External Factors and Ethnic Differences in Achievement

Question 1

What are the 3 external factors that affect ethnic differences in achievement?

Answer 1

• Cultural deprivation
• Material deprivation
• Racism in wider society

Question 2

What is the cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 2

Underachievement of some ethnic groups is due to inadequate socialisation at home. It has 3 aspects: intellectual and linguistic skills, attitudes and values, family structure

Question 3

How does intellectual and linguistic skills affect achievement?

Answer 3

Bereiter and Engelmann see the language spoken of low-income black American as inadequate. And those who don’t speak English at home are held back educationally.

Question 4

Give examples that intellectual and linguistic skills do affect achievement

Answer 4

• In 2010, pupils whose first language wasn’t English were 3.2% behind of those who had English as their first language.
• In a school in America, African American English speakers were taught mainstream English. Broken English, e.g Caribbean, is devalued and the elaborated code is needed for school

Question 5

Give evaluation for linguistic skills affecting achievement

Answer 5

Gilborn and Mirza note how Indian/Chinese pupils do well despite not having English as their home language

Question 6

How does the attitudes and values of white WC affect achievement?

Answer 6

• White working class are less likely to want to go university due to a lack of parental support.
• e.g. Lupton found white schools had poorer behaviour and less aspirations despite less people on FSM compared to ethnic schools. Teachers blamed it on lack of parental support and ethnic parents valued education more

Question 7

How does the attitudes and values of black children affect achievement?

Answer 7

Some black children are socialised into fatalistic subculture due to negative experiences with education or society itself, meaning they don’t value education

Question 8

How does the attitudes and values of asians affect achievement?

Answer 8

• Sewell argues that Asian families have an ‘Asian Work Ethic’, meaning they place a high value on education.
• However, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students aren’t doing as well as other Asian groups

Question 9

How does the Asian family structure affect achievement?

Answer 9

They’re more likely to have an extended family structure so Lupton suggests the adult structure in Asian homes mirrors that in education so respectful behaviour is already learnt when they come to school.

Question 10

How does a lone parent (black) family structure affect achievement?

Answer 10

• Moynihan argues as many black families are headed by lone mothers, children are deprived of adequate financial care and of a male role model.
• Murray argues lone parenthood leads to a lack of positive role models

Question 11

What is Sewell’s argument about the failure of black boys?

Answer 11

• A lack of fatherly nurturing leads to black boys finding it hard to overcome emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.
• Street gangs of other fatherless boys offer ‘loyalty and love’. These present a media inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity, MTV rap videos.
• Many black boys are then subject to peer pressure. e.g. Sewell interviewed successful black boys and they said the biggest barrier to achievement was black peer pressure as speaking Standard English was seen as ‘selling out’ to the white establishment.

Question 12

Give evaluation for Sewell’s argument about the failure of black boys

Answer 12

Gillborn, a critical race theorist, argues it isn’t peer pressure but institutional racism within the education system that produces the failure of black boys

Question 13

What is compensatory education?

Answer 13

It is the main policy used to tackle cultural deprivation. The aim of Operation Head Start in the USA was to compensate children for the cultural deficit due to their deprived backgrounds

Question 14

What are criticisms of cultural deprivation theory?

Answer 14

• Driver says it ignores the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. Black families aren’t dysfunctional and provides girls with a positive role model of an independent women, explaining the gender gap in black pupils
• Critics of compensatory education see it as imposing white culture and propose a multicultural education that value ethnic differences or a anti-racist education that challenges discrimination in school

Question 15

What does Guy Palmer find? (material deprivation)

Answer 15

Ethnic minorities are more likely to face material deprivation:
- Half of all ethnic minority children live in low-income houses, compared to a quarter of white children
- Ethnic minorities are twice as likely to be unemployed compared to white people
- Minority households are 3x more likely to be homeless

Question 16

Why might ethnic minorities be at a greater risk of unemployment, overcrowding and low pay?

Answer 16

• Many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment, low wage rates
• Cultural factors may prevent women from working outside the house
• Lack of language skills
• Racial discrimination in the labour market and housing market

Question 17

Give evidence that class doesn’t override ethnicity

Answer 17

• In Chinese groups, there’s barely a difference in class achievement
• Modood found the effects of being from a low income family were much less for other ethnic groups than for white pupils, so it isn’t a major cause of ethnic minority underachievement.

Question 18

How does racism in wider society affect achievement?

Answer 18

Rex shows how racism leads to social exclusions and worsens poverty. e.g, minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard accommodation than white people of the same class

Question 19

Describe a study that shows that racism in wider society affects achievement

Answer 19

• Wood et al sent 3 closely matched job applications, only changed names associated with different ethnicities. They found only 1 in 16 ‘ethnic minority’ applications were offered an interviews , compared to 1 in 9 ‘white’ applications
• Shows why ethnic minorities are more likely to face unemployment which negatively affects their children’s achievement