Education: Ethnic differences in achievement (external factors) Flashcards
What are the 3 reasons why some ethnic groups underachieve in society due to cultural deprivation?
- intellectual and linguistic skills
- attitudes and values
- family structure and parental support
How does intellectual and linguistic skills cause some ethnic groups to underachieve in education?
Bereiter and Engelmann consider the language spoken by low income black American families as inadequate for educational success. They see it as ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas.
There has been concern that children who do not speak English at home may be held back educationally.
However Indian pupils do well despite English not being their home language.
How does attitudes and values cause some ethnic groups to underachieve in education?
Cultural deprivation theorists see lack of motivation as a major cause of the failure of many black children. They argue some black children are socialised into a subculture that instils a fatalistic attitude and present time orientation that does not value education , leaving them unequipped for success. By contrast, most children are socialised into a mainstream culture, which instils ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make the sacrifices for long term goals, equipping them with educational success.
How does family structure and parental support cause some ethnic groups to underachieve in education? - Moynihan
Moynihan argues that because many black families are headed by a lone mother they are financially deprived causing problems for their educational achievement, due to lack of a male role model. Also argues that the lack of a male role model means that black boys don’t have a positive role model of male success. He sees cultural deprivation as a cycle where inadequately socialised children from unstable families go on to fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves.
How does family structure and parental support cause some ethnic groups to underachieve in education? - New Right
Murray argued that a high rate of lone parenthood and a lack of positive role models leads to the underachievement of some minorities.
Scruton sees the low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting from failure to embrace mainstream British Culture.
How does family structure cause some ethnic groups to underachieve in education? - Ken Pryce
Pryce sees the family structure as contributing to the underachievement of black Caribbean pupils in Britain. From a comparison of black and asian pupils, he claims that Asians are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self worth. By contrast he argues black Caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism. As a result, many black pupils have low self-esteem and underachieve.
Pryce argues that the differences is the result of the differing impact of colonialism on the two groups. He argued that the experience of slavery was culturally devastating for blacks. Being transported and sold into slavery meant that they lost their language, religion and entire family system. By contrast, Asian family structures, religions were not destroyed by colonial rule.
How does family structure and parental support cause some ethnic groups to underachieve in education? - Sewell
Sewell argued that the absence of fathers as role models that leads to black boys underachieving, but the problem is a lack of fatherly nurturing or ‘tough love’ (firm, fair, respectful and non-abusive discipline). This results in black boys finding it hard to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.
What happens in the absence of the restraining influence of a nurturing father?
In the absence of a nurturing father, street gangs of other fatherless boys offer black boys ‘perverse loyalty and love. These present boys with a media inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity, who’s ideal Arnot describes as ‘the ultra-tough ghetto superstar, an image constantly reinforced through rap lyrics and MTV videos
Black boys and peer pressure in education
Many black boys are thus subject to powerful anti-educational peer group pressure: most of the academically successful black boys that Sewell interviewed felt that the speaking in standard english and doing well at school were often viewed with suspicion by their peers and seen as ‘selling out’ to the white establishment. Sewell says” the biggest barrier facing black boys is actually black peer pressure. we need to talk about how black boys discourage their peers”
How do black students do worse than asian students?
Sewell argues that black students do worse than their asian counterparts because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes to education. As he says while one group is being nurtured by MTV, the other is clocking up the educational hours. Sewell concluded that black children- especially the boys need to have greater expectations placed on them to raise their aspirations.
How would critical race theorists criticise sewell?
Gillborn argues that it is not peer pressure but institutional racism within the education system itself that systematically produce the failure of a large number of black boys.
How does family structure and parental support cause Asian pupils to outperform other ethnic groups in education? - Sewell’s
While many black families have absent fathers in Sewell’s view indian and chinese pupil benefit from supportive families that have an ‘Asian work ethic’ and place a higher value on education.
How does family structure and parental support cause Asian pupils to outperform other ethnic groups in education? - Lupton
Lupton argues that adult authority in asian families is similar to the model that operates in school. She found that respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from children. This had a knock-on effect in school, since parents were more likely to be supportive of school behaviour policies.
