Topic 5 Ethnicity Flashcards
(36 cards)
What are the main trends with regards to ethnicity and achievement?
- Chinese and Indian pupils achieve the highest.
- Bangladeshi students have improved the most.
- Caribbean and Gypsy travellers are the lowest achievers.
What are the three external explanations for ethnic differences in achievement?
- Cultural deprivation
- material deprivation
- racism in wider society.
How can cultural deprivation theorists of ethnic achievement be criticised by Driver?
- Driver argues cultural deprivation theorists ignore the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement.
- Black families provide girls with positive role models of strong independent women, this is why black girls tend to be more successful than black boys.
What did Mike Noon identify?
- He found there was discrimination in employing staff.
- He sent identical pairs of letters of enquiry about future employment opportunities to the top 100 UK companies, signed by made up applicants, ‘Evans’ and ‘Patel’. Each had identical qualifications and experience.
- Measured by the number and helpfulness of replies he found that the companies were more encouraging to the ‘white’ applicant ‘Evans’.
What are the main internal explanations for ethnic differences in achievement?
- Labelling and teacher racism
- institutional racism (ethnocentric curriculum)
- access to oppurtunities - keddie setting and streaming
- pupil identities - Archer - pathologised etc
- pupil responses and subcultures.
What did Sewell discuss about teacher labelling?
He found that many teachers had a stereotype of ‘black machismo’ which sees all boys as rebellious, anti-authority and anti-school. There are 4 responses: rebels (reject school), conformists (keen), retreatists and innovators.
What is institutional racism?
Discrimination that is built into the everyday workings of institutions like schools. It is unconscious rather than deliberate, deeply ingrained, taken-for-granted part of the institutions culture.
What does ethnocentric curriculum mean?
A curriculum that reflects the culture of one ethnic group, usually the dominant culture. It is a prime example of institutional racism because it builds racial bias into the everyday workings of schools and colleges.
What is the most significant explanation of ethnic differences in achievement?
The ethnocentric curriculum produced underachievement as it creates images of black people as inferior which undermines black children’s self-esteem leading to failure.
Why does marketization place ethnic minorities at a disadvantage?
Marketisation has given schools greater scope to select pupils, which puts some ethnic minority pupils at a disadvantage. Selection gives more scope for negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions. Good schools silt-shift ethnic minority pupils. There is racist bias in interviews for school places.
What does Bowker argue?
Bowker identifies that black american families lack of standard english is a major barrier to achievement. Children from low income black families lack intellectual stimulation leaning them portly equipped for school.
Bowker argues language is a barrier, how can he be evaluated by Gilbourn and Mirza?
Bowker argues that language is a barrier to achievement.
However, Gilbourn and Mirza argues that Indian pupils do very well despite English not being their home language. Therefore, they argue that language can’t be the factor.
What does Moynihan argue about black families and achievement?
There are large amount of single parent female headed black families. Therefore, children lack adequate financial support from a clear breadwinner. Arguably, this is why girls achieve higher as they have a strong matriarchal role.
Why does Moynihan see cultural deprivation as a cycle?
because inadequately socialised children from unsuitable families go on to fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves.
What is Murrays view on single parent families?
they lack a positive role model, especially boys, which leads to them underachieving as they are inadequately socialised.
What does Ken Pryce argue is the reason for underachievement of black pupils?
- He argues the black culture is **less cohesive and less resistant to racism. **
- As a result, black pupils have low self esteem causing them to underachieve.
- Asian pupils have more support from family which is why they achieve higher.
Outline the impact that slavery had on both black and asian cultures?
Pryce argues that the experience of slavery was culturally devastating for black people. They lost their language, religion and family system. Whereas, asian family structures, languages and religion were not destroyed by Colonial rule. Arguably, this is why they achieve higher.
What does Sewell argue about the cause of black pupil underachievement?
- Sewell does not see the absence of fathers as role models as the cause of black boys underachievemnt.
- Instead, he sees the problem as a lack of tough love, which results in black boys finding it hard to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence.
- Street gangs of other fatherless black boys offer black boys ‘perverse loyalty and love’.
- They are subject to a powerful anti school peer pressure, leading to them forming an anti school subculture causing them to underachieve.
What does Gilbourn blame for the failure of large numbers of black boys?
Gilbourn argues that institutional racism within the education system
How has cultural deprivation meant that ethnic minority students are underachieving?
- emg speak in restricted code due to a language barrier
- qualifications aren’t transferable if achieved in other countries
- can’t access textbooks and teacher language
How has family structure and parental support meant that achievements for ethnic minority students are different?
- black - lack of male role model - single parent family - Monyihan
- indian and chinese - large families that place high importance on education and push success
- working class - parents less supportive, if they didn’t do well, they don’t push their kids
How has material deprivation meant that ethnic minority students are underachieving?
- ethnic minorities more likely to be in lower paid jobs
- bangladeshi and pakistani more likely to be materially deprived
- can’t afford textbooks, space, diet
How has racism in wider society meant that ethnic minority students are underachieving?
- discrimination in housing and employment (CV study)
- racism makes material deprivation much bigger eg housing
- black - likely to have lower self esteem and struggle to succeed in education
How has labelling and teacher racism meant that ethnic minority students are underachieving, who created this idea?
Gilbourn and Youdell
- black students labelled as deviant and disruptive
- racialised expectations - asians as being passive, black as having discipline problems
