Researchers in a range of fields have acknowledged that childhood is a construct emerging from modernist perspectives that have not always benefited those who are younger. The purposes of the Rethinking Childhood series are to provide critical locations for scholarship that challenges the universalization of childhood and introduces new, reconceptualized, and critical spaces from which opportunities and possibilities are generated for those who are younger. Diverse histories and cultures are considered of major importance, as well as issues of critical social justice.

Growing Up in Kenya: Rural Schooling and Girls reveals the clash between the traditional values and roles of women and the school culture and expectations. Traditionally, women were brought up to value the roles of wife, mother, and cultivator. This book shows the struggle rural girls experience as they try to fit into these traditional roles while meeting the expectations of the school curriculum. Although education is central to a woman's status, because it affects every other aspect of her life, studies indicate that parents have lower occupational aspirations for their daughters than for their sons. This is true for higher socio-economic groups as well as when the daughters' academic performance is superior to that of the sons'.

Autorentext

The Author: Anne M. Mungai is Assistant Professor in the School of Education in the Department of Special Education at Adelphi University, New York. She is an educational consultant on professional development, gender, and special education, especially inclusion issues.