ABSTRACT
The groundwork for a successful career is laid well before a young worker enters the workforce. In fact, the work ethic that is necessary to attain a successful career in the future is often established early on in the family environment that prepares children for successful transitions from home to school to work. Thus, there are not only “family-friendly” workplaces, but also “work-friendly families,” where the critical importance of education and the work ethic are emphasized throughout childhood. We often wonder why some people succeed despite all odds, and others fail even when given many opportunities. An example of a strong work ethic can be seen in one of the poignant stories in What African American Parents Want Educators to Know (Thompson, 2003d), which is based on an interview with Francine, an African-American single parent. After being addicted to drugs for 15 years, at the time of her interview, Francine had been drug free for several years. In order to move her four children out of a crime-ridden public housing complex, she had to renovate a condemned house. In spite of the fact that they lived in an economically depressed city, instilling a strong work ethic in her children was one of Francine’s main goals. She used three strategies to do this: assisting her children in creating and maintaining a family garden; modeling the importance of work through her fledgling florist business, as well as earning money from home by hairdressing; and stressing the importance of a good education as a means to socioeconomic mobility. Although she emphasized the importance of a good education to her children, ironically Francine had never graduated from high school. Many years earlier, after her boyfriend was murdered—an act that became the primary catalyst for her subsequent drug addiction—Francine had dropped out of school in 10th grade. At the time, she was the teenage mother of her first child, a newborn baby girl. Consequently, during her interview, Francine stated that one of her personal goals was to return to school to earn a General Education Diploma (G.E.D.). Until then, her ultimate goal of becoming a drug-addiction counselor, a job that would improve her family’s financial status, would remain elusive, and force her to continue to try to make ends meet through jobs that did not guarantee financial security.
