Externall Factors And Ethnic Differences In Achievement Flashcards
How do many sociologists argue ethnic differences in achievement can be best explained?
By looking at factors outside the school - in the home, family and culture of the child and impact of wider society.
How do cultural deprivation theorists see underachievement of some ethnic groups?
As the result of inadequate socialisation in the home:
- intellectual and linguistic skills
- Attitudes and values
- Family structure and parental support.
How do cultural deprivation theorists see the lack of intellectual and linguistic skills as?
A major cause of underachievement for many minority children;dren - many children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences which leaves them poorly equipped for school as they havent been able to develop reasoning and problem solving skills.
What do Bereiter and Engelmann consider?
Language spoken by low-income black American families as inadequate for educational success - ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas.
What do official statistics show about children who dont speak English at home?
That this doesnt cause them to be held back educationally - 2010 pupils who spoke English as their first language were only 3.2 points ahead of those without English as their first language when it came to gaining five GCSE grades A*-C.
What do Gillborn and Mirza note about Indian pupils?
That they do well despite oftenly not having English as their home language.
What cultural deprivation theorists see as a major cause of failure in many black children?
Lack of motivation - most children socialised into mainstream culture which instils ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make sacrifices to achieve log-term goals however some black children are socialised into a subculture instilling fatalistic attitudes that dont value education and leaves them Un equipped for success.
How does Moynihan show failure to socialise children adequately being the result of a dysfunctional family structure?
Many black families are headed by lone mothers which means their children are deprived of adequate care because the mother struggles financially in the abscence of a male breadwinner.
Father’s abscence also means that boys lack adequate role models of male achievement.
New Right Murray - what does Murray argue high rates of lone parenthood and lack of positive male role models lead to?
Underachievement of some minorities.
How does Scruton see the low achievement level of ethnic minorities?
Resulting from a failure to embrace mainstream British culture.
What does Pryce see the family structure contributing to?
Underachievement of black Caribbean pupils in Britain.
Comparing black and Asian pupils - claims Asians an are higher achievers because of their culture which is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense for self-worth.
In contrast black Caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism as a result black pupils have low self-esteem and underachieve.
What does Pryce argue the difference between black carribean and Asian achievement is because of?
The result of the differing impact of colonialism on the two groups - slavery was culturally devastating for blacks whereas Asian family structures, language and religions weren’t destroyed by colonial rule.
What does Sewell argue the problem is that leads black boys to underachieving?
A lack of fatherly nurturing/ tough love which results in black boys finding it hard to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.
what did most academically successful black boys Sewell interviewed feel?
The greatest barrier to success was pressure from other boys.
Why does Sewell argue black students do worse than Asian counterparts?
Because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes to education - while one group is being nurtured by MTV the other is clocking up educational hours.
What does Gillborn argue institutional racism within the education system produces?
The failure of large miners of black boys.
In Sewells view what do Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from?
Supportive families that have an ‘Asian work ethic’ and place a high value on education.
What does Lupton argue adult authority in Asian families is similar to?
The model in schools - respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from children which has a knock-on effect in school since parents were more likely to be supportive of school behaviour policies.
What did McCulloch survey of 16,000 pupils find?
Ethnic minority pupils ate more likely to aspire to go to university than white British pupils.
What does Evans argue street culture in white w/c areas can be?
Brutal so young people have to learn to withstand intimidation and intimidate others - school can become a place where power games young people engage in on the street are played out again bringing disruption and making it harder for pupils to succeed.
What is the main policy that has been adopted to tackle cultural deprivation?
Compensatory education - Operation Head Start in the USA compensated for children for the cultural deficit they suffered because of deprived backgrounds.
Why does Driver criticise cultural deprivation theory?
It ignores positive effects of ethnicity on achievement.
Shows black Caribbean families far from being dysfunctional provided girl with positive role models of strong independent women.
Driver - this is why black girls tend to be more successful in education than back boys.
What does Lawrence argue the reason for black pupils under-achieving is?
Racism.
How does Keddie see cultural deprivation?
Victim blaming explanation - ethnic minority children are culturally different not culturally deprived - underachieve because schools are ethnocentric: biased in favour of white culture and against minorities.
Why do critics oppose compensatory education?
They see it as an attempt to impose the dominant white culture on children who already have a coherent culture of their own.
Two main alternatives:
- multicultural education - policy recognises and values minority cultures and includes them in the curriculum.
- anti-racist education - policy challenges the prejudice and discrimination that exists in schools and wider society.
What do some sociologists argue is the main cause of underachievement is?
Material deprivation.
