Many sociologists have linked labelling in school, especially by teachers, with the difference in achievements in terms of ethnicity. Negative stereotypes and labels may cause teacher to treat students from an ethnic minority differently, which could in turn, disadvantage them and ultimately, result in them underachieving. Studies from different sociologists back up and support this. Gillborn and Youdell (2000) found in their studies that teachers were more likely to discipline black students quicker than they would with their white counterparts, due to the fact that teachers held “racialised expectations”. They argued that they stereotyped and expected black students to present behaviour such as threatening and challenging authority, which leaves the student feeling underestimated and picked on.
This primarily affected African American children because their education system was different from the white children. Negro schools had many restrictions such as the reading matter being restricted to the used and discarded volumes of the libraries of the white community (Johnson 268). Based on attention to this advertisement through the perspective of race, I observe that African American children were falsely depicted in the 1930’s because they lack a proper education system and they were not socially equal. Education affected the child’s self-esteem and self-worth. According to Charles Johnson’s article, “Education of the Negro Child” about sixty-five percent of African American children are classified as retarded and the majority are retarded by more than one year (Johnson 266).
However, not only just the pupils are labelled, the knowledge they are taught can also be labelled. Nell Keddie (1971) found, both pupils and knowledge can be labelled as high or low status. Moreover, streaming separates pupils into different ability groups that are taught separate things for all subjects. Studies show that the self-fulfilling prophecy is most likely to occur when children are streamed. Working class pupils tend to be labelled negatively and teachers tend to see them as lacking ability and therefore have low expectations of them hence they will be in the lower stream.
However white working class suggests that the cause of education underachievement is a mixture of culture and class. The reasons for ethnic differences can be internal or external factors which are things such as cultural deprivation, material deprivation and racism theorists argue that underachievement these may then result to inadequate socialisation in the home. One major factor being the lack of intellectual and linguistic skills being taught to children, in addition children in ethnic minorities are less likely to take part in activities that are intellectually enriching due to material deprivation, leaving these students poorly equipped for school. In addition the language spoken by ethnic minority families tend to be inadequate for educational success as English may not be the child’s first language and so they may struggle more than white British children. However some sociologists argue that Asian and Indian children do just as well if not better than white middle class students despite not speaking English at home.
Racism is linked to the educational achievement of minority ethnic groups, however the connections are complex. Gilborn and Mirza conclude that ‘social class and gender differences are also associated with differences in attainment but neither can account for persistent underlying ethnic inequalities: comparing like with like, African Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils do not enjoy equal opportunities.’ They also argue that in promoting educational inclusion as a means of raising standards, there is a need ‘for clarity and guidance in translating the commitment to equality and inclusion into policy proposals and practice at the local and school level. A recent research report found that: • Children whose first language is other than English do not perform as well as other children across the Foundation Stage scales • Pupils for whom English was an additional language have lower attainment than pupils whose first language is English. The difference between the two groups is
Using material from item A and elsewhere assess the view that social class differences in educational achievement are the result of school processes such as labelling. Some sociologists would explain the social class differences in educational achievement as being caused by internal factors. These are factors within schools and the education system that could cause these differences. One internal factor is labelling. To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them.
The processes that take place within the school are classification of pupils, labelling, typing and the self-fulfilling prophecy, banding and streaming and pupil subcultures and identities. Within the school there are major social class, gender and ethnic differences in how pupils do, with much debate about the reasons for these differences. Many sociologists argue that the processes and the factors within the school are the main cause of differences in the educational achievement of different social groups. The positive and negative labelling of pupils by teachers can have important effects on pupil’s performance, this is a good example of how the differences in the educational achievement of different social groups effect in different ways. Hargreaves interviewed teachers and did a classroom observation.
Readers could argue that Twain’s main point of the novel was to be offensive. But either way, he did just that. Times have changed and that word has no longer become an acceptable word for people to use. Most African American students grew up being taught that it was a horribly offensive word, and to never use it. So with that being said, many students could feel uncomfortable hearing it at school.
This type of stereotype is similar to that of the “dumb jock”, and like the students in the experiment college athletes are often portrayed as inferior academically (Lubus, 2011). These stereotypes cause the students to feel inferior because of the self-fulfilling prophecy, and the students adopt these attributes and behaviors because that is how their environment makes them feel. This study shows how our society can easily use stereotypes and prejudice to create an environment where they become the reality. The self-fulfilling prophecy uses the expectations of these stereotypes to create that environment, and this will affect a person’s own behaviors and self-impressions. I believe this creates a false sense of the stereotypes playing true, and that in actuality the people classified in the stereotype may be nothing like
The main effect is that ethnic stereotypes affect their normal life and bring so much inconvenience to them. Then, part of stereotypes increase cultural conflict and racial discrimination. It is difficult for people to get together and make friends with others. Meanwhile, we pay more attention on characteristics that stereotypes describe and ignore the special thing of each of us. In conclusion, although racial stereotypes talk about the advantages about them like the whiz-kid, they also have negative effects to people and the