Successful school paths among students from lower class: Family socialization and social trajectories

Abstract

This paper investigates primary and secondary socialization processes associated with successful school paths among students from lower classes. Successful cases are analyzed among the generation that entered the first year of basic school in 2006 in a municipal school in Minas Gerais, the first group submitted to the laws that extended basic school from 8 to 9 years, entering at the age of 6. To deepen the analysis, the life stories of three students continuously approved until the graduation from high school in 2017 was researched, representing exceptions in the middle of a generation mostly affected by reprobation and evasion throughout their path. It was noted that the processes of primary (family) and secondary socialization (school and “neighborhood”) may be favorable elements associated with successful school paths, stressing the relevance of adults’ specific actions over the trajectories of younger generations.