...Asses The View That Working Class Children Underachieve Because They Are Culturally Deprived There are many cultural deficiencies often associated with a child’s potential and achievement in education. Cultural deprivation is a theory that many working-class children are inadequately socialised from a young age, and therefore lack the “correct” culture appropriate for a successful education. Cultural deprivation theorists agree that humans acquire basic attitudes and values needed for education through primary socialisation in the family. However, many working class families do this inadequately, therefore their children become culturally deprived. There are three main aspects of cultural deprivation: intellectual development- which refers to the development of thinking and reasoning skills eg solving problems. Traditional Marxists believe that working class families lack educational books and toys that stimulate a child’s intellectual development, as they cannot afford them. Therefore children start school without the skills allowing them to progress. Douglas found that working class children scored lower than middle class children in intellectual tests. Bernstein and Douglas found that middle class mothers are more likely to buy educational toys to encourage their child’s learning from an early age; to assist the development of their thinking and reasoning skills, thus giving them a steady start and more likely to lead to educational success. Engelmen and Bereiter...
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...educational experience. Many suggest that due to working-class children are ‘culturally deprived’ compared to middle class children due to them having more access to things such as classical music, educational holidays or trips and literature. Bourdieu (1984) uses the term cultural capital to refer to the knowledge, attitudes , values , language , tastes and abilities of the middle class. He sees middle-class culture as a type of wealth due to it giving an advantage to the people who possess it. He suggests that through this middle class children acquire the abilities to grasp and analyse abstract ideas which leads to more intellectual interests and a better understanding of what they need to do to succeed. This gives middle-class children an advantage in school where such abilities are and interests are highly valued and rewarded. In contrast, working class children find that their culture is devalued to be ‘rough’ and inferior compared to that of the middle-class. The lack of cultural development in the child leads to exam failure, truanting, early leaving and just generally not trying. Alice Sullivan(2001) used questionnaires to conduct a survey of 465 pupils in 4 schools. To assess their cultural their cultural capital, she asked them about a range of activities, such as reading and TV viewing habits and whether or not they visit art galleries, museums or the theatre. She also tested their vocabulary and knowledge. She found that children who watched documentaries and read complex...
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...view that working class children cultural deprivation is the reason of their underachievement can be very rightly true. Cultural deprivation is the lack of certain rules of behavior in social situations, values, belief that something is a worthwhile, attitude and skills these are all of what society calls “normal”. Working class children are less likely to succeed in life because they are less likely to be found in nursery schools, less likely to go to university and more likely to be poor readers when they start school, more likely to be in lower sets and streams in secondary school, more likely to leave school early, more likely to underachieve at GCSEs and a level, more likely to be excluded and suspended. This is because the middle-class culture children are suitably prepared for school, but it's totally reverse for working-class culture; it basically fails to prepare children adequately for educational success/achievement. Cultural deprivation has been identified as one reason why the working class children are generally achieving less than middle class pupils. It attributes the working class under-achievement to the fact that they have often been brought up with a negative attitude towards education. The difference is working class people have a different culture from middle class people. That means working class children do less well in education. Some people then make a causative link between the two ideas and come up with the idea that working class children do less well...
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...the view that working class children underachieve because they are culturally deprived. Do working class children underachieve because they are culturally deprived? Cultural deprivation is the notion that the underachievement of working class children in exams is a result of their home background and parent’s failure to socialize them into the skills and values required for educational success. The three aspects of cultural deprivation are: Intellectual development, Language and Attitudes and Values. One of the aspects of cultural deprivation is Intellectual Development, which is the development of thinking and reasoning. Working class children may be less intellectually developed as their homes may lack books, educational toys and activities that stimulate their intellectual development. Douglas’ study found that working class pupils scored lower on tests of ability that middle class pupils, and due to this he argues that working class parents were less likely to read with their children thus stunting their intellectual growth and development. However, is has been argued by sociologists that cultural deprivation is not the only factor contributing to the underachievement of working class children, and that material deprivation and internal school factors may be just as important, if not more so, than cultural deprivation. The second aspect of cultural deprivation is Language, which is the differences that exist in the language used by the middle class and the language...
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...the school. Within school there are educational differences within achievement between social classes. Generally the middle class on the whole tend to do better and outperform the working class. Some of the reasons why are put forward by interactionists sociologists who believe that the difference is “a result of factors and processes within the school” which are internal factors which cause this difference in achievement between social classes. Interactionists look at processes in the school on a small scale interaction to try and figure out why there is a difference. However there are other views such as external factors which suggest it is factors outside the school which lead to differences in educational achievement between social classes. One internal factor which can be seen as partly responsible for differences in educational achievement between social classes is labelling. Labelling refers to the process of defining a person or group in a certain way. Labelling by teachers can contribute to differences in educational achievement. For example a study by Howard Becker discovered how teachers judged pupils according to how closely they fitted the image of the “ideal pupil” and based their judgement on many key factors such as work, conduct and appearance. The teachers saw the middle class as the closest to the ideal pupil and the working class as the furthest away from it. Teachers use the idea of the ideal pupil and label pupils accordingly. Those pupils labelled as...
