These ‘streams’ would then depict how the child would learn; higher streams would be higher status knowledge and lower streams lower status knowledge (Keddie 1971). The way the children reacted to this streaming then affected the way they performed. M/C benefitted, becoming the pupil the teachers idolised, and W/C became ‘locked in’ to their stream and ‘got the message’ that they were written-off and weren’t to achieve good grades. Streaming is an element of the Self Fulfilling Prophecy, put forward by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968), where by labelling these pupils and treating the pupil according to the label then the pupil would internalise this idea and become it. The Self Fulfilling Prophecy is relative to over-achievement and under-achievement, just as one pupil can become the ideal pupil and succeed, another can slip into the prediction
Assess the view that social class differences in educational achievement are the result of school processes such as labelling Various amounts of studies that have been carried out show that teachers often attach labels to pupils regardless of their ability or attitude. They label them based on stereotyped assumptions about their class background. A number of these studies on labelling have been carried out by interactionist sociologists. They study small-scale face-to-face interactions between individuals (such as classroom or playground. Howard Becker carried out an important interactionist study of labelling.
Pygmalion effect is positive. Especially for the immigrant students, their good or bad performances mostly rely on the teacher’s behaviors because they lack of confidents. Tracking can be both positive and negative to students. If the students are divided in the honor group, they will try their best to maintain that good performances, same as Pygmalion effect. Conversely, if the students are divided in the weak group, they may consider themselves as the poor students according to the Looking-Glass Self theory.
If a W.C student is labelled by a middle-class (M.C) teacher the student often believe that the teacher is right therefore they take that label they have been given and they become a self-fulfilling prophecy which means they accept the label they have been given and stay that standard, this is basically saying if a student is labelled negatively they stay negative because they are ‘fulfilling their own prophecy’ so they are now going to underachieve in education. This is effected by poverty due to W.C generally not being able to afford nice uniforms so the teacher can tell they come from a W.C background because they don’t look as smart as the M.C students. Another reason in the claim that poverty is the main reason for W.C underachievement is because they are generally more fatalistic. If a W.C child is fatalistic in school then it means that they are also culturally deprived, because they are culturally deprived they have attitudes which insist that they are not going to do well in school because for example their parents didn’t then they will not try to get an education as they are fatalistic about being setup to fail in
With the appreciation of diversity and the embrace of multiculturalism, attitudes will change because the school system will realize that too long have they marginalized the abilities of minorities and children of different cultures. When teachers in the school system have learned to stop the prejudice and give all children a fair share then it will break the child’s mind set that they do not measure up to their peers and will prove that each child given an opportunity can equally
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.
Recent studies highlight the effects of racism. It is believed that ethnicity influences such factors, leading to an impact upon their education. This essay will assess sociological explanations of ethnic differences in educational achievement, using research from sociologists such as Modood, Gillborn, Mirza and Wright. Modood was one of the major sociologists. He found figures on the higher and lower levels of achievement from different ethnic groups.
Group Grading While volunteering in my son’s kindergarten class I have come to realize that education is one area that would not benefit from group grading system. Grading students as a group allows some students to advance based on the work of others, and individual grading makes each student responsible for their own future. Although some people may benefit from a group grading system, an individual grading system is a much better way to judge a student’s level of knowledge, makes them accountable for their own work, and keeps teachers informed of what each student is learning. One of the many ways grading students as a group is less efficient and seemingly harmful is the fact that all students do not have the same level of knowledge. Some academics come naturally to students and if they are outnumbered by those that don’t comprehend the lesson, then they may receive a poor grade.
He argues that this is due to working-class parents being less likely to support and encourage their child’s intellectual development at home, therefore they are intellectually deprived compared to the middle-class pupils they are at school with. Sociologists such as Douglas believe that working-class homes often lack the books, educational toys and activities that would stimulate a child’s intellectual development. Language is another factor that is believed to create a social class difference. Basil Bernstein (1975) identified a language difference between the middle-class and working-class. He said the working-class are more likely to use the ‘restricted code’ which include limited vocabulary and is based on the use of short and unfinished, grammatically simple sentences, whereas the middle-class are more likely to use the ‘elaborated code’ which includes a wider range of vocabulary and is based on longer and grammatically more complex sentences.
Regardless of the outcome, Weisenfeld becomes disgruntled and exposes how students attempt to manipulate and take advantage of teachers by asking, demanding, and using stories of woe in order to convince teachers to issue higher grades. If a student fails, should he or she not be able to accept the grades they are given, rather than fight for a grade that did not reflect their work? Instinctively students should know what grade he or she will receive at the end of the course. Most teachers and professors offer students several methods of reviewing how well they are currently doing in class. A student should never act dumbfounded by how poorly their final grades turned out to be considering the amount of information provided by the instructor in order to help aid the student in time of need.