[external] ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION

  • LANGUAGE:
    • lack of linguistic skills is a major cause of underachievement for some MEGs, leaving them poorly equipped for school
    • E.G BEREITER & ENGELMANN Claims language spoken by low income Black American families is inadequate for educational success, arguing its ungrammatical & disjointed - HOWEVER critics strongly reject this claim- LABOV found Black American speech was perfectly logical
    • BAKER-BELL sees views such as BEREITER & ENGELMANN as examples of 'anti-black linguistic racism' which labels black speech codes as inferior, and white speech codes as superior
  • ATTITUDES & VALUES:
    • lack of aspiration = major cause of underachievement
    • most children are socialised into the mainstream culture, which instils aspiration, competitiveness and willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve long-term goals
    • By contrast, its argued some MEGs are socialised into a subculture that instals a fatalistic attitude which doesnt value education & leaves them unequipped for success
    • HOWEVER studies have shown that meg pupils tend to have high aspirations E.G PLATT & PARSONS found among 7-14 year olds meg boys and girls had higher career aspiration than their white counterparts and were more likely to aspire highly paid jobs

FAMILY STRUCTURE & PARENTAL SUPPORT:

  • Failure to socialise children adequately is the result of dysfunctional family structure
  • MOYNIHAN argues that because black families are headed by a lone mother, children are deprived of adequate care because she struggles financially due to absence of male breadwinner
  • Fathers absence also means boys lack adequate role model of male achievement
    • HOWEVER DRIVER criticises this by saying it ignores positive aspects of Black family structures
    • e.g Black Caribbean families provides girls with positive role models of strong independent women argues this is why black girls tend to be more successful in education than boys)

FATHERS, GANGS & CULTURE [SEWELL]:

  • Argues its not the absence of fathers as role models that leads to black boys underachieving
  • instead its the lack of fatherly nurturing or 'tough love' ( firm, fair, respectful and non-abusive discipline)
  • this results in black boys finding it hard to overcome emotional and behavioural difficulties of adoslescence


  • In abscence of restraining influence of a nurturing father, street gangs with other fatherless boys offers black boys 'perverse loyalty and love'
  • these present boys with a media-inspired role model of anti-school black masculinity, who ARNOT describes as 'the ultra-tough ghetto superstar, an image reinforced through rap lyrics
    and MTV videos'


  • Many black boys are thus subject to powerful anti-educational peer group pressure- most of the academically successful black boys Sewell interviews felt greatest barrier to success was pressure from other boys


  • HOWEVER he's criticised of downplaying the impact of racism- its institutional racism in the education system that systematically produced the failure of black boys (not pressure or anbsent fathers)

ASIAN FAMILIES:

  • Sewell argues Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from their supportive families that have an 'asian work ethic' and place high value on education
  • WHITE W/C FAMILIES:
    • often underachieve and have lower career aspirations
    • McCULLOH found ethnic pupils more likely to aspire to go to uni than white pupils
    • this could be due to lack of parental support
    • minority ethnic group parents more likely to see education as a way up[ in society
    • EVANS reports that street culture in white working class areas can be brutal so young people have to learn how to withstand intimidation and how to intimidate others
    • in this context, school can be a place where the power games young people engage with on the streets are played out again, bringing disc=ruption and making it hard for pupils to succeed

CRITICISMS:

  • VICTIM BLAMING:
    • KEDDIE sees cultural deprivation as a victim blaming explanation- she argues ethnic minority children are culturally different, not culturally deprived
    • they dont underachieve because they lack language skills, support of aspirations but because schools are ethnocentric- biased in favour of dominant white culture
  • Labelling theorists argue the cause lies in teachers racist stereotypes and low expectations of them.
    • this negative labelling results in self-fulfilling prophecy of underachievement
  • Critical race theorists argue that the education system as a whole is institutionally racist
  • its built into the way schools operate to produce underachievement for minority ethnic groups
  • POLITICAL DISTACTION:
    • accuse cultural deprivation theory of being politically useful by deflecting attention away from real causes such a poverty and racism
    • by blaming victims instead, it allows government to avoid taking responsibility for tackling the causes which would carry financial costs

MATERIAL DEPRIVATION

  • Refers to lack of physical necssities that are seen as normal and essential
    • W/C more likely to face poverty and material deprivation
  • Material deprivation explanations see educational failure as resulting from factors such as substandard housing and low income
  • Minority ethnic groups are more likely to face these problems
  • PALMER 2012
    • almost half of all children from minority ethnic backgrounds live in low-income families in comparison to a quarter of white children
    • Members ofMEGs are almost twice as unlikely to to be unemployed than white people
    • MEG households are around 3 times as likely to be homeless
  • MEGs are more likely to be engaged in shiftwork and Pakastani and Bangladeshi women are more likely to be engaged in low-paid home working

REASONS WHY

  • Many live in economically depressed area with high unemployment and low wage rates
  • Cultural factors such as the tradition of PURDAH in some muslim households which prevent women from working outside the home
  • Lack of language skills and foreign qualifications not being recognised by UK employers.
    • These are more likely to affect recently arrived groups , many of whom are refugees
  • Asylum seekers may not be allowed to take work
  • Racial discrimination in the labour market and housing market
  • Such inequalities are reflected in the proportion of children from different ethnic groups who are eligible for free school meals
  • The material deprivation explanation argues such class differences explain why for example Pakistani pupils tend to do worse than Indian and white pupil

RACISM IN WIDER SOCIETY

  • Some sociologists argue that poverty is itself the product of another factor- racism. MASON says 'discrimination is a continuing and persistent feature of the experience of Britains citizens of minority ethnic origin'
  • REX shows how racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and how this worsens poverty faced by minority ethnic groups
  • in housing fo instance discrimination means that minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard accommodation that white poeple of the same class