ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT EXTERNAL FACTORS Flashcards
How does Cultural Deprivation affect ethnic difference in achievement?
Claims that some minority ethnic group children underachieve due to their own definciencies as a result of inadequate socialisation by their parents.
How does language affect ethnic difference in achievement?
Sociologists see that a lack of linguistic skills are a major cause of underachievement. Engelmann - claimed the language spoken by low-income Black American families is inadequate for educational success, arguing it is grammatically incorrect and disjointed.
What are critiques about language affecting ethnic difference in achievement?
Lobov - found that Black American speech was perfectly logical.
April Baker Bell - people see white speech as superior to black speech because the ‘White mainstream English’ dominates the education system.
How do attitudes and values affect ethnic difference in achievement?
Many argue that a lack of aspiration is a major cause of underachievement. Samantha Parsons - among 7-14 year olds, minority ethnic groups girls and boys had higher career aspirations than white pupils. Shows that minority ethnic groups are not socialising their children into low aspirations.
How does family structure and parental support affect ethnic difference in achievement?
Daniel Moynihan - many black families are headed by a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care due to financial struggles. The absence of a father also means they lack an adequate role model of male achievment.
What is Tony Sewell’s view on ethnic difference in achievement?
Sewell argues that it is not necessarily a lack of a father, it is more the lack of fatherly nurturing lough, or ‘tough love’ that leads black boys to underachieve. In the absence of a nurturing fatherly figure, street gangs offer young black boys ‘perverse loyalty and love’. This then presents black boys with anti-school views.
What is a criticism of Tony Sewell’s view on ethnic difference in achievement?
Sewell is accused of downplaying impact of racism. Gillborn - it is not peer pressure or absent fathers but institutional racism in the education system that systematically produces the failure of large numbers of black boys.
What is the view on Asian families on ethnic difference in achievement?
Sewell - there is an ‘asian work ethic’ that places a high value on education
Ruth Lupton - there is adulty authority in asian families similar to in school, respectful behaviour towards adults was expceted from children and would overall cause them to achieve high in education due to these principles
How does compensatory education affect ethnic difference in achievement?
Focused on increasing minority ethnic group participation in higher education.
Archer et al - its emphasis was on ‘fixing’ individuals supposedly low aspirations. For instance, through the use of learning mentors
What are criticisms of the cultural deprivation theory on ethnic difference in achievement?
Victim blaming: Nell Keddie - culturally different not culturally deprived
- Political distraction: Raz: deflecting attention from real causes of underachievement, such as racism or poverty
- Labelling theorists: the cause lies not in low aspirations, but in teachers racist stereotypes and low expectations
How does material deprivation and class affect ethnic difference in achievement?
- Almost half of all children from minority ethnic backgrounds live in low-income househoulds
- Members of minority ethnic groups are almost twice as likely to be unemployed than white people
- Minority ethnic group househoulds are around three times as likely to be homeless
- Almost half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earn under £7 an hour, compared with only a quarter of White British workers
Does class override ethnicity?
If we fail to take the different class positions of ethnic groups into account when we compare their educational achievements, there is a danger that we may over estimate the effect of cultural factors and material factors.
How does racism in wider society affect ethnic difference in achievement?
John Rex - racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and how this worsens the poverty faced by minority ethnic groups. Minority groups are much more likely to face unemployment, low pay, etc. They don’t have access to the same resources as other groups may have, causing underachievement.
