended because they believe they were Cleopatra in a past life. The study concludes with a call for “more research,” including a deeper look into the age-old question: can white suburban moms really have it all?
* The average high-school GPA of respondents’ children was 2.9, and their average SAT score was 1100—though it was unclear whether that was on a 2400- or 1600-point scale, because really, who can keep track of that?
SOURCE: Jane Goodenough, “White Suburban Moms: An ethnography of race, place, gender, and education reform,” Journal of Navel-Gazing and Other Pasttimes 5(1): 5–14.