"People who do well at school are just more intelligent then people who do less well." Why are sociologists critical of this view?

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“People who do well at school are just more intelligent then people who do less well.”

Why are sociologists critical of this view?

Many sociologists argue that there are many more factors that play a big part other then school. Intelligence is measured by intelligence tests which gives an individual’s intelligence quotient or know as IQ.

Many researchers argue that IQ tests are biased in favour of the middle class.

There is an agreement that intelligence is due to both genetic and environmental factors. Environmental influences everything from diet to social class from housing. It is estimated that between 60% and 80% of intelligence is genetically based, this is why many sociologists are critical of this view. Identical twins raised in different environments show they have different IQ scores. Since the twins are genetically identical, it can be argued that the different IQ scores are caused by environments.  

“Working class culture leads working class children into underachievement”

To what extent does evidence support this view?

Cultural factors include parental expectations, values and child-rearing styles which vary between social classes. Language development and usage has been linked to class, ethnicity and even gender and also linked to success and failure.

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When considering the factors involved in differential achievement we need to recognise that the social characteristics of by different children have an affect on the way they are treated within the education system. Simply because we may refuse the idea that something like "parental attitudes" alone does not explain differential achievement does not mean that, in the context of the way in which teachers behave towards children in the school, for example, such factors are unimportant.

As we have seen in relation to the relative achievement levels between children of the same measured intelligence and different social class, ...

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