ethnic differences in achievement Flashcards
Ethnic differences:
what is an ethnic group (use sociologist)
Lawson and Garrod (2000) - ethnic groups as people who share common history, customs and identity, language and religion.
One difficulty in studying ethnicity and education is the problem of deciding who to include in an ethnic group. For example, should all ‘Asians’ be classified together - when this would include people of many different nationalities, religions and languages?
Ethnic differences:
what is one difficulty of studying ethnicity and education
One difficulty in studying ethnicity and education is the problem of deciding who to include in an ethnic group.
For example, should all ‘Asians’ be classified together - when this would include people of many different nationalities (Chinese and India) both in Asia but have different religions and languages and people who may not think all the same.
Some would say that this is controversial.
It is a mistake to think of ethnic groups as always being defined by physical features such as skin colour e.g Gypsy-Roma . Although many ethnic minority groups in Britain are non-white, this is not true of all groups.
Evidence of ethnic differences in achievement:
Asians on average do better than Blacks e.g 2013- Chinese (80%) achieved 5 GCSEs grades A-C compared to Blacks- (60%) achieved 5 GCSEs grades A-C- could this be caused by poverty or cultural deprivation.
There are significant variations among Asians e.g 2013- Indians (75%) achieved 5 GCSEs grades A*-C compared to Pakistanis (55%) and Bangladeshis (63%). Is this caused by material deprivation.
2021- 8.5% of white Gypsy or Roma pupils got a grade 5 or above – the lowest percentage. There are white so should do well. Is it cultural deprivation.
Within each ethnic group, middle-class children do better than working-class children e.g Department of Education (2010) study, only 23% of white boys on free school meals gained five A*-C grades at GCSE.
Cultural deprivation:
how do sociologists explain how cultural deprivation links to ethnicity
EXTERNAL FACTOR
cultural deprivation theory sees the underachievement of some ethnic groups as the result of inadequate socialisation in the home.
Because they don’t have the right skills they can’t function in school well which leads to their failure.
Cultural deprivation:
Intellectual and linguistic skills:
How does the lack of intellectual and linguistic skills lead to educational underachievement (use sociologists)
EXTERNAL FACTOR
They argue that many children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences.
This leaves them poorly equipped for school because they have not been able to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Bereiter and Engelmann (1966)- the language spoken by low-income black American families as inadequate for educational success.
They speak in the restricted code. They see it as ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas.
Because schools use the elaborated code it means that black pupils wont understand it as they haven’t been exposed to it and therefore fall behind and fail.
Cultural deprivation:
Attitudes and values
How does black attitudes and values lead to educational underachievement (use sociologists)
EXTERNAL FACTOR
Cultural deprivation theorists see lack of motivation as a major cause of the failure of many black children.
Sugarman (1970)- Black children are socialised into a subculture that instils a fatalistic, ‘live for today” (immediate gratification) attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success. This means that they don’t try at school as they see it as worthless and they fail.
Compared to M/C children who are socialised with values that instil ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve long-term goals (deferred gratification). This helps them as they see it as necessary to work hard in order to reap the better reward even if its later.
Cultural deprivation:
How does family structure and parental support lead to educational underachievement (use sociologists)
EXTERNAL FACTOR
Cultural deprivation theorists argue that this failure to socialise children adequately is the result of a dysfunctional family structure.
Moynihan (1965) argues that because black families are headed by a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care because she has to struggle financially in the absence of a male breadwinner. This means that they underachieve at school as they are material deprived.
The father’s absence also means that boys lack an adequate role model of male achievement and instead take on a hyper-sexual aggressive, masculine role which leads to their underachievement as it clashes with the schools norms and values.
Scruton (1986) sees the low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting from a failure to embrace mainstream British culture. Because they don’t embrace British culture and know our norms and values, they don’t know how to act which leads to their failure.
Cultural deprivation:
How does fathers, gangs and culture lead to educational achievement (use sociologists)
EXTERNAL FACTOR
Sewell (2009) argues the problem as 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.
In the absence of the restraining influence of a nurturing father, street gangs of other fatherless boys offer black boys perverse loyalty and love’.
Arnot (2004) describes as ‘the ultra-tough ghetto superstar, an image constantly reinforced through rap lyrics and MTV videos’. These present boys with a media-inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity and reflect that through their behaviour in school.
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.
Cultural deprivation:
How does having an Asian family lead to educational achievement
(use sociologists)
EXTERNAL FACTOR
Sewell- Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have an ‘Asian work ethic and place a high value on education and then teach their children these values therefore leading to their achievement in school.
Lupton (2004) argues that adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools. 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.
Cultural deprivation:
How can white W/C families lead to underachievement.
EXTERNAL FACTOR
White working-class pupils often underachieve and have lower aspirations e.g Andrew McCulloch (2014) found that ethnic minority pupils are more likely to aspire to go to university than white British pupils.
Lupton- she found that teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in the white working-class schools - despite the fact that they had fewer children on free school meals. Teachers blamed this on lower levels of parental support and the negative attitude that white working-class parents had towards education.
