How might Social class, Ethnicity and Gender affect someone’s Educational Attainment?

Introduction:

Equal opportunity in education is what many believe thus a high achievement in education should be based on merit and ability not social background, ethnicity or gender.(Haralambos et,al 1997). This work will attempt to discuss issues on why some groups do better than others. Achievement depends on the innate ability of a child according to psychologists. On the other hand sociologists argue that this only explains the performance of an individual child but not of a social groups (Harris 2003). This work will focus on the sociological explanation of factors affecting educational achievement. The first section will look at how social class affects educational achievement, then how ethnicity and gender affect the education achievement.

Social class:

Social class is one of the most important concepts that sociologists discuss and yet its definition is often illusive. Sociologist Karl Marx (1818-83) describes the system we live in as ‘capitalism’ this system is made up of two classes the people in charge and the labourers.. Marxists believe that social organizations such as the education system, the media, the legal system and religion are instruments of capitalism which make the ruling class feel in power. For example, the education system socialises the working class into believing that their education failure is due to lack of ability and effort when in reality the capitalist system deliberately fails them in order to continue to be factory workers. According to (Moore, et.al, 2001) high performance in educational achievement is influenced by social class, sociologists considered this as a sole issue.

(Lawson, et.al, 2000) points out that children from middle-class families got more places at grammar schools as a result of 11+ tests, this clearly shows that the tests provided were in favour of those who can afford for the private coaching. (moore, et.al, 2001) Agrees with this by terming it ‘material deprivation’; stating that people with ‘less money’ are unable to make the most of there educational opportunities. And also lack of space at home for doing there work acts as a hindrance to making good progress, after all if one can not revise or do there home work how are they expected to retain what they’ve learnt.

Further more the education system is geared towards middle-class people, the majority of them being white. For example if we looked at how some of the questions that are posed in the 11+ tests, students are asked to ‘unscramble an anagram’ such as ‘zomrat’ to form the name of a famous composer (Mozart). These kinds of anagrams will be much easier to unscramble for a children who have been exposed to anagrams and classical composers. Many working-class and ethnic minority pupils may feel under valued and demotivated by an educational system that does not recognise their qualities, which are based on their class and ethnic culture. (Haralambos, et,al 1997) suggest that according empirical evidence the higher your social class i.e. the class into which you were born, the greater your chance of achieving high educational qualifications. See appendix diagram one.

Primary socialisation plays major role in the socialisation process, this is a foundation that may last through a person’s life. Sociologists and psychologists suggest that there is a significant difference in how middle class children are brought up compared to the working class. For example; middle class parents expect their children to excel in various areas ‘ranging from childhood games to table manners’ (Haralambos et,al 1997). Study by (J.W.B. Douglas 1971) shows that middle class parents view education differently to working class parents. They middle class place a great value on education as compared to the working class.

Douglas therefore states that the most important factor for educational attainment is down to the interest of the parents’ in their children’s education. Given these conditions, he states that middle class children have a decided advantage over working class children.

In the ONS report population trends examined the data of men and women of all social classes in England and Wales from childhood into their 30s. It found that among men aged 23-26 living in a two-parent family ( professional and managerial) in 1981, 43% with a parent of the highest social classes achieved a higher educational achievement.

And of those with a parent from the two lowest classes( semi-skilled and unskilled), only 14% achieved the same level of education.( on line bbc)

Gender:

Study has shown that over the past 30 years girls at the age of 16 acquired better grades than boys (Haralambos et,al 1997). Amongst the reasons given are girls mature earlier than boys, they are more hard-working, their work is neater and they pay more attention to the teacher, these views are held by many secondary school teachers.

Even though sociologists have given a similar explanation, nothing has been said to why not until recent far fewer girls went on to do their A level and higher education.

According to the study ‘just like a girl’ conducted by Sue Sharp among working class girls in secondary schools in the London borough of Ealing. The first study conducted in the early 70s showed what the girls saw as being important, ‘love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs and careers’. She found that the jobs they were interested in did not require A levels in addition the girls were more inclined towards marriage, family life rather than jobs and careers.

Lees also carried out a similar study in three London comprehensive schools ‘losing out’ (1986) which examined 15-16 year old girl’s from various class and ethnic groups. The results reflected those of Sues apart from a great emphasis that was put on careers. The majority of the girls were already participating in their future roles of domestic labourers they were helping their mothers with house work often to detriment of school work. (Taylor et.al 2000).

Furthermore girls felt that boys get more attention than they do. In Lees’ study when a girl was interviewed this is what she said ‘girls get much less attention than boys ‘cos boys make a fuss and make themselves noticed- they wanna be noticed so they make a racket’(1986, p129), several studies agree with this complaint.

In addition Spender D argues in ‘invisible women: The Schooling Scandal(1983), that schools reinforce gender inequality through teachers attitudes ,expectations, and the content of the curriculum as they all prepare girls for male domination and control.

As a result of the study it was found that boys received over 60% of teachers’ time,

to quote Spender girls were ‘invisible’.

Further more Spender found that there was double standards when it came to marking of written work, for example if the same work would get better marks if teachers were told it was written by a boy. This is supported by the research done by Goddard-Spear(1989). Spender concludes that in mixed education the dice were loaded against girls. if they behaved as boisterously as boys they were considered ‘unladylike’, if they were docile and quite they were usually ignored. . (Taylor et.al 2000).

Ethnicity:

The concept of ethnicity refers to cultural differences between social groups (which includes things like national and regional identities, religious practices and the like). The performance of different Ethnic groups Varies greatly.

According to (Haralambos and Holborn 2000) ethnic minorities are liable to do less well than other members of the community. However this varies from the various ethnic groups, some ethnic minorities are very successful.

The Swann Report(1985) shows important differences between ethnic minority. The results of a survey of five LEAs showed that Asians did almost as well as the Whites or ‘others’. Asians were slightly less likely than ‘others’ to get five or more graded results in ‘O’ level or CSE examinations, but other respects were just successful. The Swann Report one particular Asian group of Bangladesh origin did badly.

The West Indians performance was considerably worse than that of whites. It showed in the study that just 5%of West Indians passed an ‘A’ Level and only 1% went to university.

O’Donnell (1991) states that ethnic minorities have distinctive reactions to racism, prejudice and discrimination, this can have different effects on educational performance. For example Afro-Caribbean men react angrily to and reject the educational system dominated by the whites by gaining status and recognition through other means, and although Indians show their anger they tend not to reject the educational system, instead they succeed because they use the education system to their advantage( Moore, At.el, 2001).

In addition there is significant evidence to show that ethnic minority groups are discriminated against in terms of setting and exam entry. Setting is a form of stream in which pupils are placed in subject groups in terms of their ability. For example, a pupil may be set 1 for English and set 3 for maths. Setting often determines whether or not pupils are entered for examination. For example, a study by the Commission for Racial Equality entitled set to fail?(1992) of a northern comprehensive school showed that Asian pupils usually needed higher marks than whites to get into top sets. As a result fewer Asians were entered for GCSEs, based on the study by Cecile Wright who carried out 900 hours of classroom observation in each school and formal and informal interviews with teachers and pupils.