In the 15th Century the idea of schooling began Essay Example for Free

In the 15th Century the idea of schooling began Essay It is used during the process of streaming within school subjects. For example pupils who the teacher feels is good or poor at a certain subject, will be taught in a high or low ability group, this has criticisms at it encourages pupils to think of themselves as having fixed educational ability. A pupil can also be given a label from their behaviour, such as trouble maker or thick, either at home or school. This can damage a childs self esteem or make them rebel, which leads to them believing the label they have been given, this is called the Self-fulfilling prophecy. For what ever reason they were given the label, they find it hard to be looked at without the label, so end up behaving in a way that fits to their given label. Working class not only have had inequalities in the past but also still do today. Although there are more opportunities in the education system, home life also plays large impact on how well a child does achidemically at school. Douglas (1964) conducted a study on middle and working class children through primary and secondary school. He found that children of a similar measured ability at age 7 varied a great deal in their educational achievement by the time they were 11. He claimed that the greatest influence on attainment was parental attitudes in the working class. He measured this by the number of times these parents visited the school, family size, early child-rearing practises, health and the quality of the childs school. Working class children are more likely to have a part time job whilst at school and likely to leave education at 16. The Plowden Report (1967) noticed in working class households there was an absence of books, educational toys, lack of finance, lack of motivation, no parent support of due to own experiences or as a need to work long hours. This has been described as Material and Cultural deprivation. Jackson and Marsden (1962) published a study, Education and the working class. It showed that working class children tend to be slower in learning how to read and write, they start school at a disadvantage and this normal continues throughout. Marxists would say that this is because there are less opportunities for some classes and that the education system just helps to reproduce the existing class structure, e. g. , the ruling class (upper and middle class) and the workers (the working class), thus conflict and inequalities will continue. Success at school depends heavily on language, for reading, writing, speaking and understanding. Bernstein argues that there is a relationship between language use and social class, and that the language used by the middle class is a better instrument for success at school than the language used by the working class, (Browne 2005). In his view there are two different language codes: Â  The restricted code- This language is used by both classes, but is more characteristic of the working-class people. It is used everyday amongst friends and family, which is informal and simple (such as slang). Bernstein argues that lower-class-working people are mainly limited to this form of language use. Â  The elaborated code- This is mainly used by the middle-class, and is spoken in a formal context, with explanation if required. It has a much wider vocabulary than the restricted code, and is the language that would be found in textbooks, essays and examinations. Bernstein has argued that as the language used in schools by teachers and in textbooks is the elaborated code, working class children are disadvantaged. They may find it hard to understand the elaborate language used in school, therefore their work will suffer. Unlike middle class children who are used to the language so will find the work easier. Differences have been found amongst the achievements of people from different ethnic backgrounds, possible reasons for this could be the differences in their cultural backgrounds, language barriers and understanding or suffering from racism. If English were not the first language for someone this would give him or her a large disadvantage in the understanding of the language, which would affect their work in most areas. Suffering from racism in or out of school would cause the pupil upset, which could affect their schoolwork. Many Pakistani, Bangladeshi and African Caribbean children have large families and are working class, so are likely so have deprived social conditions. These groups mentioned appear to have a below average reading ability and tend to get fewer and poorer GCSE results than white or Indian pupils. It can be seen on the below table they are the overall lowest achieving ethnic groups. Students that achieved 5 or more GCSE grades A*-C (%) Race Group 1989 1998 2002 Indian N/a 54 60 White 30 47 52 Bangladeshi N/a 33 41 Pakistani N/a 29 40 Black 18 29 36. (Department for Education and skills, 2004: in Livesley et al, 2005) From the data above it is clear that black children are the lowest achievers. In the past racist remarks have been made claiming that problem was they had lower levels of inherited intelligence. Which is untrue, in 1985 the Swann Report found that there was no significant difference between the IQs of black and white children, (Thompson et al, 1982). Black boys are often given labels such as unruly and difficult to control, due to how the teacher has interpreted them by their dress, manner or speech, and find them challenging. They are more often to be given detention than other pupils, and often feel unfairly treated, then respond in accordance with their label, self-fulfilling prophecy. Although they do not achieve well at school, the number of black women staying in education past the age of 16 is increasing, which may be influenced by the many future career opportunities available today. Kamala Nehaul (Parenting, Schooling and Caribbean Heritage Pupils 1999) has noted how black parents valued education for the enhanced life chances it offered. She also mentioned the encouragement and commitment from parents, talking about the school day and providing provisions needed for their child to study. Indian children do well within the education system, there is a strong emphasis on self-improvement through education within this culture. Many of these children have professional backgrounds, so have good role models and supportive parents and they also have material advantages. Differences in the achievement between gender, race and class will continue to be compared, though surely the person should be treated as an individual. Post-modern thinkers such as Elkind (1998), suggest a key characteristic here is the idea of difference and, in a sense, the fragment of identities. In other words, students want to be recognised and treated as unique individuals rather than as groups, (Livesey et al, 2005). Although a students background may effect their achievement, as evidence suggests, it must be remembered that everyone is an individual with their own abilities, no matter what race, class or gender they are, have the potential to achieve in education. A girl, black or white from a working class background may not have had any opportunities for a good career after education 50 years ago, due to inequalities in the system, but this is not the case today. Overall the educational achievements for all groups of people have improved. There will always be some people in all of the groups mentioned previously, that fail in education, as a result of self-gratification and now culture, they are more focused on living for the moment, and not thinking about how their actions during their education can effect their future life.