Assess the view that processes in school themselves are mainly responsible for ethnic differences in attainment? Several sociologists have a contrast of theories on if the education is mainly responsible for the ethnic differences in attainment. Some recognise that the education is mainly the reason as they continuously place negative labels on ethnic minorities and give them unfair sanctions. However, other sociologist theorise that the cause to this problem are external factors like material deprivation; their families attitude towards education, and several others. Although statistics show that the highest ethnicity whom over achieves in education are Chinese people, it is still very debatable for other ethnicity’s whether the schools process affects their attainment.
Assess the importance of school factors such as racism and pupils responses to racism in creating ethnic differences in educational achievement. Many sociologists would argue that internal factors are the most important factors when referring to racism and responses from the pupils as the school is where most of this would take place where different ethnicities are treated in different ways. However, some sociologists would disagree and say that external factors are more important than the internal factors which have an effect creating pupils to face racism at school and their responses in a particular way. Firstly, to start with, labelling in school factor and teacher racism is the first internal factor. Gillborn (1990) found that teachers were quick to discipline black pupils than any other raced pupils for the same behaviour.
As item A states “there are important differences in the educational achievement of pupils from different ethnic groups” there are statistics that prove this fact, for example in the UK between 50-60% of all white students on average attain 5 or more A*-C GCSES compared to 75% of Chinese students, the figure is closer to 85% for Chinese girls, and only 40% of Bangladeshi and Pakistani students, Indian pupils on average do better than white pupils but less well than Chinese. This essay will assess sociological explanations for these ethnical differences in educational achievement. Sociologists suggest that to fully understand the reasons behind ethnic differences we must consider both external and internal factors. This essay will begin with internal factors, i.e. the factors that occur within the education system, they can be divided into four different problems, the first being labelling and teacher racism.
These have tended to cast further doubt on the notion of the "burden of acting white." A detailed survey of students in Shaker Heights, Ohio, by Harvard economist Ronald Ferguson (2001) has been especially influential. He found no evidence of an oppositional culture among the black students. Similar proportions of black and white students reported that there was a social penalty for academic striving in this successful and long-integrated school system. Another study of eight schools in North Carolina confirmed that there was some social penalty for high achievement for both races, but in only one of the schools were there reports of a strong racial element to this stigmatization (Tyson, and Castellino 2005).
Donovan et al., explored in her study the attitudes and perceptions of the benefits, limitations and risks of genetic testing among an African American and Caucasian women population sample. African American women had more positive beliefs about the benefits of testing than Caucasian women; however women with a family history did not rate the benefits of testing as more or less important as women with a family history. African American women also had more concerns about limitations of testing than Caucasian women. Overall, women’s ratings of the importance of the benefits of testing were quite high; however certain issues were clearly more salient for the African American
Mantsios uses statistical evidence, data, and multiple examples (myth and reality) in the article to explain these class divisions. With the fact that class standings determine the outcome of life chances, there are also issues of race and gender that corresponds into class. In society today, sexism and racism still exists, and no matter what position of class women and members of minorities are in, institutional forces will hold them down precisely because of their gender or race. This makes the chances of being poor in America for women and minorities much higher. White males have a much higher chance of not being poor rather than white females and other races.
Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that gender differences in education are largely the result of changes in the education system. A notable feature of the education system in the UK is differences in achievement between boys and girls. Official statistics provide evidence of gender differences at all stages of education. On entering school, girls were able to concentrate for longer than boys; by the end of KS3, girls perform better than boys, especially in English; at GCSE, the gender gap is very prominent with girls achieving 65% 5+ A*-C compared to 55% of boys. Sociologists have put forward many explanations for these differences, many of which are a result of changes in the education system.
In “The body of beholder” Michele Ingrassia cited many differences in the way while female look their body and black female look their body. She also refer this as a cultural difference between while and black girls. Ingrassia says that white girls are more obsessed to stay thin than black girls and there are some growing evidences that black and white girls view their body in different ways. I am completely agree with the writer because one can notice clear difference in the way white and black girls view and maintain their body. It seems like white girls are more cautious about looking good than black girls.
To determine the amount of support for school uniform policies, many of the schools had polled parents (82%), school staff (66%), students (47%), other schools (45%) and the community (32%) (NAESP, 2000). Lumsden and Miller stated in their results that “75% of parents and 89% of staff supported uniforms and believed they decreased violence, theft, and gang activity” (Lumsden and Miller, 2002, p. 2). They also noted that only 15% of the students supported the use of school uniforms, and almost 60% of the students admitted that uniforms helped administrators identify intruders on campus. Parents, teachers, and students also agreed that wearing school uniforms would “place all students on an equal level” (Lumsden & Miller, 2002, p. 2). Repeatedly, parents and school personnel supported the use of uniforms in the schools and those that choose to incorporate a uniform policy worked hard at being pro-active in setting up the policy.
Unfortunately, this is not a valid argument since only 4 percent of the minimum wage workers are single parents. Most minimum wage earners are under 25 years of age and are not the sole breadwinner for the family. They tend to come from middle-class families, are still in school and only work part-time. Statistics shows that 79 percent of these people only work part time. Approximately 62 percent are still obtaining their education, and only 22 percent live below the national poverty line.