Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Page 85

SAMLEIKAGERÐ í NÝTSLUMENTANINI HJÁ BØRNUM
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John approached me, he spoke of his read-
lr*g the Harry Potter books and this was sub-
sequently, mentioned on several occasions.
Interviews with the teacher and his mother
'ndicated that John’s reading performance
" and the praise he received, directly led to
John perceiving himself as a “number one
Harry Potter fan” (Fieldnotes, NPS, M,
13/11/02). This was reflected in the books
-lohn purchased (all the Harry Potterbooks),
his bag and lunch bag - both which had
Harry Potter symbols.
Based on interviews with parents, teach-
ers, children and liead teachers it was evi-
dent that expectations of academic per-
formance at the two schools were different.
The P6 children at WPS were more likely
lo have thought through what types of pro-
lessions/positions they expected to hold later
111 life (which is likely to have implications
°n consumption pattems and resources). The
head teacher at WPS had previously worked
as a teacher at NPS and emphasised the dif-
ference in the children’s background as far
as academic performance is concemed -
where WPS was more affluent and more ac-
‘'demically advanced. However, the pres-
sures of academic performance did not go
Unquestioned by some children as the fol-
lowing extract shows:
Andrew: All mums and dads say you should be
Hke, a lawyer or a doctor.
David: I know they always say lawyer.
Andrew: Or a doctor.
^eil: Cause you get paid a lot.
Andrew: Or a vet or something like that.
Someone that saves people.
^eil: Or be an orthodontist.
Andrew: But then I say like, if you’re a lawyer
someone could think you would get the wrong
decision and someone would get out of jail
(sentence) and they might mug you or something
and if you’re a doctor and don’t save someone
then they can like sue you.
Interview, WPS, P6, Male, 10/6/03
In the above quote the children are dis-
cussing occupations, which highlights some
of the ambitions parents have for their chil-
dren. As Neil notes these ambitions are fre-
quently related to ftnancial resources. How-
ever, interestingly the children arc ques-
tioning some of these occupations and able
to identify drawbacks - they are displaying
critical thought processes and not passively
accepting parental ambitions.
In relation to physical performance, sport
was of great importance to the children, es-
pecially the P6 age group. The children spent
much time talking about sport, performing
sport, admiring sport personalities and so on.
The consumption implications were clear-
those children who considered themselves
“sporty” were much more likely to wear
sports clothing. Interestingly, for girls being
sporty was sometimes defined as a contrast
to being feminine as the two examples in-
dicate:
Mrs Cunningham: Mary is not girlie at all. She’s
into sports and she likes reading and all these
kind of things.
Parent interview, WPS, P2, Female, 21/06/03
Katrina: Nearly everyone has sports bag for
rucksack. We’re really into sports. We’re all
tomboys.
Interview, NPS, P6, Female, 13/12/02
It was evident frorn the data that sports
goods were significant as a resource in the