Cultural deprivation

CD

• idea that underachievement of some ethnic/social groups = due to inadequate socialisation

3 factors in EM CD

1. Intellectual and linguistic skills

2. Attitudes and values

3. Family structure and parental support

Low-income Black children and primary socialisation

• Lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences

  • Therefore lack reasoning and problem-solving skills

Bereiter and Engelmann — Black 🇺🇸 English

• Inadequate for academic success

  • Ungrammatical

  • Disjointed

  • Incapable of expressing abstract ideas

EAL students

• Often held back due to inadequate acquisition of English

  • EAL students often also poc

EAL students that learn English at school

• Greatly advantaged as learn elaborated code

  • Used to langauge used by school → more confortable in school environment → perform better

2010 — EAL students x %pts behind EFL students in the % of 5 A*-C grades at GCSE

3.2

ONS (2013) — % of primary pupils EAL

18%

ONS (2013) — % of secondary pupils EAL

13%

ONS (2013) — EAL pupil performance in EBacc

• Outperform EFL pupils in the EBacc once proficient in English

Swann Report (1985) — age and language

• Language barriers initially lower attainment

  • Quickly overcome especially among younger pupils

Gillborn and Mirza (2000) — 🇮🇳

• 🇮🇳 students often EAL but do very well at school

Major cause of Black failure

• Lack of motiviation

4 elements of subculture that Black children are socialised into and leaves them unequipped for success

1. Fatalistic

2. Immediate gratification

3. Present-time orientation

4. Doesn’t value education

NR Sewell (2009) — 2 differences between Black and Asian pupils and therefore achivement

1. Cultural differences in socialisation — Black students “nurtured by MTV”

2. Cultural attitudes to education — Asian pupils “clock up the educational hours” as have an “Asian work ethic”

NR Scruton (1986)

• Some EM underachieve due to failure to embrace mainstream British culture

Reason for improper socialisation of Black children

• Dysfunctional family structure

  • Matrifocal single families

  • Lack of male role models

Moynihan (1965) — cycle of CD

• Inadequate parents → badly socialised children → educational failure → inadequate parents → perpetuation of cycle of disadvantage and limitation of opportunities for future generations

Moynihan (1965) — 2 reasons matrifocal single families deprive children of adequate care

1. Financial struggle w/out male 🍞winner

2. Lack of role model of male achievement for boys

Murray (1984)

• High rates of lone parenthood + lack of positive male role models → underachievement of some minorities

Sewell (2009) — reason for underachievement of Black boys

• ≠ absence of father

• = lack of fatherly nurturing and tough love

Sewell (2009) — imapcts of lack of tough love and nurturing

• Unable to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence → further disengagement from educational settings and negative influences from their peers

Sewell (2009) — role of street gangs

• Offer Black boys ‘perverse loyalty and love’

  • Present boys with a media-inspired role model of anti-school Black masculinity

NR Pryce (1979) — 2 contribuents to underachievement of Black Caribbean pupils

1. Family structure is less cohesive

2. Culture is less resistant to racism → low self-esteem → underachievement

NR Pryce (1979) — 2 reasons for to overachievement of Asian pupils

1. Culture more resistant to racism

2. Culture gives greater sense of self-worth

NR Pryce (1979) — reason for Black Caribbean and Asian pupils’ different educational achievements

• Impact of colonialism — culturally devastating for Black people, not for Asian people

  • Being transported and sold caused loss of language/religion/families

CRITICISM of Pryce — Lawrence (1982)

• Black pupils under achieve due to racism, not low self-esteem

CRITICISM of Pryce

• Asian people also suffered under colonialism in various ways even if they were not enslaved, which affected their religion, language and family structures

• 🇮🇳 faced severe economic exploitation under 🇬🇧

  • Lead to famines and widespread poverty

  • Imposition of 🇬🇧 culture undermined local traditions and disrupted social structures

