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The Facts
Matthew Ranker is a 12-year-old Australian born boy, who lives
in Bankstown and goes to a private catholic school called Bankstown
Grammar. Matthew serves as an altar boy once a week and studies
two hours a night. If he could change anything about school he
would change the amount of homework he has, choice of subjects
and the time children must attend. He would like a school day
to be five hours long and only four days a week but would prefer
if children could stay at home and learn through their computers.
A teacher of his choice would have to be kind, considerate and
flexible. He imagines that he will receive a TER of 95 and will
gain awards in Japanese Studies, Mathematics, and English. That
he will be a House Captain of School, School Prefect and Dux of
class (year 8). He thinks laptop computers and space travel school
should be available to children in the future.
He watches four hours a day of television and his favorite shows are charmed, Every body loves Raymond and Seinfeld. He uses a computer at home and is into Nintendo. He speaks English and is learning to speak Japanese and French and one of his parents was born in the Philippines. The other was born in Australia. Both his parents are working, his mother is a Super-annuation Administrator whose hobby is reading and his father is a City Rail Customer Service officer whose hobby is fishing. Matthew thinks his father would like him to become an Airforce pilot, a computer scientist or a police officer and his mother would like him to become an Air Force pilot, IT commerce or a Lawyer. For himself, Matthew has aspirations of becoming an Air-Force Pilot, Commercial Pilot or a Lawyer. He wants to own a BMW car, a large house with a pool and an Alaskan Malamute dog.
He sees, doing his school certificate, HSC, and going to University as the three most significant or important events that he will have had in his life in the next 20 years. He hopes that everything will turn out well in the future, that Australia will be a better place with high computer technology and a place of peace. That Australia would remain a free and neutral country but fears, civil war, pollution and another country declaring war on Australia. He feels that his career will give him the most satisfaction and expects to be a leader in his field because of his determination and that his personal ability and drive will get him ahead. He is interested in world news and has traveled to America, Europe, Canada and the Philippines and plans to go back although he expects to spend most of his life in Australia.
He feels that his family and relatives will be available when needed both personally and financially and if he had a large some of money would like to buy them a large house. He would also buy a large house for himself and a good brand car. He would like to marry at 30 because he feels that at that time he will be ready and considers, attitude, responsibility and image the three most important qualities to consider in a partner. At 31 he would like to start a family, and have two children. In the year 2020 he envisions listening to music watching and playing rugby league and fishing as his leisure pursuits, interests or hobbies. In 2004 he imagines that he worked for McDonalds as a part time customer office earning $5 dollars and hour. In 2006 Harvey Norman as a part time customer service office and in 2011 for the RAAF as a Pilot earning $80,000 a year with the responsibility of defending Australia in war. By 2020, for references he will have a manager of Harvey Norman, a police officer and a captain of the Air Force. The Manager will be able to comment on his abilities, the police officer on his attitude and the captain on his special talents.
Relevant ABN Stastics
Bankstown is a multicultural city with 32.2%(2) of its population born overseas and 28%(3) , born in a country where the language spoken was other than English. Over 60 different languages are spoken in Bankstown City with 40.2% of those aged over 5 years speaking a language other than English.(4)
| Highest qualifications | Bankstown | Australia |
| Bachelor degree | 4.02% | 6.02% |
| Post grad. Diploma | 0.50% | 1.02% |
| Higher degree | 0.54% | 1.07% |
This is interesting to consider as Matthew's
mother was born in the Philippines yet Matthew has stated that
English is his only spoken language and that he his learning Japanese
and French. This assimilation(5) of
values of the dominant white Anglo culture at the expense of his
Malaysian roots could be considered what Eric Erikson calls "Preencounter"(6).
In keeping with this, his career choice of Air Force Pilot, commercial
pilot and lawyer and his desires to be married at 31 with two
kids seem also to belong to the values of the white majority middle
class. His high aspirations for career are unusual for Bankstown
as this table below indicates only 0.54% of Bankstown's population go on to earn higher
degrees.(7)
Comments about case study
Matthew plans do seem plausible bearing
in mind the fact that Matthew attends a private Catholic school
and spends an average of two hours a night studying and is achieving
high grades. He also has the support of both parents, who both
have had a higher education and they both want him to become a
professional of some sort. In terms of James Marcia's theory,
the Four Statuses of Identity, Commitment is a part of identity development
in which adolescents show a personal investment in what they are
going to do.(8) Matthew has certainly
made a commitment judging by his personal statement, which was
a drawing of himself in his RAAF Captain's, uniform with the fighter
plane in the background. Although there is a contradiction in
the fact that he would change the amount of homework he had to
do which would seem to indicate that he does not really like studying.
The other thing I wonder about is at the age of 12 how sure is
anyone of what they want to do for the rest of their life. So
to me Matthew is in Identity foreclosure the term Marcia describes adolescents
who have made a commitment but have not experienced a crisis.(9) I think because
his three choices all call for some level of commitment, dedication
and a higher education the crisis that Matthew faces will not
be the same as a low achiever who hates school and has no idea
of what they want to do. His crises may come in Stage 3 of Marcia's
theory: Immersion/Emmersion
- At the beginning of this stage - immersion- ethnic minority
individuals completely endorse minority views and reject the dominant
society.(10)
Which conflicts with where he is at
in Identity foreclosure, stuck in the dominant society's values.
He may be shielded a little from this by the fact that he is growing
up in a multicultural city with the majority of the population
having an ethnic background. Other things that will help this
transition is that is seems clear that he has the love and support
of his family and he will continue to achieve at school. Two things that will contribute
to his raising his self esteem.(11)
1. 2000 Bankstown City Profile prepared by the Strategy
and policy unit, Bankstown City Council http://www.bankstowncity.nsw.gov.au/
2. ABS
CENSUS 1996
3.ABS
CENSUS 1996
4. ABS
CENSUS 1996
5.Santrock.,
John W., Fifth Edition (1993)Adolescence an Introduction, University
of Texas, Dallas Brown and Benchmark (p 312)
6.Santrock.,
John W., Fifth Edition(1993) Adolescence an Introduction, University
of Texas, Dallas Brown and Benchmark (p 353)
7.ABS
CENSUS 1996
8.Santrock.,
John W., Fifth Edition(1993) Adolescence an Introduction, University
of Texas, Dallas Brown and Benchmark (349)
9.Santrock.,
John W., Fifth Edition(1993) Adolescence an Introduction, University
of Texas, Dallas Brown and Benchmark (349)
10.Santrock.,
John W., Fifth Edition(1993) Adolescence an Introduction, University
of Texas, Dallas Brown and Benchmark (355)
11.Santrock.,
John W., Fifth Edition(1993) Adolescence an Introduction, University
of Texas, Dallas Brown and Benchmark (342)