The study investigated the ability of an extracurricular program to influence environmental responsibility of sixth and seventh graders. The Children's Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Survey (CHEAKS) was evaluated for appropriateness in assessing the worth of this particular environmental education strategy emphasizing water quality fieldwork and technology. CHEAKS is designed with psychometric reliability and validity that may be used in comparing disparate programs. Wilcoxon two sample tests were used to analyze data gathered from two student groups; one participated in an "Enviro-Mentals Club"; the other received no treatment. Analysis showed no significant change in environmental attitudes between groups, but did show significance (p <= 0.05) in environmental knowledge growth. Therefore, the investigated program had marginal success in influencing environmental responsibility.

This thesis is written from the perspective of cultural sociology and focuses on middle-class parents and justification of their child-rearing decisions. It describes how parents choose and evaluate the institutions their children spend time at, how they "other" parents with different values and how they relate to concerted cultivation - a type of parenting style which currently dominates the middle-class context. This parenting style (or ideal) puts a great deal of pressure on middle-class parents and it causes a symbolic war among them: a war for acknowledgment and a certain position in the cultural space. This thesis describes who the participants "other", which child-rearing strategies participants approve of, what values are crucial for them and what problems they deal with. Furthermore, four main differences between the participants' approach and the concerted cultivation approach were identified: emphasis on friendship, emphasis on balance between activities and rest, emphasis on fitting in with the majority and emphasis on approval of certain authoritarian methods such as imposing punishments, applying restrictions and issuing directives.

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