• 🇯🇵 affected by Western imperialism

  • Rapid modernisation that sometimes disregarded local customs and culture

• 🇵🇭 forced conversion to ✝ by 🇪🇸 and 🇺🇸

• 🇻🇳 faced brutal 🇫🇷 colonisation

  • Economic exploitation and cultural/lingual imposition

Compensatory education for EM groups

• Assimilation

• MCE

• Aiming High scheme

  • Focus: increase EM participation in higher education

Assimilation

• E.g. compensatory education to teach English

• Help assimilate into mainstream British culture to raise achievement

CRITICISM of assimiliation

• Underachieving EM groups often already speak English

  • Problem = racism

MCE aim

• Promote ethnic minority pupils by valuing all cultures in the curriculum

• Increase EM pupil’s self-esteem and achievements

CRITICISM of MCE - Stone (1981)

• Black pupils don’t fail due to a lack of self-esteem

CRITICISM of MCE - critical race theorists

• MCE is tokenism

  • Chooses sterotypical features of minority cultures to include without tackling instutitional racism

• Better option: anti-racist education to challenge prejudice and discrimination

CRITICISM of MCE - New Right

• Perpetuates cultural divisions

• Should promote shared national culture and identity, assimilate minorities

CRITICISM of Aiming High — Archer et al (2010)

• Tried to ‘fix’ low aspirations with learning mentors

Arnot (2004) — peer group and media pressure

• Rap lyrics and MTV videos reinforce ideal of ‘ultra-tough ghetto superstar’

• Black boys subject to anti-educational peer group pressure

  • Speaking in standard English & doing well at school = seen as ‘selling out’ to the white establishment, suspicious

Swann Report (1985) — Asian families

• Provide strong parental support

• Emphasise education as the path to success

Lupton (2004) — W/C White 🇬🇧 families

• W/c WB families in disadvantaged areas have lower aspirations (compared to other groups) for education and negative attitudes towards schooling

Bhatti (1999) — Asian (🇵🇰, 🇮🇳, 🇧🇩) families

• Parents show high interest and support for their children’s education

  • Lack of familiarity with school processes limits engagement due to feeling unwelcome

Vincent et al (2011) — Black M/C parents

• Actively engage in children’s education

  • Encounter biases from teachers due to assumed lower parental interest

Moons and Ivins (2004) — % of EM parents who attend parents’ evenings

82%

Moons and Ivins (2004) — EM parents

• More involved in children’s education than general population

Moons and Ivins (2004) — 🇵🇰 and 🇧🇩 parents and HW

• Less confident in helping with homework due to differences in CC

Modood (2006) — higher education

• W/C Black and Asian families more likely to encourage higher education than W/C White 🇬🇧 peers

  • Leads to higher EM Uni participation rates

Mcculloch (2014) — HE

• EM more likely to aspire to go to uni than White 🇬🇧 as W/CWB lack parental support

Lupton — behaviour in schools

• Poorer behaviour in White majority schools despite lower numbers of FSM due to:

1. Less parental suport

2. Negative attitude towards education

• EM see education as a ‘way up in society’

Evans (2006) — street culture

• Street culture in White W/C areas so brutal that young people have to withstand intimidation and intimidate others

  • Power dynamics from the street play out in the classroom → inhibition of academic success  

CRITICISM of CD — Driver (1977)

• Ignores positive effects of ethnicity on achievement

  • Black Caribbean family provides girls w/strong, independent female role models →Bblack girls tend to be more successful

CRITICISM of CD — Keddie

• Education system is ethnocentric; EM are not the problem

CRITICISM of CD — labelling theorists

• Underachievement due to teacher racism and low expectations → s-f p

CRITICISM of CD — Critical Race Theorists

• Education system is institutionally racist

CRITICISM of CD — Rollock (2013) — intersection with race and class

• M/C Black parents use EcoC, CC and social capital to support children’s achievement

CRITICISM of CD — Lareau (2011) — intersection with race and class

• Black and White 🇺🇸 M/C parents do concerted cultivation

• Use organised leisure activities to gain their children skills and therefore an educational advantage

CRITICISM of CD — Raz (2013) — politics

• CD deflects real causes of underachivement — poverty, racism

  • This allows gov’ts to blame victims and not tackle causes (saves money!)