At all levels of education children from deprived families achieve less well than their more well off counterparts. They are less likely to be found in nursery schools, will have fallen behind significantly in reading, writing and arithmetic by the age of nine, are more likely to leave school at the age of sixteen and are three times less likely to go to university. It is argued that the deprived have less innate intelligence as shown by IQ tests. Peter Saunders (1996) claims that the middle class do better in education quite simply because they inherit their parents talent, as suggested previously by the biological aspect of the nature nurture debate. Saunders suggests erroneously that it may not be the case that talents and abilities are equally distributed across the classes. Saunders claims that there are genetic differences in aptitude between social classes as measured by IQ tests. Saunders furthermore claims that it is normal to expect successful middle class parents to pass on genetic advantages to their offspring again agreeing with the environment factor of the nature nurture debate. However some sociologists point out that it is impossible to separate genetic influences such as poverty, education, racism etc that may be a greater influence. IQ test results may be culturally biased and can never be neutral because they measure what the middle class academics regard as intelligence. Poverty reduces options for parents, as many parents living in poverty may not be able to afford prenatal care leading to a higher risk of health problems when the child is born. Housing is a huge issue concerning the health of children in socio-economically deprived homes. Children living in poverty may suffer from ill health due to poor housing conditions such as damp rooms that may lead to the child having pneumonia. Also the areas that these families live in may not be adequate suffering from crimes and violence as suggested by Murry previously. Dodge et al 1994 states; “ mothers and fathers living in poverty also treat their children quite differently than parents in middle-class families in the united states. They talk and read to them less, provide fewer age-appropriate toys, spend less time with them in intellectually stimulating activities, explain things less often, are less warm, are stricter and are more physical in their discipline.
In his article, “None of the Above: What IQ Doesn’t Tell You about Race” journalist Malcolm Gladwell refutes the notion that intelligence is based on genetics and argues that IQ is not just based on an individual’s level of thinking but also on the location where an individual resides. In 1984, James Flynn discovered that over the years, the IQ of people around the world had been increasing by three points per decade. This is now known as the Flynn effect. The IQ fundamentalists around the world believe that IQ score shows an individual’s level of thinking and it is based on genetics. However, Flynn effect disproves this
The Unconscious Bias of Intelligence Tests In the chapter entitled “The Hereditarian Theory of IQ: An American Invention” in The Mismeasure of Man (New York: Norton, 1996), Stephen Jay Gould analyzes the reasoning behind intelligence tests. Gould begins the chapter by stating how Alfred Binet, who studied the measurement of intelligence, began this endeavor in order to institute special education for learning-disabled and other disadvantaged children. Gould continues his analysis by reporting that three of Binet’s followers, H. H. Goddard (who brought Binet’s scale to America), Lewis M. Terman (who developed the Stanford- Binet scale), and Robert M. Yerkes (who persuaded the army to test the intelligence of 1.75 million men in World War I), corrupted Binet’s work and used his tests to measure an element they called “intelligence,” which ultimately resulted in peoplebeing labeled as either “intelligent” or “stupid.”
Poverty has many influences on children under the age of 16. The research fined out that in recent year, an increasing number of children become poor, live under the poverty condition- childhood poverty lasted 10 years or more. So, what does the poverty exactly mean to children? According to Brook-Gunn and Duncan, The kids who live in the poverty condition have the low quality of schools; more likely to have domestic violence and become homeless; less access to friends, services, etc. (Brooks-Gunn et all, 1997) That points out the disadvantage and how the family income influence youngsters overall childhood, since under the poverty condition, they children do not have enough money to support for their necessary needs, they will more likely to have low self-confidence and hard to blend in with their peers. Poverty has impact on children’s achievement in several different ways. Payne (2003) maintained that the poverty could affect children achievement though emotional, mental, financial, and role models (Payne, 2003). Thus, the children from low-income family are more likely to have self-destructive behavior, lack of control emotional response and lack of necessary intellectual, that is really important for the students under the age of 16. Nevertheless, the children who suffer from poverty are usually have low birth weight and low cognitive ability
In her article “When Class Became More Important to a Child’s Education Than Race,” Sarah Garland (2013) argues that money income is more important to a child's education than race. In this article Sarah states that children who have parents with low incomes do not get the same opportunity as children with parents who have higher income.
less well in school and are more likely to drop out of school. Often, the reason for dropping out
...est high school students in America” (Gladwell 82). It was shocking to learn that all the Nobel Prize in Medicine winners did not all come from the most prestigious schools. Also, in the third chapter I notices some aspects that were highly relatable to me. My life relates to subjects included in chapter three because I am a student. It is interesting and helpful to learn that one does not need the highest IQ to succeed in today’s world. This is how I relate to chapter three. The third chapter in Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell had striking information that stated that IQs do not always determine who will be successful, and I can relate to the information in the chapter because I am student who has thought about my IQ before.
