4.1 Ethnic Differences External Factors Flashcards
How do lawson and Garrod define ethnic groups?
As people who share common history,customs and identity as well as language and religion and who sees themselves as a distinct unit.
What did crystal 2003 find?
Well over 100 languages are used in the uk. Today children from minority ethnic backgrounds make up about 21% of the pupils in English schools.
How does intellectual and linguistic skills impact achievement?
Argue that children from low income black families lack intellectual stimulation + enriching experiences leaves them poorly equipped.
Bereiter and englemann consider language spoken by low income black American families as inadequate.
Bowker 1968 says that lack of standard English is a major barrier to progress in education and integration into a wider society.
Swann 1985 said language was not a major factor in underachievement whilst Gillborn +Mirza 2000 note that Indian people do very well despite their first language is not English.
How does attitudes and values impact achievement?
See lack of deprivation as major cause of the failure of many black children. Other children are socialised into mainstream culture which instils ambition competitiveness and willingness. This equips them for success.
Contrasting some black children are socialised into subculture that dies not value education leaving them unequipped.
How does family structure and parental support impact achievement?
Moynihan 1965 argues many black families are headed by a lone mother. Sees cultural deprivation as a cycle where inadequately socialised children from unstable families fail at school + become inadequate parents themselves.
The new right has similar explanations. Murray 1984 argues a high rate of lone parenthood and a lack of positive male role models lead to underachievement.
Pryce 1979 sees family structure as contributing to the underachievement of black Caribbean pupils in Britain. He claims Asians are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to rascism.
Flew 1984 believes ethnic differences in achievement stem from cultural differences.
Scrutan 1986 sees low achievement levels of some minorities as resulting from a failure to embrace mainstream British culture.
Criticisms of cultural deprivation:
Driver= the theory ignores the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. He shows that the black Caribbean family isn’t dysfunctional it provides girls eith positive strong independent female role models.
Keddie= cultural deprivation is victim blaming. She argues ethnic minority children are not culturally deprived just just culturally different and they underachieve because schools are ethnocentric.
According to Flaherty 2004:
Unemployment is 3x higher for African and Bangladeshi people than for white people.
15% of ethnic minority households live in overcrowded conditions compared with only 2% of white households.
