Evaluation of Class differences in Educational Achievement

Question 1

Cognitive development (External)
STRENGTH

Answer 1

• Studies to support. The study suggests that upper-middle and middle class parents stimulate and engage more in terms of dialogue and play than working-class children, which helps children and thus affects later educational achievement

Question 2

Cognitive development (External)
WEAKNESSES

Answer 2

• School factors. Ignores school factors that affect working-class educational achievement, e.g. labelling.
• Poverty. Working-class students may dropout of education earlier because their lack of income rather than their parents lack of motivation and parental encouragement.

Question 3

Linguistic deprivation (External)
STRENGTH

Answer 3

• Supporting research. Children’s reading ability is strongly related to class, suggesting that literacy deficiency should be tackled at home and not left until the child reaches the education system.

Question 4

Linguistic deprivation (External)
WEAKNESSES

Answer 4

• Labov criticizes. He found that working class students were more quickly to get to their point in their peach, rather than the middle-class who tend to ‘waffle’ and add irrelevant details to their speech.
• George argues it is too simplistic. It is difficult to generalize the working class and middle class language as they use language in a variety of ways

Question 5

Cultural values (External)
STRENGTH

Answer 5

• ‘Pushy middle class parents’. Middle class do better at school than working-class pupils because middle-class parents are more ‘pushy’ about their education.

Question 6

Cultural values (External)
WEAKNESS

Answer 6

• not all working class families has fatalistic and ‘immediate gratification’ values but hold the same educational values as the middle class; they are just as concerned about the child’s education as the middle-class are.

Question 7

Cultural capital (External)
STRENGTH

Answer 7

• Sullivan carried out a questionnaire to assess their cultural capital. Those who read complex fiction and watched serious TV documentaries developed a wider vocabulary and cultural knowledge indication higher cultural capital. This shows that cultural capital is transmitted by higher-class parents to their children who in turn, provide them with educational success.

Question 8

Internal factors
Strengths

Answer 8

Can improve teaching methods. (Wood) teachers can reduce labelling and stereotyping and thus create deviance in school.
- Does not only deal with social background
- Explains how teacher-student relations have an impact on education

Question 9

Labelling and SFP theory (Internal)
STRENGTH

Answer 9

• Backed by studies (Rosenthal and Jacobson)
• Explains teacher bias

Question 10

Labelling and SFP theory (Internal)
WEAKNESS

Answer 10

• Does not explain external factors
• Too deterministic. Not everybody internalizes labels (Mirza study of Black girls who rejected negative labels and still succeeded.
• Does not only deal with social background