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...social groups class plays a major role in the attainment of children in education. At all age groups in the education system it is apparent that working class children achieve lower attainment than children from a middle class background. It is suggested that the system is biased and designed for white, middle class children disregarding the needs of the working class and ethnic minority children. However most researchers believe that there is a similar ‘range of ability’ in every social class which could mean that class differences in educational achievement are not due to class differences in intelligence but more to do with other factors in society such as low expectations and low aspirations, lack of deferred gratification and economical issues all of which are more apparent in the working class. Children from working class backgrounds tend to experience economical hardship more so than any other class; this is often linked to material deprivation which these children are exposed to throughout their life. Material deprivation in social class five has been closely linked to the underachievement of working class pupils in schools since the 1960s when sociologists claimed that a child’s attainment could be linked to a lack of something which was then found to be a kind of deprivation. A lack of money and the things that money could buy combined with a lack of skills and the absence of a good attitude contributed to a child’s achievement in school. These children are unable to...
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...Sociology Homework – Monday 28/09/2015 by Maria Taravkova. Evaluate the view that factors and processes within the school are the main cause of differences in the educational achievement of different social groups (20 marks) * Decode = The meanings of encoding/decoding, it is how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed by the nation, proposing a new theory of communication. Stuart Hall (cultural theorist) argued that the meaning is not fixed or determined by the sender, the message is never transparent. There is a “ lack of fit “ between the moment of the production of the message ( which is referred to as ENCODING ) and the moment of its reception ( which is referred to as DECODING ). The meaning of the text is located between the producer and the reader. The producer – encoder ‘ encoded ‘ meaning in a certain way, while the reader decoder – ‘ decodes ‘ it differently according to his/her personal background, beliefs and values. * Interactionists Labelling Theory = ‘ Interactionism ‘ is a sociological perspective that focuses on a small-scale interactions between individuals and groups. And ‘ Labelling Theory ‘ is the theory of how the self-identity – ( what someone thinks of themselves. E.g what they are, who they are e.t.c ) and behaviour of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. As we are talking about ‘ Interactionists Labelling Theory ‘ meaning that the only relevant meaning in this case...
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...The intellectual development of a working-class child may differ to that of a middle-class child. This refers to the development of their thinking and reasoning skills i.e. solving problems and using ideas and concepts. Working-class homes may not have the books, educational toys, and activities that would stimulate a child’s intellectual development. Children from these homes may start school without the developed intellectual skills needed to progress. Douglas (1964) found that working-class pupils scored lower on ability tests than middle-class pupils. He argues that this is because working-class parents are less likely to support the intellectual development of the child. In support, Bernstein and Young (1967) had similar conclusions. They found that the way mothers think about and choose toys influences on the child’s intellectual development. Middle-class mothers are more likely to choose toys that encourage thinking and reasoning skills to prepare children for school. Bernstein (1957) distinguishes between two types of speech code: restricted, where it has limited vocabulary and is based on short, grammatically incorrect sentences, typically used by the middle class; and elaborated, which has a wider vocabulary and has longer, more complex sentences, typically used by the middle-classes. The elaborated code is the language used by teachers, textbooks, and exams which puts the middle class-pupils at a disadvantage. It is taken as the ‘correct’ way to speak...
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...– What is the role and purpose of education? |Functionalism | | |E.Durkheim and T.Parsons |Passing on society’s culture: this then unites people together by giving them shared values (value consensus). | | |According to Durkheim schools are societies in miniature - he argues that the key role of education was to teach | | |children moral responsibilities in order to promote social solidarity. Education provides secondary socialisation. | | |(Meaning the teaching of norms and values of society) to add to the primary socialisation provided by the family. | | |Examples of the values that education teaches to children include the importance of achievement, meritocracy and | | |competition. | | | | | |Provides a bridge between particularistic values and ascribed status of the family and the universalistic values e.g. | | ...
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...Chapter 22 716-750 - Life in the Emerging Urban Society Homework 1. How did urban life change in the nineteenth century and how did this new urban society impact lives of the rich, poor and middle class? During the nineteenth century, as urban populations grew, living conditions declined. People would crowd into cities due to the lack of transportation, sometimes with over 10 people in a single basement and without the proper knowledge of sanitation, they would literally let their poop flow down openly on the streets. Not to mention that more people died in cities than were born because disease spread so easily to the point where populations didn’t die out simply because of the immigrants. It wasn’t until the middle of the nineteenth century the people had enough of their unhygienic life-styles and called for improvement. One notable man in favor of improvement was Edwin Chadwick who, based on Jeremy Bentham’s idea of utilitarianism (the idea that people should move towards the “greatest good for the greatest number”), noticed that the sicknesses and the resulting deaths where probably one of the reasons for the horrible conditions. He suggested that the government take action and clean up the cities. Once the government stepped in the general public health improved dramatically. Certain intellectuals, such as chemist Louis Pasteur created the germ theory that said that diseases were spread through living organisms that they could control. New improved medical techniques...
