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Making Sense of White Working Class Educational Underachievement Summary The article ‘Making sense of white working class underachievement’ by Diane Raey (2009) In the K. P. Sveimsson (ed) Who Cares about the White Working Class? , Published by The Runnymeade Trust, is important in indicating the weaknesses of the education system in the United Kingdom today. According to this article, the White working class children do not perform well in academic performance. This issue is the centre stage for a tug of war among the parents, teachers, the government and the wealthy and middle class people within this jurisdiction. As it emerges, the issue is more complex than it seems and includes historical perspectives, the perceptions towards the white working class and other minorities and the education policy in the respective schools and United Kingdom in general. Diane Raey points out the poor are always marginalized generation after generation. She provides an example of the early times when the poor did not even have access to education. Education was for the rulers and the prestigious in the society. The people of the time believed there was no need for the poor to study as they could not help the society in any way and if they did, they could not serve the prestigious, as expected. These societal perceptions date back to the times of Ancient Greece and Sparta. These perceptions have trickled down to the modern day society. As stated in the article, the middle class and the wealthy disregard the working class, which are also categorized in the poor category. In this case, they do not want anything to do with them. In fact, they believe the working class are not only poor but also unmotivated and undetermined. The Middle class believ... ... middle of paper ... ...] Available at: [accessed 12 January 2014]. Perry, E and Francis, B., 2010. The social class gap for educational achievement: a review of the literature. [online] RSA projects. Available at: [accessed 12 January 2014]. Sparkes J., 1999. Schools, Education and Social Exclusion. [online] Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6482/1/Schools,_Education_and_Social_Exclusion.pdf [accessed 12 January 2014]. United Kingdom National Union of Teachers, n.d. Opening Locked Doors: Education achievement and white working class young people. [online] National Union of Teachers. Available at: [Accessed 12 January 2014].
In her article she points out how social class has become the main gateway to opportunity in America. The widening academic divide means that kids who grow up poor will most likely stay poor and the kids who grow up rich will most likely stay rich. About fifty years ago the main concern about getting a good education relied on your race but now it's about your social class. Researchers are starting to believe that children who come from higher income families tend to do better in school and get higher test scores.
Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” claims that students from different social classes are treated differently in schools. Anyon’s article is about a study she conducted to show how fifth graders from the working, middle, and upper class are taught differently. In Anyon’s article, she provides information to support the claim that children from different social classes are not given the same opportunities in education. It is clear that students with different socio-economic statuses are treated differently in academic settings. The curriculum in most schools is based on the social class that the students belong to. The work is laid out based on academic professionals’ assumptions of students’ knowledge. Teachers and educational professionals assume a student’s knowledge based on their socio-economic status.
A second piece of education policy that could be said to have a main aim of reducing social class inequality is The Education Act of 1944. Before this, only the middle class children could go to grammar schools and receive prestigious education due to the cost. However, The Education Act of 1944 introduced the 11+ exam and the ‘Tri-partite system’. All children sat the 11+ exam. Those who passed could go to grammar school, those who failed went to secondary moderns, and those with special abilities went to the secondary technicals. This meant that even if a working class child didn’t have any money, but successfully sat the 11+ exam, they could then go onto grammar school. Although at face value it looks as though this policy is reducing social class inequality, the 11+ exam and the Tri-partite system have been criticised. This is because the 11+ exam was seen as being biased in favour of middle class pupils. In addition, there was supposed to be a parity of esteem between the 3 schools. However, Grammar schools were deemed much better. Further to this, working class children who secured a place at a grammar school by passing the 11+ exam couldn’t even go anyway, as the price of various uniform and sports attire was too much. In response to this, in 1965, Comprehensive education was introduced. This sys...
Hallinan, Maureen T.. "Sociological Perspectives on Black-White Inequalities in American Schooling." Handbook of the sociology of education. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000. 50-70. Print.
There is a common, underlying perception that students from particular cultural and linguistic backgrounds – what is generally referred to as ethnicity - have a predisposition towards educational success in Australian schools (Watkins, 2013). Students from Anglo backgrounds, for example, are often seen as having a cultural advantage whilst others, such as Middle Eastern students, are perceived as culturally prone to underachievement. These claims confine ethnicity to fixed and bound stereotypes, and see educational achievement as a result of the inherent qualities of these groups (Watkins, 2013). However, ethnicity cannot be held solely responsible for the inequalities in Australian education. A densely interwoven fabric of socio-cultural factors, for instance, geographical location and socioeconomic status, is evident in the disparities between students' academic achievements. It is within fabric that it can be established that students from minority groups are educationally disadvantaged due to their ethnicities, geographical locations and socioeconomic statuses, incidentally influencing their chances of educational success in Australian schools (Groundwater-Smith, 2009).
