Class Differences In Achievement: Internal and External Factors

Class Differences In Achievement: Internal and External Factors

1. external Factors

   • material deprivation
     • Material deprivation is a lack of basic necessities
       • Poor diet: lack of nutrition causes child to be more exposed to illness and causes them to have days off school therefore missing education
       • Housing: living in cramped housing restricts the amount of work children can do at home, it can affect their sleeping if they share bedrooms and damp housing can cause ill health
       • Financial support: cant afford the uniform or the books that are required or can't afford the travel to school
   • Cultural deprivation
     • cultural deprivation is the lack of basic values, attitudes and skills needed for education
       • many w/c children suffer this
     • Intellectual development
       • thinking and reasoning skills such as the ability to solve problems and use ideas and concepts
       • Douglas found that w/c children scored lower on ability tests than the m/c this is because w/c parents are less likely to support their children's intellectual development
     • Language
       • restricted code: used by w/c: simple sentences and short vocab
       • elaborated code: used by m/c: wider vocab and grammatically complex sentances
     • Attitudes and values
       • Sugarman found that w/c subculture has four key features that act as a barrier to educational achievement
         • Fatalism
           • believe in fate, 'whatever will be, will be' and you can't change your status, this contrasts with m/c
         • Collectivism
           • valuing being part of group more than succeeding as an individual
         • Immediate Gratification
           • seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future
         • Present time orientation
           • seeing the present as more important than the future