Item B shows that the exclusion rates are much higher within black Caribbean and black other than any of the others; it shows that per every 10,000 pupils excluded in 2001/2, just over 40 would have been black Caribbean, shortly followed by other black that were around 37 compared to around 14 whites being excluded. These statistics show that more ethnic minorities have been excluded which is stopping them from learning and succeeding their potential, which supports the view that it is the schools to blame.
Item C does show that schools are to blame because it shows that ethnic minorities reaching ‘A’ level standard are increasing at the same rate as whites, it shows that in 1988 31% of ethnic minorities were A level standard compared to 38% of whites and by 1997 all ethnic minorities had risen to 39% and whites had risen to 46%, although they are still lower than whites percentage they are increasing the same rate which proves that schools are not noticing the ethnic minorities faults and helping them to improve and be at the same stage as white; item C also shows that there are more ethnic minorities stay on at school (63% compared to the whites 50%) but, the increase is different; in 1988 all ethnic minorities staying on was 56% and by 1997 it had increased by 7% which is good but, compared to the whites increase which was 13% (in 1988 only 37% of whites were staying on it had increased to 50% by 1997) it showed that schools were noticing this fault by the whites and did something about it to increase the percentage in which they didn’t do for the ethnic minorities to reach A level standard.
Another factor that supports the view of it’s the schools themselves to blame for the cause of difference in achievement in ethnic groups, is labelling and racism in school. Teachers tend to label boys of afro-Caribbean origin as ‘unruly’ and ‘disrespectful’ which is supported by Gillborn’s study in 1990, he found that afro-Caribbean pupils were more likely to get given detentions than any other pupils; this may be linked by the way teachers perceived their manner and behaviour which could be simply just how they speak and they only challenge teachers authority when they feel they are being unfairly punished for something they feel they can’t help or haven’t done, by doing this the pupil is fulfilling their label that was placed by the teacher. These claims are supported by studies such as Tony Sewell (1996) and Jasper (2002) which both suggest that teacher are fearful of black boys but, Jasper goes further and claims that teachers offers black boys a different style of teaching which is less conducive to learning than the others.
In 1992 after Wright completed some studies she found that teachers displayed some overt racism. She observed Asian and African-Caribbean children in primary school and found that the teacher paid less attention to the Asian pupils especially girls, which lead to them less involved with discussions. Teachers also lack sensitivity towards other cultures which lead to ethnic groups feeling negatively about school and produced low self-esteem. Teachers also, had low expectations of the Asian pupils which also influenced bad attainment which later was confirmed by Connolly in 1998 after her studies. This racism from the teachers were picked up from white students who tended to copy their role models (teachers) and ethnic groups became victims of racism and bullying, which affected their educational attainment.
Another factor that also supports the statement is the curriculum which disadvantages ethnic groups as the knowledge they encounter does not connect with their own cultural experience, and ethnocentrism results the use of out-of date material which could be offensive by reflecting racial stereo types; this is supported by Coard theory of 1971which showed how content of education ignored black people and this led to low self esteem among black pupils. The national curriculum is also ethnocentric especially in history and English literature.
Factors that argue the statement that schools are to blame for the cause of differences in achievement amongst ethnic groups are material and cultural factors, because Afro-Caribbean have high numbers of one parent families which tend to female headed, this leads to lack of discipline for boys leading to them misbehaving in school. This also means that the are materially deprived because they don’t have the income of two parents they tend to be working class, which means they may not have time or space to do educational activities like homework due to part-time work or home responsibilities. Haque and Ball (2001) study found that the level of the mother’s education also had an effect on educational attainment.
Another factor could be the language barrier because although Afro-Caribbean’s do speak English they have different dialects which would affect their standard of school work and their communication with the teachers. The last Factor is cultural capital, where the parents would not be able to get their child into the best school as they do not have the characteristics of a middle class white person and that they are not used to the English education system, this would effect the student as they would attend a school that they couldn’t help the black student fulfil their full potential due to bad staff and lack of facilities.
In conclusion, from looking at all the points made I believe that school is to blame for the differences in ethnic groups attainment although there are good points to go against this, schools are not helping to their full potential which could help ethnic students a great deal as bad attainment is the result of bad communication between student, parent, and teacher and the lack of equality in a classroom.