1.3 Education - Ethnicity

Question 1

What is meant by ETHNIC GROUPS? Tony Lawson and Joan Garrod

Answer 1

“`Tony Lawson and Joan Garrod (2000) define ethnic groups as “people who
share common history, customs and identity as well as, in most cases, language
and religion, and who see themselves as a distinct unit”.

Question 2

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Intellectual/Linguistic Skills: Bereiter and Englemann

Answer 2

Bereiter and Englemann believe the language spoken
by low income, black American families is inadequate for educational success.

A concern has also been that children who do not
speak English at home may be held back.

Question 3

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Intellectual/Linguistic Skills: AO3: Gillborn and Mirza

Answer 3

Gillborn and Mirza (2000)
reject this as they found Indian pupils do very well despite often not having English as their first language.

Question 4

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Attitudes and Values

Answer 4

CD theorists blame a lack of motivation as a major cause of the failure of many black children.

Most pupils are socialised into mainstream culture, instilling ambition, competitiveness and a
willingness to make sacrifices to achieve long term goals – this equips them for success in
education.

By contrast CD theorists claim black children are socialised into a subculture which believes we should “live for today” which doesn’t value education. Much like SUGARMAN’S theory of ‘present time orientation’.

Question 5

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: Moynihan

Answer 5

Many black families are headed by a lone mother, where she struggles financially in the absence of a male breadwinner. This also means boys do not have a male role model to look up to.

Question 6

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: Pryce

Answer 6

Black Caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism, leading to low self-esteem and underachievement.

Slavery was culturally devastating to blacks as they
lost their language, religion and family structure. By
comparison Asian pupils do better because they haven’t been affected in the same way by Colonialism.

Question 7

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: Sewell (Fathers)

Answer 7

Sewell believes it is not the absence of fathers, but a lack of fatherly nurturing or “tough love” (firm, fair, non-abusive discipline).

Instead other black, fatherless boys present boys with a media-inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity.

Many black boys are subject to anti-educational, peer group pressure. Speaking in Standard English and doing well at school was viewed as suspicious.

Black pupils do worse than Asian pupils because of cultural differences in socialisation and
attitudes to education. Sewell believes black children (especially boys) need to have greater
expectations put on them.

AO3: Gillborn argues it is not peer pressure but institutional racism within the system which leads to the failure of black boys.

Question 8

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: Sewell (Asian families)

Answer 8

believes Asian and Chinese students benefit from supportive families,
having an “Asian work ethic” and placing high emphasis on education.

Question 9

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: Lupton (Asian families)

Answer 9

found adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model used in
schools. This meant parents were more likely to support the school’s behaviour
policies.

Question 10

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: McCulloch (White WC families)

Answer 10

surveyed 16,000 pupils and found ethnic minority pupils were more likely to aspire to go to university than white British pupils.

This low level of aspiration could stem from parental attitudes:

Question 11

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: Lupton (White WC families)

Answer 11

Ethnic minorities are more likely to see education as a “way up” in society.

Question 12

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Family Structure and Parental Support: Evans (White WC families)

Answer 12

argues white working class street culture can be brutal, as a result of
this power games which are played on the street are replicated in school, bringing
disruption and making it hard for pupils to succeed.

Question 13

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
Why is COMPENSATORY EDUCATION bad for EM?

Answer 13

Some theorists reject compensatory education as an attempt to impose dominant white culture. They suggest two alternatives:

Multicultural Education – recognizes and values minority cultures
and includes them in the curriculum

Anti-Racist Education – challenges prejudice and discrimination

Question 14

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
AO3: Driver

Answer 14

Driver (1977) CD ignores the positive effects ethnicity can have on achievement. Within
black Caribbean families, girls are provided with positive roles models of strong independent women.

Question 15

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
AO3: Lawrence

Answer 15

Black pupils underachieve not because of low self-esteem, but because
of racism.

Question 16

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION:
AO3: Keddie

Answer 16

Ethnic minorities are not culturally deprived but culturally different. They under-achieve because schools are ethnocentric (favour white culture and against minorities).

Question 17

MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
Statistics (Palmer)

Answer 17

Almost half ethnic minority
children live in low income
households, against a
quarter of white children.

Almost half of Bangladeshi
and Pakistani workers
earn under £7 an hour
compared to only a
quarter of whites.

Ethnic minorities are x3 more likely to be homeless.

Ethnic minorities are x2 as likely to be unemployed compared with whites.

Question 18

Why are EM’s at a greater risk of MATERIAL DEPRIVATION?

Answer 18

We can link ethnic minorities’ greater risk of MD as stemming from
unemployment, low pay and overcrowding:

• Many live in economically depressed areas, with high unemployment and low
  wages
• Cultural factors can prevent women from going out to work (e.g. the tradition of Niqab in Muslim households)
• A lack of language skills or foreign qualifications which UK employers don’t recognise.
• Asylum seekers may not be allowed to work
• Racial discrimination in labour market and housing market.

Question 19

MATERIAL DEPRIVATION:
AO3

Answer 19

Chinese and Indian students who are MD still do better than most.

This suggests MD and class factors do not completely override the influence of ethnicity.
Madood (2004) found while children from low income families generally did less well, the effects of low income were mush less for other ethnic groups than whites.

Question 20

RACISM IN WIDER SOCIETY:
Wood et al.

Answer 20

Racial discrimination can lead to social exclusion and result in increased
poverty for ethnic minority groups.
Wood et al (2010) sent three closely matched job applications to 1000 job vacancies. These applicants
had names associated with particular ethnic groups (1 application appeared to come from a white person, 2 from members of ethnic minority groups.) Wood et al found only 1 in 16 ethnic minority applications received an interview, compared to 1 in 9 “white” applications.

Question 21

What statistic shows factors inside schools led to the under-achievement of Black Boys?

Answer 21

Gillborn and Mirza (2000) found in one educational authority black children were the highest achievers on entry to primary school, but by GCSE they had the worst results of any ethnic group.

Question 22

LABELLING/TEACHER RACISM: Gillborn and Youdell.

Answer 22

teachers are quicker to
discipline black pupils.

This is a result of teacher’s “racialized expectations” – they expected black pupils to present more behaviour problems and often misinterpreted their behaviour as a challenge to authority.

This resulted in teacher-pupil conflict.
Gillborn and Youdell concluded the conflict was a result of racial stereotypes, rather than actual behaviour.

This can be linked to exclusions from school, black boys are seen
as a threat, eventually leading to exclusion