Going to university: Family histories and post-secondary credentialing

This chapter shows how people feel about education, particularly post-secondary education and learning experiences. It presents the histories of two extended families, how educational aspirations and attitudes toward the efficacy of education have changed from one generation to the next in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia – a Canadian coalmining town facing the end of an industrial economy. Higher education thus reproduces social stratification by increasing the social and economic capital of some more than others. The cultural capital of some of the first wave of immigrants – a love of reading, belief in the efficacy of formal education, and an appreciation for seeking out knowledge – has become economic and social capital for their children. An achievement ideology rewards individual aspirations for success and requires confidence in the meritocratic potential of educational credentials for economic opportunity.