ethnic differences in achievement - cultural deprivation

Question 1

Bereiter and Engelmann

What do they say about language?

Answer 1

The language used by lower class black families is deficient for educational success. It’s ungrammatical and incapable of expressing absract ideas

Question 2

Resistance to racism

What does Pryce say about parental support?

Answer 2

Asian pupils perform better because they’re raised in a culture that is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self worth

Whereas black Caribbean culture is
less cohesive and less resistant to racism, and as a result many black pupils have low self-esteem and underachieve.

Question 3

Absent fathers

What does Sewell say about fatherless boys?

Answer 3

Sewell (2009) argues the problem isn’t the absence of the father for black boys that leads to underachievement; it’s a lack of ‘tough love’ and adequate discipline. Street gangs of other fatherless boys offer black boys ‘perverse loyalty and
love’, who present boys with a media-inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity

Question 4

insitutional racism

How does Gillborn criticise Sewell?

Answer 4

Argues that it is not peer
pressure, but institutional racism within the education system itself that systematically produces the failure of large numbers of black boys.

Question 5

Victim blaming

How does Keddie criticse the cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 5

Sees cultural deprivation as a
victim-blaming explanation. She argues that ethnic minority children are culturally different, not culturally deprived. They under-achieve because schools are ethnocentric (biased in favour of white culture and against minorities).

Question 6

smilar to schools

What did Lupton say about adult authority asian families?

Answer 6

adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools i.e. respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from the children, and in turn parents were more likely to be supportive of school behaviour policies