Evans (2006) argues that street culture in white working-class areas can be brutal and so young people have to learn how to withstand intimidation and intimidate others.
Because of this, school can become a place where the power games that young people engage in on the street are played out again, bringing disruption and making it hard for pupils to succeed.
Cultural deprivation:
How can compensatory education be used to tackle cultural deprivation.
EXTERNAL FACTOR
The main policy that has been adopted to tackle cultural deprivation is compensatory education
e.g the aim of Operation Head Start in the USA was to compensate children for the cultural deficit they are said to suffer because of deprived backgrounds.
Because they are taught skills and knowledge it means that they are less likely to fall behind and become deviant.
Cultural deprivation:
Criticisms of compensatory education (use sociologists)
Critics of compensatory education see it as an attempt to impose the dominant white culture on children who already have a coherent culture of their own.
They propose two main alternatives:
multicultural education: a policy that recognises and values minority cultures and includes them in the curriculum
- anti-racist education: a policy that challenges the prejudice and discrimination that exists in schools and wider society .
Cultural deprivation:
Criticisms of the cultural deprivation theory (use sociologists)
EXTERNAL FACTOR
Driver (1977) criticises cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. He shows that the black Caribbean family, provides girls with positive role models of strong independent women. Driver argues that this is why black girls tend to be more successful in education than black boys.
Keddie (1973)- sees cultural deprivation as a victim-blaming explanation. She argues that ethnic minority children are culturally different, not culturally deprived. They underachieve because schools are ethnocentric: biased in favour of white culture and against minorities.
Material deprivation:
How can material deprivation be seen through ethnic minorities. (use sociologists)
EXTERNAL FACTOR
Ethnic minorities are more likely to face substandard housing and low income e.g Palmer (2012)- found almost half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earned under £7 per hour, compared with only a quarter of white British workers.
Ethnic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed compared with whites e.g Wood et al (2010) found that only one in 16 ‘ethnic minority’ applications were offered an interview, as against one in nine ‘white’ applications. This helps to explain why members of ethnic minorities are more likely to face unemployment and low pay
Labelling, identities and responses:
How can labelling, identities and responses affect their achievement (use sociologists).
INTERNAL FACTOR
Gillborn and Mirza (2000), in one local education authority, black children were the highest achievers on entry to primary school yet by the time it came to GCSE, they had the worst results of any ethnic group.
This challenges the assumption made by cultural deprivation theorists that black children enter school unprepared.
Strand’s (2010)- found that black Caribbean boys not entitled to free school meals, especially the more able pupils, made significantly less progress than their white peers.
Labelling:
How can teacher’s labelling affect ethnic minorities
INTERNAL FACTOR
Interactionists studies show that teachers often see black and Asian pupils as being far from the ‘ideal pupil”. For example, black pupils are often seen as disruptive and Asians as passive.
Negative labels may lead teachers to treat ethnic minority pupils differently. This disadvantages them and may result in their failure.
Labelling:
how do teachers expectations of black boys lead to their underachievement (use sociologists)
INTERNAL FACTOR
Gillborn and Youdell (2000) - found that teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour because they had ‘racialised expectations’ of black students.
They found that teachers expected black pupils to present more discipline problems and misinterpreted their behaviour as threatening or as a challenge to authority. When teachers acted on this misperception, the pupils responded negatively and further conflict resulted.
From this Gillbourn and Youdell conclude that most of the conflict between white teachers and black pupils stems from the racial stereotypes teachers hold, rather than the pupils’ actual behaviour.
Bourne (1994) found that schools tend to see black boys as a threat and to label them negatively, leading eventually to exclusion.
Because black students are excluded it means that they are less likely to get high achievements e.g 1/5 excluded students achieve 5 GCSEs.
Labelling:
How does streaming affect black pupils (use sociologists)
INTERNAL FACTOR
Gillborn and Youdell (2000)- found that in the ‘A-to-C economy’, teachers focus on those students who they believe are most likely to achieve a grade C at GCSE.
As a result, negative stereotypes about black pupils’ ability led to them being put into lower streams/sets.
Foster (1990)- Streaming black pupils on the basis of negative stereotypes about their ability or behaviour can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy of underachievement as because teachers had low expectations of them they refused to work in a way to go against the system which lead to educational failure.
Labelling:
how do teachers labelling of Asian pupils affect their educational achievement. (use sociologists)
INTERNAL FACTOR
Wright’s (1992)- Asian pupils are also victims of teachers’ labelling. She found that teachers held ethnocentric views e.g they enforced British culture and though that English was superior.
Teachers assumed they would have a poor grasp of English and left them out of class discussions or used simplistic, childish language when speaking to them.
Teachers saw them not as a threat but they felt like they could ignore them as they were passive.
This lead to Asian pupils especially girls being marginalised and were prevented to prevented from participating fully.
Pupil identities:
What is an ideal pupil (use sociologists)
Archer (2008) - found that teachers often define pupils as having stereotypical ethnic identities.
The ideal pupil identity- A white, middle-class, masculinised identity, with a normal sexuality.
This pupil is seen as achieving in the ‘right’ way, through natural ability and initiative.
