External Factors And Ethnic Differnces In Achivevment

Question 1

Evidence of ethnic differences in achievement

Answer 1

There are inequalities in the educational achievements of different ethnic groups. For example, whites and Asians on average do better than blacks. However, there are also significant variations among Asians. For example, Indians do better than Pakistanis and Bangladeshis

Question 2

Sociologists view on ethnic differences in achievement

Answer 2

Many sociologists argue that ethic differences in achievement can best be explained by looking at factors outside the school - in the home, family and culture of the child, and the impact of wider society. The main explanation of this kind are cultural deprivation, material deprivation and class, and racism in wider society.

Question 3

Cultural deprivation

Answer 3

As with explanations of class differences in achievement, cultural deprivation theory sees the underachievement of some ethnic groups as the result of inadequate socialisation in the home. The explanation has three main aspects:
- intellectual and linguistic skills
- attitudes and values
- family structure and parental support

Question 4

Intellectual and linguistic skills

Answer 4

Cultural deprivation theorists see the lack of intellectual and linguistic skills as a major cause of underachievement for many minority children. They argue that many children from low income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences. It leaves them poorly equipped for school because they have nor been able to develop reasoning and problem solving skills.

Question 5

Bereiter and engelmann view in intellectual and linguistic skills

Answer 5

Consider the language spoken by low income black American families as inadequate for educational success. They see it as ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas.

Question 6

What’s the effect of children who do not speak English at home

Answer 6

There is a concern that children who do not speak English at home may be help back educationally. However, official statistics show that this is not a major factor. E.g in 2010 pupils with English as their first language were only 3.2 points ahead of those without English as their first language.
David gillborn and hedi safia Mirza 2000 note that Indian pupils do very well despite often not having English as their home language

Question 7

Attitudes and values

Answer 7

Cultural deprivation theorists see lack of motivation as a major cause of failure of many black children. Most children are socialised into the mainstream culture, which instils ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve long term goals. This equips them for success in education.

Question 8

What do cultural deprivation theorists argue about attitude and values

Answer 8

They argue that, some black children are socialised into a subculture that instills a fatalistic, ‘live for today’ attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success.

Question 9

Family structure and parental support

Answer 9

Cultural deprivation theory’s argue that this failure to socialise children adequately is the result of a dysfunctional family structure.

Question 10

Daniel Moynihan (1965) - family structure and parental support

Answer 10

Moynihan argues that because many black families are headed by a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care because she has to struggle financially in the absence of a male breadwinner. The farmers absence also means that that boys lack an adequate role model of male achievement. Moynihan sees cultural deprivation as a cycle where inadequately socialised children from unstable families go on to fails at school and become inadequate parents themselves.

Question 11

The new right perspective on family structure and parental support

Answer 11

They put forward similar explanations to Moynihan. E.g, Charles Murray (1984) argues that a high rate of lone parenthood and a lack of positive male role models lead to the underachievement of some minorities. Over scruton (1986) sees the low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting from a failure to embrace mainstream British culture.

Question 12

Ken pryce (1979) - family structure and parental support

Answer 12

Also sees the family structure as contributing to the underachievement of black Caribbean pupils in Britain. From a comparison of black and Asian pupils, he claims that Asians are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self worth. By contrast he argues, black Caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism. As a result, many black pupils have low self esteem and underachieve

Question 13

Swell: fathers

Answer 13

Unlike Murray, toby Sewell (2009) argues that it is not the absence of fathers as role models that leads to black boys underachieving. Instead, swell sees the problem as a lack of fartherly nurturing or ‘tough love’ (fair, firm, respectful and non abusive discipline). This results in black boys finding i hard to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.

Question 14

Swell: gangs

Answer 14

In the absence of the restraining influence of a nurturing farther, street gangs of other faithless boys offer black boys ‘perverse loyalty and love’. These present boys with a media inspired role model of anti school black masculinity, whose ideal chris arnot (2004) describes as ‘the ultra tough superstar’
Many black bits are subject to powerful anti educational peer group pressure: most of the academically successful black boys that swell interviewed felt that the greatest barrier to success was pressure from other boys. Speaking standard English and doing well at school were often viewed with suspicion by their peers and seen as ‘selling out’ to the white establishment.

Question 15

Swell: culture

Answer 15

Swell argues that black students do worse than their Asian counterparts because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes to education. As he puts it, while one group is being nurtured by MTV, the other is clocking up the educational hours. Swell concludes that black children particularly the boys need to have greater expectations places in them to raise their aspirations.

Question 16

Critical race theorist view on fathers, gangs and culture

Answer 16

Critical race theorists such as Gillborn (2008) argue 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 17

Asian families

Answer 17

While many black families have absent fathers, in swells view Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have an ‘Asian work ethic’ and place a high value on education

Question 18

Ruth Lupton (2004) view on Asian families

Answer 18

Argues that adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in school
She found that respectful behaviour towards adults was expected fri, children. This had a Knock on effect in school, since parents were more e supportive of school behaviour policies.

