Ethnic differences [external]

• CULTURAL DEPRIVATION

  • Intellectual and linguistic skills: children from black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences causing low equipped children with no cultural capital to succeed. 

  BEREITER AND ENGELMANN- language spoken by black American families allegedly inadequate for success as it is ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas. Causing a lot of concern that children who do not speak english at home will underachieve. 
• • EVALUATION of cultural deprivation - GILLBORN AND MIRZA note that indian pupils do very well despite english not being their first language.
• • Attitudes and values- lack of motivation main cause for underachievement. Cultural dep theorists argue black children are socialised into a fatalistic ‘live for today’ attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success compared to other children.
• • Family structure and parental support

  MOYNIHAN- argues that many black families headed by a lone mother cause deprivation of adequate care because she struggles financially. Father’s absence also means boys lack adequate role models for achievement. VIEWS CULTURAL DEPRIVATION AS CYCLE where inadequately socialised children from unstable families fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves.
• MURRAY- high rate of lone parenthood and lack of positive male role models lead to underachievement of some minorities.
• Scruton- sees low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting from a failure to embrace mainstream British culture.
• PRYCE- also sees family structure as contributing to underachievement of black Caribbean pupils in Britain. Asians are higher achievers because their culture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of worth.
• UNLIKE MURRAY SEWELL ARGUES GANG AND CULTURE CAUSE OF UNDERACHIEVEMENT-

  SEWELL- father,gangs and culture

  SEWELL argues that it is not absence of fathers but a lack of fatherly nurturing father, street gangs of other fatherless boys offer boys “PERVERSE LOYALTY AND LOVE”
• ARNOT- These present boys with a media inspired role model of anti school black masculinity the ‘ultra tough ghetto superstar’ reinforced by rap lyrics and mtv videos.
• SEWELL-  greatest barrier to success was ‘black peer pressure’ . Speaking well in front of  peers seen as ‘sellouts’. 
• EVALUATIONS: GILLBORN argues that it is not peer pressure but institutional racism within the education system itself systemically produces large numbers of black boys.

  Critical race theory- racism as an ingrained feature of society.

  STOKELY CARMICHAEL AND HAMILTON-

  Institutional racism is the ‘less overt,more subtle , less identifiable in terms of specific individuals committing the act-’
• ASIAN FAMILIES:

  Sewell views Indian and Chinese pupils benefit from supportive families that have ASIAN WORK ETHIC.  

  LUPTON- argues that adult authority in Asian families is similar to the model that operates in schools. She found that respectful behaviour towards adults was expected from children.
• WHITE WORKING CLASS FAMILIES: 

  MCCULLOCH; ethnic minority pupils are more likely to aspire for university than white wc pupils. Due to lack of parental support! 
• LUPTON- studied four WC schools

  Found teachers reported poorer levels of behaviour and discipline in the white working class schools- despite the fact they had fewer children on free school meals.
• EVANS- argues that street culture in white working class areas can be brutal and young people have to learn how to withstand intimidation. 
• COMPENSATORY EDUCATION:

  Main policy to tackle cultural deprivation is compensatory. Aim of operation head start & sure start.
• CRITICISMS-

  DRIVER: critiques cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement- black girls have strong female role model who are single mother & is why black girls succeed.
• AGAINST PRYCE LAWRENCE- challenges Pryce’s view that black pupils fail because their culture is weak due to the colonial legacy of slavery and thus have low self esteem.
• STONE- BLACK PUPILS DO NOT HAVE LOW SELF ESTEEM
• • KEDDIEculturally different & cultural dep is victim blaming.
• These critics oppose compensatory education as it is an attempt to impose dominant white culture. Instead proposing two alternatives:

  • Multicultural education- policy recognises and values minority culture and includes them in the curriculum. 
  • Anti racist education- policy that challenges discrimination in schools.
• SOME sociologists argue that material deprivation is main cause of ethnic underachievement:

  Material deprivation explanations see educational failure as resulting from substandard housing and low income.

  PALMER: 

  • Almost half of all ethnic minority children live in low income households contrast to ¼ white children
  • EM 2x likely to be unemployed that whites
  • EM households 3x likely to be homeless
  • Almost ½ bangladeshi and pakistani workers earned under 7£ an hour compared to ¼ whites.
• Reasons FOR MATERIAL DEP:

  • Asylum seekers not allowed to take work
  • Many live in economically depressed areas with high unemployment rate and low wage
  • Racial discrimination in the housing market and labour market.

  Explains why Pakistanis do worse than Indian and white pupils. Indian pupils ethnic group more likely to attend private schools 5x more likely than black pupils.
• Does class override ethnicity?

  2011 86% of free school meals Chinese girls achieved five or more higher grade GCSEs.

  Modood: while children of low income families did well the effects of low income much less for other ethnic groups than white pupils.
• RACISM IN WIDER SOCIETY-            Poverty is itself the product of another factor- racism. 

  MASON: ‘discrimination is a continuation and persistent feature of the experience of Britain's citizens of minority ethnic origin’
• REX- shows how racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and worsens poverty endured by EMs. Manifesting in housing market and labour market.
• WOODS ET AL- sent  three closely matched applications to 1,000 jobs- only 1 in 16 ‘ethnic minority applications were offered an interview