External factors

• What are the main external factors affecting ethnic differences in achievement?

  cultural deprivation, material deprivation and class and racism in wider society
• How does cultural deprivation theory explain the underachievement of certain ethnic groups?

  it says that it is caused by inadequate socialisation in the home. the two main aspects of this explanation are intellectual and language skills and attitudes, values and family structure
• What does cultural deprivation theory claim about children from low-income black families?

  that they lack intellectual stimulation, meaning they fail to develop reasoning and problem solving skills
• What do some sociologists claim about children who do not speak English at home?

  that they may be held back, but this is not a major factor
• How does fatalism and immediate gratification affect black children's educational achievement?

  cultural deprivation theorists claim that some black children are socialised into a fatalistic subculture with a focus on immediate gratification, meaning that they lack motivation to succeed
• How does a lack of a male role model affect black children's educational achievement?

  some sociologists believe that young black boys will turn to anti-education gangs, as they were not raised with the strong discipline of a father
• Murray (1984)


  he was a New Right thinker who argues that the high rate of lone parenting and lack of positive male role models can lead to the underachievement of some minority pupils. this can also lead African-Caribbean boys to turn to anti-education gang culture
• Moynihan (1965)


  argues that the lack of male role model of achievement in matriarchal black families produce children who are inadequately socialised children that fail at school, become inadequate parents themselves and perpetuate a culture of poverty
• Pryce (1979)


  argues that Black Caribbean culture is less resistant to racism because of the experience of slavery. as a result many black children have low self esteem and underachieve
• Sewel 


  argues that Chinese and Indian pupils benefit from supportive families with an 'Asian work ethic'
• Sewel (2009)


  argues that a lack of fatherly nurturing leads to black boys underachieving. they turn to street gangs to gain loyalty and love
• What do academic black boys view as the greatest barrier to success?

  peer pressure, as speaking standard English and doing well at school is seen as 'selling out'
• Lupton (2004)


  studied 4 working-class schools with different ethnic compositions. teachers reported poorer levels of discipline and behaviour in the white working-class schools, which they linked to low levels of parental support
• Evans (2006)


  argues that street culture in white working-class areas is brutal and is brough into school, it can cause students to reject education
• What does ethnocentric mean?

  biased in favour of white culture
• Ball


  argues that ethnic minority parents are at a disadvantage as they are less aware of how to negotiate the British education system. this is cultural exclusion rather than cultural deprivation
• Why does compensatory education put ethnic minority children at a disadvantage?

  it imposes dominant white middle-class culture on ethnic minority children
• How does material deprivation affect ethnic minority students?

  ethnic minority students are more likely to suffer from material deprivation, e.g. substandard housing or low income
• What percentage of ethnic minority students live in low income households?

  50%
• How much more likely are ethnic minorities to be unemployed?

  twice as much
• Where do ethnic minorities face significant levels of discrimination?

  housing and labour markets
• Bereiter and Engelmann

  they claim that the language of poorer black American families is ungrammatical and disjointed. as a result, their children are unable to express abstract ideas, which acts as a major barrier to educational achievement
• What is compensatory education?

  an educational policy that aims to counter the affects of cultural deprivation
• What is Operation Head Start?

  this was established in the USA to compensate children for the culture deficit that they are said to suffer from due to their deprived background
• What is Sure Start?

  this was established in the UK to support the development of pre-school children in deprived areas
• What are the three main criticisms of cultural deprivation theory?

  victim-blaming, cultural exclusion and cultural domination
• What is victim blaming?

  Keddie argues that it is a victim blaming explanation. Minority ethnic children are culturally different, not culturally deprived. they underachieve because school's are ethnocentric
• What is cultural domination?

  compensatory education imposes the dominant white middle-class culture on the culture of minority ethnic students
• What does material deprivation mean?

  it is the lack of physical or economic resources essential for normal life in society. this offers an explanation for the educational failure of minority ethnic groups
• How does material deprivation offer an explanation for ethnic differences in achievement?

  it argues that educational failure is the result of material factors such as substandard housing and low income