Cultural Deprivation

Cultural Deprivation

1. Criticisms Of Sugarman

   • He was writing at a time when it was more common for working class children to bring home money for disadvantaged households.
   • High unemployment makes it pointless to leave school as soon as possible, change educational policies make it difficult to leave education.

2. Criticisms of Douglas

   • Many working class parents may be unable to attend these school functions, e.g because of shift work or long hours
   • Working class parents may feel uncomfortable in the middle class atmosphere of schools, especially if they did not achieve well themselves

3. Criticisms Of Bernstein

   • Bernstein says middle class children use the elaborated code and thus achieve more in school because teachers use the same way of speaking
   • Working class children start off with a disadvantage because they do not speak in the same way as teachers as the restricted code is not used in education

4. Labrov

   • Labov’s study on working class, black children in Harlem (NY) shows their speech patterns are just as good at explaining themselves as those of white middle class children
   • Labov claims that black working class children achieve badly at school because they speak a different dialect from the teacher and teachers often criticise this.
   • The children then see school and the class room as hostile so they do not say much. This makes them look as if they have a restricted code