The Impact of social class on education
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL CLASS ON EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND ATTAINMENT IN UK.
Sociologists have argued that social class differences in educational attainment can be explained in many terms but not necessarily in mutual exclusive kinds of theories such as; IQ theory; social class differences in material circumstances; sub-cultural attitudes and values and the school labelling processes just to mention a few. Sociologists tend to be critical of the IQ theory for various reasons including the factors affecting how it is measured, so in this essay, I shall therefore concentrate upon the other more sociological approaches and exclude the IQ theory. The following list of key words were essential in my argument; different methods of attainment, gender, ethnicity, cultural deficits, social status, formal and non-formal socialisation, equality of opportunities, ladder of opportunity, formal and hidden curricula, meritocracy, anti-school subculture, cultural deprivation, material deprivation, cultural capital and self fulfilling prophecy.
It is perceived that the British society is divided into different social classes. I would hardly agree with the idea that the British society is meritocratic, meaning that there is social mobility and any individual can be rewarded through hard working, skills and commitment. There is an upper class comprised with people that are very wealthy, by either inheritance or are self made millionaires and their children are most likely to attend private and expensive schools. The middle class; these have professional backgrounds such as teachers, doctors, surgeons etc. Their children are likely to either attend private schools or mainstream schools in a wealthy area, with good OFSTED and GCSE results. Then there are the working class people, usually with backgrounds of heavily dependent on benefits and low income paid jobs. Children from working class families do not tend to do very well in their education. They normally attend local
Sociologists have argued that social class differences in educational attainment can be explained in many terms but not necessarily in mutual exclusive kinds of theories such as; IQ theory; social class differences in material circumstances; sub-cultural attitudes and values and the school labelling processes just to mention a few. Sociologists tend to be critical of the IQ theory for various reasons including the factors affecting how it is measured, so in this essay, I shall therefore concentrate upon the other more sociological approaches and exclude the IQ theory. The following list of key words were essential in my argument; different methods of attainment, gender, ethnicity, cultural deficits, social status, formal and non-formal socialisation, equality of opportunities, ladder of opportunity, formal and hidden curricula, meritocracy, anti-school subculture, cultural deprivation, material deprivation, cultural capital and self fulfilling prophecy.
It is perceived that the British society is divided into different social classes. I would hardly agree with the idea that the British society is meritocratic, meaning that there is social mobility and any individual can be rewarded through hard working, skills and commitment. There is an upper class comprised with people that are very wealthy, by either inheritance or are self made millionaires and their children are most likely to attend private and expensive schools. The middle class; these have professional backgrounds such as teachers, doctors, surgeons etc. Their children are likely to either attend private schools or mainstream schools in a wealthy area, with good OFSTED and GCSE results. Then there are the working class people, usually with backgrounds of heavily dependent on benefits and low income paid jobs. Children from working class families do not tend to do very well in their education. They normally attend local