Sociologists have developed many different factors that are responsible for these ethnical differences, which can be either “internal” (inside the educational system) or “external” (outside the educational system). I am going to analyse the internal factors, such as labelling, institutional racism and the ethnocentric curriculum. One internal factor is labelling. To label something, is to attaching a meaning, or apply a stereotype. Many sociologists have linked labelling in school, especially by teachers, with the difference in achievements in terms of ethnicity.
Assess sociological explanations of ethnic differences in educational achievement Some sociologists argue that some ethnic groups maybe underachieving in the education system whereas some say that these ethnic groups differ in the education system. Material factors may affect ethnic groups in the education system, material deprivation explanations see educational failure as results from factors such as substandard housing and low income. Ethnic minorities are more likely to face these problems according to Flaherty as unemployment is three times higher for African and Bangladeshi/Pakistani people than for whites, Pakistanis are nearly twice as likely to be in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs compared to whites. Ethnic minorities are more likely to be engaged in shift work. These inequalities parallel those in educational achievement e.g.
The study found that the counsellor judged pupils largely on their social class; this therefore put them at a disadvantage as middle-class students were placed on higher level courses. The self-fulfilling prophecy is another internal factor that can be linked to social class differences in achievement. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it being made. Some sociologists argue that labelling can effect pupil’s achievement by creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. This can be seen in a study of a primary school by Rosenthal and Jacobson.
It is shown that the higher level of education the higher level of income. So with the basic stats of entry level education being less, the lack of opportunity based on income and the lack of support for minorities to receive the same educational realities as the white class it stands to reason that this a major component to the disparity in classes and race. In addition to the disparity in class and race there is a disparity to class and gender. Women are paid less than men. The majority of single parent families are supported by women.
Assess the importance of school factors such as racism and pupils’ responses to racism in creating ethnic differences in educational achievement The differences in educational attainment between different groups of pupils have been a major focus of much sociological research. These differences can often be seen to be largely due to different social class, but also gender or ethnicity. Social class is the most significant and dominant factor when looking at these differences, but ethnicity also has a relative impact on educational achievement Education has a key role to play in eradicating racism and valuing diversity and it a responsibility for all educational establishments, including those with few or no ethnic minority pupils. Promoting racial equality demands a whole school approach and commitment from all those who are involved in the life and work of their school. Racism is linked to the educational achievement of minority ethnic groups, however the connections are complex.
Whites with a criminal record are more than 3 times more likely to get a call back than blacks with a criminal record. This study shows that black men without a criminal record are less likely to be called back for a job interview than white men with a criminal record, as released by The Mark of A Criminal Record, American journal of
For example, in the south, Jim Crow laws prevented blacks from marrying whites. Also, black literacy rates were low in the south because they were not offered the same educational opportunities as whites; states spent ten times more money on white schools than black schools. Also, blacks were expected to address white men as ‘master’ or ‘sir’ whilst being referred to as ‘boy’ themselves. They faced both de facto and de jure discrimination in the south. Also, black housing was significantly worse than white housing – 40% of black housing was substandard whilst only 12% of white housing was.
This is what I will be discussing throughout my paper. Individualistic Fallacy The first of these would be the individualistic fallacy, it is assumed to belong to the realm of ideas and prejudices( Desmond, Embirbayer, p.27). We as individuals sometimes see the world in black and white, racist or non-racist, but failed to see the bigger picture. We have to wake up and see the racism with in the educational, legal, political, and media systems in America. In schools there is mass inequality among public schools in the suburbs and those in the inner-city.
Asian Americans and white Americans have differ in many ways such as family socialization practices, and cultural framework that promotes adolescents school performance (Kiyoshi 2). Whites and Asian American parents are extremely different when comparing mechanisms of internalization of educational values in academic and education. Researches and studies have been shown that Asian Americans are known to be more engaged in studding work like activities, and activities importance competence in these situations for education and high expectations for achievements then white Americans. To this day forward Asian American shave been known to have a higher pay rate price than whites for achieving a given level of education, not to mention the time spent on weekends. The working classes of Asian Americans seem to be much higher and are known to be a lot better than the white American community (Gakvin
Regardless of the fact that parental support is of great importance for a students’ academic achievement, studies have shown that a greater part of a minorities parents have lacked support for their children in spite of faculty and staff motivation to do so. Karen Mason, president of the Association for Career and Technical Education communicated that numerous at-risk student’s lack parental support and often have a low academic self-concept; consequently, pushing students to often struggle in school. Also “A study conducted by researchers at Duke University in 2005 found that underrepresented minorities constitute 28.2 percent of the U.S. population; 12.5 percent of the entire applicant pool of 18 national schools; but minority legacy applicants only accounted for 6.7 percent of the applicant pool. The researchers concluded that legacies today reflect the domination of whites that have in their words, “monopolized” higher education throughout history. Legacy preferences fail to substantially increase racial and ethnic diversity in colleges and universities.” Declared John C. Britain a professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia School of Law.