Assess the claim that ethnic differences in educational achievement are primarily the result of school factors. Differences in educational achievement can be demonstrated through ethnicity, this can be for a number of reasons. Write(1992) found that teachers treated and perceived ethnic pupils differently from white pupils. Sewell (1996) said ‘Many people are fearful of black boys.’ This stereotyping could lead to the ‘black boys’ receiving a different teaching approach, therefore a worse education. All the students should be treated equally but African-Caribbean boys have been labeled as unruly, disrespectful, difficult to control and ‘reject the white dominated education system’(O’Donnel 1991).
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.
122 As a process, gender creates the social differences that define “woman” and “man.” In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order pg. 123 As part of a stratification system, gender ranks men above women of the same race and class pg. 123 The dominant categories are the hegemonic ideals, taken so for granted as the way things should be that white is not ordinarily thought of as race, middle class or men as a gender. The characteristics of these categories define the Other as that which lacks the valuable qualities the dominants exhibit. Pg.
The distribution of rewards is unfair. Usually the men athletes are glorified and women athletes ignored in the mass media. Media images of modern women athletes tend to focus on feminine beauty and grace. The other area, technology, illustrates that men have a larger advantage too. Men create, program, and market.
Payne stated that students should learn the “hidden rules” of the middle class from their educators so that they have another set of rules to use if they choose to do so. Impoverished students, compared to students of middle or upper class, often have a lack of proper funding, thus, a lack of appropriate resources to use in their education. Due to this, they are often unprepared for school, not having the money to purchase books and other educational tools. Both authors realize this, but argue that the responsibility lies on different shoulders. Payne states that impoverished students face inequality at school, insinuating that the school should be responsible for helping to provide for these students so that they can have a better education.
Assess sociological explanations for ethnic differences in achievement. (20 Marks) There are many reasons for ethnic differences in achievement, it’s been found that Indian and Asian pupils achieve higher than White, African-Caribbean, and Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils. One possible cause of ethnic differences in education is labeling, sociologist Gillborn found that teachers would label and therefore discipline black pupils quicker than other pupils which would do the same things and this would create a self fulfilling prophecy of the teachers thinking that black pupils would misbehave and do poorly and the pupils would accept that and with the extra lack of teacher help and increased discipline would therefore fail. Gillborn and Youdell think that this is because teachers label black pupils as being more likely to cause problems and rebel, with the teachers labeling the black pupils like this it makes them feel picked on and that the teachers underestimated them. Another result of the negative labeling of black pupils is the higher exclusion rate and the higher chances of black pupils to be put in sets below their actual abilities, which can only lead those black pupils to underachieve.
Sociologists like Cultural deprivation theorists would agree with this statement.They believe that parental interests and attitudes to education influence working class childrens' attainment levels, this can be positive or negative influence.They would argue that children look upon their parents as role models, .When they see their parents act in a negative way regarding rules, school and work, they often follow in their footsteps. This could result in the children developing an Anti-School subculture. Studies do show that the working class do considerably worse than the middle class, in many aspects of education. Children in the middle class are more likely to struggle in school, more likely to underachieve at GCSE level and more likely to be expelled and excluded than middle class students. Cultural deprivation theorists would blame this on the lack of parental guidence and encouragment to succeed in education.
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.
Outline some of the ways in which cultural deprivation may lead to the educational underachievement of working class pupils (12 marks) Cultural deprivation is the idea that the culture of low income groups is deprived or deficient in certain aspects which accounts for low educational achievement. Educational underachievement is when pupils fail to reach their full potential and meet their aspired grades. This essay will outline some of the ways in which cultural deprivation can lead to the educational underachievement of working class pupils. One way in which cultural deprivation may lead to educational underachievement is due to the lack of intellectual stimulation that working class parents have on their children. It has been found that working class parents are less likely to give their children educational toys or read to them.
One way in which relationships and processes within schools can impact upon educational achievement is labelling; in particular, teacher-pupil relationships. Labelling can have a very negative impact on students educational achievement. It suggests that teacher's judge students based on social characteristics such as class, gender, ethnicity rather than their actually ability. The label placed on an individual can have effect on their performance as it leads to self-fulfilling prophecy where they act upon the label. Rosenthal and Jacobson's study showed that young children were effected more by labelling than older students, this is because the younger ones will start to believe the label that they have been given, which then leads to self-fulfilling prophecy, they live up to what they have been labelled as.