EDUCATION - EXTERNAL Ethnic differences in achievement Flashcards
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
This theory sees underachievement as the result of inadequate socialisation within the home
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
Intellectual and
linguistic skills
Bereiter and Engelman
Cultural deprivation sociologists see the lack of intellectual as the primary cause for underachievement for minorities. They argue that pupils from low-income black families lack the intellectual stimulation and experiences that enrich them which poorly equips them for school because they don’t have the ability to develop reasoning skills etc.
B+E argue that the language spoken by the low-income black American families is inadequate for academic success. They believe it is not sufficient for expressing abstract ideas.
This is not true - 2010, pupils with English as their first language were only 3% ahead of those without in terms of attaining 5 A*-C grades.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
Attitudes and language
Lack of motivation is supposedly the reason why most black students don’t perform well academically… most children are socialised into mainstream culture… this usually instils ambition and competitiveness etc.
this is essential for academic success.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
Family structure and parental support
Daniel Moynihan
failure to socialise adequately = consequence of a dysfunctional family structure -
Daniel argues that because almost over 50% of black families were headed by lone parents in 2012, children are financially deprived from adequate care.
fathers absence = child has issues because the child lacks a male role model.
Daniel sees cultural deprivation as a cycle… inadequately socialised children fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
What do N.R sociologists think of family structure and parental support?
Charles Murray and Roger Scruton view low achievement among some ethnic minorities from failing to embrace mainstream British culture.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
Ken Pryce’s view
He argues that Asians are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism… black Caribbean culture is far less cohesive and so black pupils have far less self-worth. he argues that colonialism impacted the black community far greater because they lost their language, religion etc
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
Sewell: Fathers, Gangs, Culture
he sees the problem that boys face when they lack a fatherly nurturing and tough love… it’s not necessarily the absence of fathers as role models that leads to black underachievement.
street gangs offer these boys with perverse loyalty and love.
Sewell found that even the most academically successful boys that he interviewed felt their greatest barrier was the pressure from the other boys - standard English? this was suspicious because it was selling out to the white establishment
Sewell believes that black communities do worse than asian because of the cultural differences in socialisation and educational attitudes…. for this to change, he argues the expectations must be raised for black boys.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
What about Asian families?
Sewell
Ruth Lupton
Sewell believes that Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have a rigorous work ethic that consequently places high value on education.
Lupton found that the adult authority praised in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools.
CULTURAL DEPRIVATION THEORY
What about white W.C families?
McCulloch
Ruth Lupton
Andrew McCulloch’s 16000 student surveys found that ethnic minority pupils often have more desire for uni than white pupils.
Ruth Lupton studied 4 W.C schools, two were white and two were serving a Pakistani community and an ethnically diverse community. teachers reported lower levels of behaviour in the white W.C school despite having less children on free school meals… this is because of negative parental attitudes. ethnic parents often see education as an opportunity to be educationally and socially mobile.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION
Guy Palmer’s findings
- almost half of all ethnic minority children live in low income households, against 1/4 of white kids.
- ethnic minorities are three times more likely to be homeless.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION
Why? Palmer
many live in economically depressed areas where there is high unemployment.
cultural factors such as Purdah in Muslim homes prevent women from working.
lack of language skills and foreign qualifications not being recognised by UK employers mostly affects refugees.
racial discrimination in the labour and housing market.
2020 report ONS - 47% of children living in Pakistani households were living in low income.
how come Indian pupils have the highest achievement and are also attend private schools at twice the rate of white students.
MATERIAL DEPRIVATION?
Does class override ethnicity?
class positions are important… without them we may over-estimate the effect of cultural deprivation and fail to accurately estimate material deprivation.
even so, deprived Chinese and Indian students still do better than most…. in 2011, 86% of Chinese girls who received free school meals achieved 5+ higher grade GCSE’s in comparison to the 65% of white girls who were not on free school meals.
RACISM
Wood et al
Wood et al: sent 3 matched jobs applications to each of the 1000 job vacancies…. they were all fictitious. only 1/16 ethnic minority applicants were offered an interview in comparison to the 1/9 white applicants.
