Globally aspired, locally constrained; how national education test regime in Turkey shapes middle‐class parenting

Abstract

This article studies how middle‐class parents negotiate globally inspired and classed parenting dispositions with contextual circumstances for transferring their privileges to their children. By drawing on 3‐year longitudinal qualitative data from middle‐class parents in Istanbul, we show that, first, this class feels insecure in the face of changing its social position in the transformation of the state's political economy and ideological foundations. Second, consistent with patterns reported elsewhere, they generally follow a concerted cultivation style of childrearing – enrolling their children in various extracurricular activities, prompting them to discover or create specific talents, consciously developing their language use and forging their ability to interact with social institutions – to impose a competitive personality on their offspring. Third, however, the early tracking, which may stream their children to disadvantaged upper secondary schools through multiple choice and centralized standardized tests, limits their concerted cultivation process by necessitating test‐doing skills. We argue that the Turkish middle class aspires to cultivate their children culturally, but the national testing regime forces them to develop aggressive tactics such as strategically delaying the cultivation process and cutting children's friendships.