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...In school factors can have a big impact on the social class differences in education achievement. However, it isn’t the only factor. In school factors include labelling; this is done by both students and teachers. Pupils will be labelled based on social class; a working class child is more likely to be labelled as ‘stupid’, and other degrading names. This labelling can lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy; this disadvantages them because the teacher is favouring other students. However, teachers are more likely to label a middle class child as smart, intelligent etc. Which makes them feel good and they achieve. This puts them at a starting advantage over their working class peers. Marxists would say this is creating inequality, and reproducing the ruling class ideology as they are above working class from an early age. Class size is also an in school factor; a small class means more one to one time with a teacher. Only middle class can afford public schools, and therefore have smaller class sizes and therefore are more likely to achieve more due to more time with the teacher. A middle class child is more likely to be placed in a higher set, as Bowles and Gintis says. This means they are more likely to be taught to a higher grade, which means they will perform better in the exam as they will be prepared for the exam. Some people may also argue that public schools have better teacher standards, only middle class can afford the public schools, which means they get this higher teaching...
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...In the factories, the working conditions were unsafe to the working class families. In Dr. Wards interview, he clearly states that it wasn’t safe for children to be working in factories. “The state of the health of the cotton-factories children is much worse than that of children employed in other manufactories” ( Source: Dr. Ward). Dr. Ward is a medical professional who has seen numerous textile mills, his testimony proves the unhealthy nature of these factories compared to others. Some factory owners would beat the children to work harder or even faster. Children would be working 15 hours a day and come in the next day still working under all the harsh conditions of the factories. “That they are often cruelly beaten by the spinners of overlookers...
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...Students that are in a working-class have the tendency to underachieve in school, in contrast to those students that are middle-class, this is due to external and internal factors. External cultural factors are claimed to be a key cause of social class differences in educational achievement according to various sociologist. These factors consist of Cultural deprivation, cultural capital and material deprivation. Students from working class backgrounds often experience economic problems (poverty) more so than any other class; this is linked to material deprivation which these pupils are exposed to throughout their time. Being in poverty could entail the students not having enough money to buy all the essential equipment that they will need for educational attainment, supported by sociologist - Bull. This is closely linked to educational under achievement for example in 2006 33% of children on pupil premium (free school meals) achieved 5 A* to C grades in comparison to 61% not on pupil premium. However, statistics cannot prove that material deprivation is the cause of under achievement as the government doesn’t always collect statistics that is supporting the claim 100%, therefore the claim cannot generalise. To support this claim sociologist Flaherty also states that having money problems in the family were a significant factor in younger children’s low attendance at school, which links to under achievements at school. The idea that children from working class backgrounds is...
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...some children from well-off homes don’t do well at school and some children from poor backgrounds succeed, but the overall pattern is clear: social class, defined in terms of socio-economic status, correlates closely with attainment at school.” (Cole, Mike. (2006). Social class and schooling. In: Education, equality and human rights. Taylor and Francis. 202.) This extract shows that social class defines how good or how bad a student will perform in their educational years therefore it can be linked into what Gaine says “Many working class parents will want a wider range of opportunities for their children than to what they have experienced […] many will socialise their children into the world they know” (Gaine, Dr.Chris, George, Ms Rosalyn (30 Nov 1998). Gender, 'Race' and Class in schooling: A new introduction. 3rd ed. l: Taylor and Francis. 35.) Although parents would want their kids to have high aspirations they know that because of the social injustice and because they belong to working class families that’s all they’ll be aspirations. Furthermore such decisions as to what the child receives in terms of education wise and career wise all depends on the students willingness and those that don’t have the determination and for some the ones that come from lower classes it is a constant circle for them of dropping out of education and living on government benefits because they feel out of place when attending schools that are highly populated with middle and higher class...
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...responsibilities can be overbearing and the family was seen as the source of love and intimacy. The main focus of this image was the family was a protected oasis from the outside world. Next there is The Family as a Fulfillment. This image is still incorporated with the image of a haven, but its focused more on purposeful experiences. The family is there to compensate the emotional needs and wants that work or society cannot provide. This image focal point is the enjoyment one receive from their family. Finally there is The Family as an Encumbrance. This image is negative unlike the other two images. This anti-family image focuses on how the family divisions can suppress self-expression and personal freedom. If one's main focus is tending to children or household chores then they won't have time for self fulfillment. This image also points out that monogamy can be found tedious and there would be more satisfaction in having variety. Briefly discuss each of the family myths listed in your text, contrasting them with the realities of the families in our society. The Myth of Stable and Harmonious Family of the Past: The past families are viewed as more stable and blissful than today's family. The past family was also faced with outside pressure and internal conflicts just like today's family. The divorce rate maybe higher but there are logical explanations. Women in the past did not live as long, often dying from child-rearing which...
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