Sir Francis (Galton, 1869) believed intelligence was inherited, and saw conceptualised general mental ability as a largely inheritable trait, and very much like physical traits, having a normal distribution in the population. Biologically, siblings share genes, and evidence shows that (Schacter, Gilbert & Wegner, 2012) intelligence test scores of siblings to be much more similar than the intelligence scores of unrelated people. Identical twins(monozygotic) share 100% DNA and studies show
interpreted as being caused by genetic or environmental differences among groups? A strong promoter of the belief that there is undoubtedly a racial difference in intelligence is Phillippe Rushton. As a professor of psychology, he argues that there is irrefutable scientific evidence of difference...
Human intelligence is an eel-like subject: slippery, difficult to grasp, and almost impossible to get straight [3]. Many scientist and psychologist have made numerous attempts to come up with an explanation for the development of human intelligence. For many years, there has been much controversy over what intelligence is and whether it is hereditary or nurtured by the environment. Webster's dictionary defines intelligence as "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge; which includes a sensing an environment and reaching conclusions about the state of that environment [7]. In this paper I am going to examine the factors, which make up ones intelligence. I will be investigating whether or not intelligence is fostered by genetic heritance or nurtured by ones environment.
Children are those who have limited abilities or opportunities to decide what happens to them. They cannot choose their family structure or status. Therefore, poverty is not a choice, but a lifestyle for children and impacts every aspect of their lives. Poverty contributes to poor health, the widespread transmission of disease by family or environment, lack of education and increased incidents of violence. Poverty affects a child’s development and contributes to antisocial behavior and sometimes hostile acts of aggression due to a lack of self-control. These acts of aggression often become embedded in their personality and are unchangeable. Therefore, it is imperative that we take actions early to address the global issue of poverty.
p. 76). This impact is usually greater on particular groups - for example, children in rural areas, children of the long term unemployed, refugees, and children with special physical and emotional needs (Ewing, 2013. p. 76). It is important for educators to understand that some assumptions of particular groups of people such as: poor people brought it upon themselves and poor people are less intellectually advantaged than their middle and upper class counterparts (Ewing, 2013. p. 76).
On the ‘nature’ side of the debate is the psychometric approach, considered to be the most dominant in the study of intelligence, which “inspired the most research and attracted the most attention” (Neisser et al. 1996, p. 77). It argues that there is one general (‘g’) factor which accounts for intelligence. In the 1880s, Francis Galton conducted many tests (measuring reaction times to cognitive tasks), (Boundless 2013), in order to scientifically measure intelligence. These tests were linked to the eugenic breeding programme, which aimed to eliminate biologically inferior people from society. Galton believed that as intelligence was inherited, social class or position were significant indicators of intelligence. If an individual was of high social standing, they would be more intelligent than those of a lower position. However he failed to show any consistency across the tests for this hypothesis, weakening his theory that social class correlated with intelligence. Nevertheless, his creation of the intelligence test led many to continue to develop...
They are even capable of understanding and dealing with their own emotions as well as the emotions of others. Some of the implications of poverty include educational setbacks, issues with social behaviors and hindrances in psychological and physical development. Poverty deprives children of the capabilities needed to survive, develop and prosper in society. Studies have shown that the income status of a household and even the neighborhoods in which they reside can affect the amount of readily available resources needed to sustain a healthy child. This essay will examine the psychological and physical effects of poverty on children.
There are many different factors that affect education. One such factor is, socioeconomic status. Children who attend school in a wealthier community receive a better education than those students in poor communities. In poor communities, student’s education is not only affected by a lack of resources, but also from teaching methods and philosophies. Urban and poor schools’ students do not receive as equal of an education as their more affluent and suburban counterparts do.
Research reveals that the higher the social class, the higher the levels of educational achievement are likely to be. The children of parents in higher social classes are more likely to stay on in post compulsory education, more likely to achieve examination passes when at school, and more likely to gain university entrance. These features painted a true picture of British education in the twentieth century and can be argued to follow this trend today. However, whether there has been any reduction in the inequalities is more debatable, but some research suggests that these inequalities are as great as ever, despite the overall improvements within the education system. Many researchers argue that IQ tests are biased in favour of the middle class, since members of this group largely construct them.