Question 19

White working class families

Answer 19

White working class pupils often underachieve and have lower aspirations. E.g, a survey of 16,000 pupils by Andrew McChulloch (2014) found that ethic minority pupils are more likely to aspire to go to university than white British pupils.

Question 20

How low level of aspiration and achievement can effect white working calss families

Answer 20

The low level of aspiration and achievement may be the result of a lack of parental support. E.g, lupton studied four mainly working class schools - two predominantly white, one serving a largely Pakistani community and the fourth drawing pupils for, an ethnically mixed community.
She found that teachers reported poorer loveless or behaviour and discipline in the white working class schools despite the fact that they had fewer children on free school meals. Teachers blamed this on lower levels of parental support and the negative attitude that white working class parents had tardy education. By contrast, ethnic minority parents are more likely to see education as ‘a way up in society’.

Question 21

Gillian evans (2006) - white working class families

Answer 21

Argues that the street culture in white working class areas can be brutal and so young people have to learn how to withstand intimidation and intimidate others. In this context, school can become a place where the power games that young people engage in on the street are played out again, bringing disruption and making it hard for pupils to succeed.

Question 22

Compensatory education

Answer 22

The main policy that has been adopted by to tackle cultural deprivation is compensatory education. E.g the aim of operation head start in the USA to compensate children for the cultural deficit they are said to suffer because of deprived backgrounds .

Question 23

Criticisms of cultural deprivation theory

Answer 23

Geoffrey driver (1977) criticises cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. He shows that the black Caribbean family, far from being dysfunctional, provides girls with positive role models of strong independent women. Driver argues this is why black girls tend to be more successful in education than boys
Critics oppose compensatory education because they see it as attempt to impose the dominant white culture on children who already have a coherent culture of their own. They propose two main alternatives:
- multicultural education: a policy that recognises and values minority cultures and includes them in the curriculum
- anti racist education: a policy that challenges the prejudice and discrimination that exists in schools and wider society

Question 24

Material deprivation and class

Answer 24

Material deprivation means a lack of those physical necessities that are seen as essential or normal for life in todays society. In general, working class people are more likely to face poverty and material deprivation.

Question 25

Material deprivation and class - Guy palmer (2012)

Answer 25

Material deprivation explanations sees educational failure as resulting from factors such as substandard housing and low income. Ethnic minorities are more likely to face these problems. For example, according to palmer-
- almost half of all ethnic minority children live in low income households, against a quarter of white children
- ethic minorities are almost twice as likely to be unemployed compared with whites
- ethnic minority households are around three times as likely to be homeless
- almost half of Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers earned under £7 per hour, compared with only a quarter of white British workers.

Question 26

Why are ethnic minorities may be at greater risk of material deprivation that results from unemployment, low pay and overcrowding?

Answer 26

• many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment and low wage rate
• cultural factors such as the tradition of purdah in some Muslim households, which prevents women from working outside the home
• a lack of language skills, and foreign qualifications not being recognised by uk employers. These are more likely to affect recently arrive groups, many of whom are refugees. Most members established minority groups are fluent in English
• asylum seek to may not be allowed to take work
• racial discrimination in the labour market and housing market.

Question 27

Inequalities In ethnic groups

Answer 27

Inequalities are reflected in the proportion of children from different ethnic groups who are eligible for free school meals. The material deprivation explanation argues that such class differences explain why Pakistani pupils tend to do worse than Indian white pupils.

Question 28

Indian pupils

Answer 28

They’re achievements are generally above average- are likely to be fro, better off backgrounds. For example, they are the ethnic group most likely to attend private schools - at twice the rate of whites and five that of blacks

Question 29

Dose class override ethnicity

Answer 29

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 deprivation and underestimate the effect of poverty and material deprivation

However, even those Indian and Chinese pupils who are materially deprived still do better than most. E.g, In 2011, 86% of Chinese girls who received free school meals achieved five or more higher grades GCSEs, compared with only 65% of whites girls who were not receiving free school meals.
These suggest that material deprivation and social class factors do not completely override the influence of ethnicity

Question 30

Racism in wider Society

Answer 30

While material deprivation and poverty has an impact on the educational achievement of some ethnic minority children, some sociologists argue that poverty is itself the product of another factor - namely, racism. As David mason (2000) puts it, “discrimination is a continuing and persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s citizens of minority ethnic origin”

Question 31

Racism in employment

Answer 31

In employment, there is evidence of direct and deliberate discrimination. E.g wood et al (2010) sent three closely matched job applications to each of almost 1,000job vacancies, using names associated with different associated with different ethnic groups. For each job one application came from a white personal and two from member of minority group. Wood found that only 16 ethnic minority applications were offered an interview.

This helps to explain why members of ethnic minorities are more likely to face unemployment and low pay, and this in turn has a negative effect on their children’s educational prospects