ethnicity

Question 1

WHAT IS AN ETHNIC GROUP?

Answer 1

People who share common history, customs and identity, as well as, in most cases, language and religion who see themselves as a ‘distinct unit’.

Question 2

Bereiter & Engelmann (1966)

Answer 2

consider the language spoken by low-income black American families as inadequate.

Question 3

Gordon Bowker (1968)

Answer 3

identifies their lack of standard English as a major barrier to success and integration.

Question 4

INTELLECTUAL AND LINGUISTIC SKILLS

Answer 4

Cultural deprivation theorists argue that many children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation.

Question 5

ATTITUDES & VALUES

Answer 5

Cultural deprivation theorists see lack of motivation as a major cause of failure for many black children.

Some black children are socialised into a subculture that instils a fatalistic, ‘live for today’ attitude that does not value education

Question 6

Daniel Moynihan (1965) FAMILY STRUCTURE

Answer 6

argues that because many black families are headed by a lone mother, children are deprived of adequate care and a father figure. (Link to Charles Murray!)

Question 7

Ken Pryce (1979):

Answer 7

Asian culture in the UK is much more cohesive than Black culture & as such they are able to ignore racism more effectively, which means they are not effected by it as much e.g. low self-esteem leading to educational failure.

Question 8

CHARLES MURRAY (1984)

Answer 8

Murray argues that high rates of lone parenthood and lack of male role models leads to underachievement of some minorities.

Question 9

Sewell

Answer 9

Sewell argues that unlike Asian students who are socialised into a pro school culture black children are being nurtured into a MTV world. The solution is to raise the expectation placed on black children, with the hope that this will raise their aspirations.

Question 10

Gillborn (2008)

Answer 10

argues that it is not peer pressure amongst black students that sees them fail but institutional racism. Black students are labelled as failures within the education system and it is this label that is largely responsible for their failure.

Question 11

Keddie (1971)

Answer 11

says that to blame culture is to blame the victims of educational failure. Ethnic minorities are ethnically different not culturally deficient. They under achieve because schools are ethnocentric and biased towards one culture. Cultural deprivation theorists fail to see this when they present their arguments.

Question 12

KEN PRYCE

Answer 12

The impact of slavery means that much of the Black culture has lost it’s language, religion, ancestry etc.

The Black culture are therefore much less likely to integrate & assimilate with White M/C UK. Hall (1992) calls this a ‘Culture of Resistance’.

Question 13

Driver & Ballard (1981): ASIAN FAMILIES

Answer 13

Argue that Asian families have a much more ‘Pro-School’ attitude than Black families. Also because Asian families are rarely lone parents families they offer a bigger support network for children.

Question 14

Lupton (2004)

Answer 14

suggests that the ‘Adult Authoritarian’ Asian family matches that of the school.

Question 15

Driver (1977)

Answer 15

highlights how ethnicity can be an advantage in education e.g. African Caribbean Girls actually do very well in school

Question 16

Guy Palmer (2012) MATERIAL DEPRIVATION

Answer 16

Ethnic minorities are 3X more likely to be homeless.
Almost half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earn under £7 per hour.
½ of ethnic minority children live in poverty. As opposed to ¼.
Ethnic minorities are more than ½ as likely to be unemployed.

Question 17

Why are ethnic minorities more likely to live in poverty

Answer 17

Many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wages.
Some traditional customs such as purdah in Muslim households prevent women from working.

Question 18

Gillbourn & Mirza

Answer 18

argue that social class differences do not override the influence of ethnicity.
When we compare pupils of the same social class but different ethnicity- differences still exist!

Question 19

Mason (1995) RACISM IN WIDER SOCIETY

Answer 19

argues that; ‘Discrimination is a continuing & persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s citizens of minority ethnic origin’.

Question 20

Rex (1986):RACISM IN WIDER SOCIETY

Answer 20

Racism leads to social exclusion and accordingly poverty. This is shown in housing, employment & education. Racism also leads to discrimination both inside & outside the classroom.

Question 21

Noon (1993)

Answer 21

Sent identical letters to 100 top UK companies but alternated between the names ‘Evans’ & ‘Patel’……… the replies to the ‘White’ candidate were more helpful and informative.

Question 22

Assimilation:

Answer 22

Assimilation policies were introduced in the 60’s and 70’s with the specific aim of integration. Ethnic minority students were taught alongside the indigenous population and introduced to the mainstream British Culture. This was seen as especially helpful for those students where English was not a first language.

Question 23

Compensatory education

Answer 23

Policies have also been created with the specific aim of helping to reduce certain ethnic minorities underachievement.

Question 24

Multicultural education:

Answer 24

Throughout 80’s and 90’s there was a push to promote ethnic minority achievement through valuing all cultures in the curriculum. The hope was to raise self esteem.

Question 25

Gillbourn & Youdell BLACK PUPILS

Answer 25

Teachers were quicker to discipline black pupils than others for the same behaviour. This was all to do with ‘racialised expectations’ and racial stereotypes rather than their actual behaviour. They also found they were ‘triaged’ into lower sets and streams!

Question 26

Bourne & Foster BLACK pupils

Answer 26

found that teacher stereotypes often saw black boys as a threat and led to exclusions and being placed in lower sets.

Question 27

Wright (1992)- ASIAN PUPILS

Answer 27

Wright (1992)- studied a multi-ethnic primary school.
Despite school’s commitment to equal opportunities, teachers held ‘ethnocentric’ views
They assume British culture and language is dominant
As result, Asian pupils had names mispronounced and were left out of discussions.

Question 28

Archer (2008): PUPIL IDENTITIES

Answer 28

Teachers see ethnic minority pupils as being far from the ‘ideal pupil’. Archer noted that the dominant discourse constructed three different pupil identities:
The ideal pupil identity
The pathologized pupil identity
The demonised pupil identity

Question 29

The ideal pupil identity

Answer 29

A white M/C masculinised identity. They are also seen to have a ‘normal’ sexual orientation. These children achieve the ‘right way’, through natural ability and initiative.

Question 30

The pathologized pupil identity:

Answer 30

A poor Asian, with a feminised identity, seen as either ‘asexual’ or with an oppressed sexuality. These pupils are often viewed as conformists, culturally bound and ‘over-achievers’. Their success is attributed to hard work and not natural achievement.

Question 31

The demonised pupil identity:

Answer 31

A black or white W/C, hyper-sexualised identity. These are often seen as culturally deprived, peer led, unintelligent and under achievers.

Question 32

archers Interviews with teachers revealed that…

Answer 32

Interviews with teachers revealed that black students were demonised as coming from uninspiring homes. In class, they were seen as excessively loud and challenging.

Question 33

Archer: CHINESE PUPILS

Answer 33

Were seen as having achieved their success the ‘wrong’ way through hard work and conformist behaviour and not ‘natural talent’.

Question 34

Fuller & Mac an Ghaill (1984): ‘Rejection of Labels’:

Answer 34

Fuller studied a group of black girls in year 11 in a London Comprehensive who were in lower streams yet were achieving highly. These girls did not conform to all the values of school (e.g. respect for teachers) but did value educational success enough to push themselves.