cultural deprivation Essay

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Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that working-class children under-achieve because they are culturally deprived

When a child is said to be culturally deprived, this is when a child will under-achieve in school as they lack cultural equipment which is needed to do well. This ‘cultural equipment’ is seen to be things such as language, reasoning skills and self-discipline, being culturally deprived is shown to have a direct impact on achievement and the three main aspects are language, attitudes and values and intellectual development.
Firstly Intellectual development, this is the student’s development of thinking and reasoning skills as well as the ability to solve problems. Many working class children lack educational books and activities to stimulate intellectual development. J.W.B Douglas found that working class pupils scored lower on their ability test than middle class pupils. He argues that working class parents are less likely to support their children’s intellectual development through reading at home and won’t spend time with the children so doesn’t allow them to improve their ability and skills. This could lead to under achievement because it means that from a young age working class children are behind already as they don’t have the useful resources to get that head start that most middle-class children get in terms of educational activities and reading at home. Basil Bernstein looks at the difference in language between working class and middle class pupils. He distinguishes between two types of speech codes. One is the restricted code, this consists of a limited vocabulary with short unfinished grammar, and speech would be typically used by working-class being very simple. The other code is the elaborate code this is typically used by middle class people; it has a wider vocabulary and longer structured sentences. As working-class are seen to use the restricted code this can lead to under achievement because the language used in schools and in exams tend to be in the elaborate code, so middle class people will understand these better which can help them get a better results and working-class may struggle with terms which can result in worse results.
Leon Feinstein who looks at attitudes and values found that working class parents who have a “lack of interest” was partly the reason for their children’s under achievement at school. Middle class children are more successful because they are provided with the correct and well needed motivation and support which helps them develop a better attitude towards the whole idea of education.
Educational success is important and some working-class parents fail to give their children the appropriate norms, values, beliefs, skills and knowledge needed for educational success, this making some children culturally deprived as a result. Item A shows that Douglas’ views on a child’s success led to educational priority areas (EPAs) being set up in areas where poverty is shown, Item A highlights that the aim of the EPAs was to increase the involvement of parents in their children’s education, and as evidence has been shown that when parents are involved more with their children’s education it boosts their skills so this will result in smaller amounts of working-class people being culturally deprived. This help can be seen as compensatory education as it provides extra resources for schools in deprived areas. Barry Sugarman explains how there are 4 features which act as a barrier to educational achievement in the working-class. Fatalism, which is a belief that there is nothing you can
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