Some people may believe that education all over the United States is equal. These people also believe that all students no matter their location, socioeconomic status, and race have the same access and quality of education, but ultimately they are wrong. Throughout history, there has been a huge educational disparity between the wealthy and marginalized communities. The academic essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon, an American critical thinker and researcher in education, conveys that depending on the different economic backgrounds students have, they will be taught in a specific way. He reveals that the lower economic background a child has then the lower quality their education will be and the higher their economic background is the higher quality their education is. Anyon’s theory of a social ladder is extremely useful because it sheds light on the
The Achievement Gap in America has separated and divided America's youth into more or less, two different cultures of socioeconomic placement. The first being the predominantly Caucasian students at American elementary schools, high schools, and colleges that excel greatly in their education. Most of the time earning them middle to upper class jobs in the economy, the aforementioned group contrasts significantly with its opposite culture of American youth. The second culture, the population that is mostly made up of the minority races, takes it's place in the American education system as the population of students who are less interested in getting a decent education and taking advantage of the resources that are offered, for various underlying reasons. This in turn manufactures less people of this type of culture to be readily available for higher paying jobs, and often times unemployable for a job at all. The Achievement Gap in America is influenced by many cultural, environmental, and socioeconomic factors that separate lower and higher achieving students based on these factors, and leave a high amount of unemployed Americans as a result, if not incarcerated or deceased.
Lee, V. E., & Burkam, D. T. (2002). Inequality at the starting gate: social background differences in achievement as children begin school. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute.
4 Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski, “Inequality in Postsecondary Attainment,” 2011. In Greg Duncan and Richard Murnane, eds., Whither Opportunity: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances, pp. 117-132. New York: Russell Sage
The first difference you see between the middle and working class in education is the selection of primary schools as for some it is the first time they are going to enter into the academic world. At this point the family as a whole are entering into “unfamiliar worlds” (Jackson and Marsden, 1966, page 99) in the process of selecting and applying for schools. The middle class aim is to have their children go to a successful school with a good Ofsted report just like the working class. However it is harder for the working class to get into these schools due to a range of factors. Some of these restricting factors are their knowledge of the system and economic status or wealth; they may not have the facilities for tra...
The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.
According to Byman and Kansanen (2008, p605) ‘… teaching in itself does not imply learning’. The underachievement of young people in education has been a priority in British politics for over two decades (Ross, 2009). The estimates of academic underachievement at Key Stage 4 (KS4) are reportedly between one fifth and one third of the KS4 population in England (Steedman and Stoney, 2004). An Ofsted (2013) report identifies that pupils’ aged from 11 to 16 (early KS4) is below the national average. Underachievement in KS4 has become a recurring phenomenon (Wogboroma, 2014), with several academics and government bodies, identifying a range of significant implications, not only for the individual but also for wider society (Beinart, et al. 2002; McIntosh and Houghton, 2005; Hosie, 2007; Ofsted, 2013; DfE, 2014). This unseen cluster of learners that are academically underachieving is representative of an objectionable waste of potential, in addition incurring subsequent costs, from an individual viewpoint to a national scale (Ofsted, 2013). Consequently, recognizing and instigating timely interventions to tackle underachievement in KS4 and subsequently achieve social justice for this learner group should be a fundamental goal for schools. Motivation is recognised as an effective tool to overcome underachievement (Mega, et al. 2014) Furthermore, the intrinsic loci of motivation has developed to become an important phenomenon for educators, as it produces high-quality and effective learning in addition to creativity and achievement that can be progressively nurtured by teacher practices (Ryan & Stiller, 1991). Theories of motivation, self and society are critically evaluated to determine effective strategies...
Richmond, Paulette Natasha. "Wealth and Achievement Gaps: An Examination of Virginia Middle Schools." Ph.D. Old Dominion University, 2007. Print. United States – Virginia.
Wright, C. (1992)Early Education: Multiracial Primary School Classrooms. In Gill, D. Mayor, B. and Blair, M. (Eds) Racism and Education: Structures and Strategies. London: Sage.
Ianelli, C. & Paterson, L. (2005) Does Education Promote Social Mobility Paper 5, Edinburgh: Centre for educational sociology, University of Edinburgh.