The cultural deprivation theory is also offered as an explanation for the low success rate of Afro-Caribbean’s. They believe that at a young age, Afro-Caribbean children are deprived of toys, and lack communication, which later leads on to disruptive behaviour at an older age and lack of motivation at school. However, there is no evidence to suggest that Afro-Caribbean parents lack care and understanding for their children at a young age, so this explanation cannot account on its own for the low achievement of Afro-Caribbean’s.
Linked to the cultural deprivation theory, is the affect of backgrounds, which is to some extent determined by ethnicity. For example, many Afro-Caribbean children are brought up in single-parent families with working mothers. Sociologists believe that lack of an authoritative male role model, leads to disruptive behaviour in Afro-Caribbean boys at school. They also believe that this is why females do better than boys, as females are motivated by the strong female role model of their mothers, and can identify with this role. It is also suggested that these children are deprived of the values needed for educational success. However it is believed that Afro-Caribbean parents are more likely to send their children to supplementary schooling during holidays and weekends. Also this explanation generalises, and does not take into account the two-parent Afro-Caribbean families. It also assumes that mothers are not an authoritative role in the family, but also does not take into account the female-headed families of children who do achieve.
However, background and culture can also have a positive affect. For example, the Swann Report claimed that Asian families are linked with successful educational performance. This is maintained by large close-knit families, which are closely linked to the community. This results in shared resources, and an emphasis on the importance of education. This can lead to educational success. However, the term Asian refers to a number of other different ethnic groups such as Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi, all of which perform very differently. So, this explanation cannot be generalised to the category “Asian” as not all Asian ethnic groups perform well.
Social class also has an impact on educational achievement of children, and this too is linked to ethnicity. A point that reflects this is that Afro-Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils are mostly made up of working class families, which are much more economically deprived than White and Indian families. This can lead to deprivation of school resources and also limits the type of school that children can attend. This is another way in which education is affected by ethnicity.
Another explanation offered in relation to the poor performance of Afro-Caribbean pupils is the influence of sub-cultures. In particular this refers to black youth culture, who are concerned with their image and material possessions such as money and consumer goods. Sociologists believe that this is one reason why Black pupils perform badly, so live up to their image.
School factors are also important and need to be considered. Sociologists believe that teacher expectations have led to under-achievement of ethnic groups, such as Afro-Caribbean pupils. Teachers expect Black pupils to be good at music and sports and therefore encourage students to follow up these subjects rather than academic subjects. In addition to this Afro-Caribbean pupils were seen by teachers to be disruptive and unruly, and so pupils respond by fulfilling their labels. Gillborn (1990) found to back this up, that Afro-Caribbean pupils were more likely to be given detention than other pupils.
Another in school-factor is institutional racism. It may be a part of the hidden curriculum. It believed that negative treatment of Afro-Caribbean children leads to them developing low self-esteem and so resulting in self-fulfilling prophecy.
Racism is also enforced on Asian pupils too. In particular, at primary schools, Asian pupils are often seen as “invisible” by teachers and are excluded from class discussions, as teachers believe their levels of English are not good enough for participation. However despite Asian pupils receiving negative treatment as well as Afro-Caribbean pupils, Asians still achieve on average higher than White pupils.
However although explanations are offered for the level of achievement of ethnic groups, there are many criticisms with these explanations. One criticism is that the categorisation is too broad in some areas, i.e. Asian, which can mean Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese, all of which perform very differently. And although these different categories are recognised by some sociologists, there are many other ethnic groups that are not.
So, in conclusion although there is no clear and direct link of ethnicity to educational achievement, there are many factors which when grouped together can have an affect on educational success. Also other factors need to be considered, for example gender and class which can also have an affect. Evidence of this is Afro-Caribbean girls perform well in comparison to Afro-Caribbean boys, indicating that gender also has an influence on educational achievement.
