* Their appearance * How likeable they are
* How they conform to discipline * Their relationships towards others
* Their willingness to learn * Their personality
* Their enthusiasm for work * Weather they are deviant
* Their use of slang/language * Respect for authority
* Social class * Posture, walk, and clothes
The second stage is testing each criterion and those are either confirmed or contradicted, either way the teachers become more confident in their judgements. The third stage is stabilization and by now the teacher feels that he/she ‘knows’ and ‘understands’ the student. Some students will be regarded as deviants, and for them it will be hard for their behaviour to be seen in a positive light.
Once someone has been successfully labelled as criminal or deviant, the label attached may become the dominant label or 'master status' which is seen as more important than all the other aspects of the person. He or she becomes a 'hooligan' or 'thief' rather than a father, mother or friend. Each label carries with it prejudices and images and this may lead to others interpreting the behaviour of the labelled person in a particular way. For example, a person who volunteers to stay late at work is usually seen as worthy of praise, but, if a person has been labelled as a thief, people might be suspicious that they will steal something. Social class also contributes to the labelling of a child, e.g. Lower-class is seen to have a lack of interest, no motivation and is difficult to control.
In education the hidden curriculum shapes children for the workforce; it is designed to create passive, obedient, uncritical and docile workers within society. This workforce would be easy to manipulate by employers. The major way in which education functions, is to create a workforce with the personality, attitudes and values to which would benefit those whom control the workforce. Students have little control over the subjects taken at school or how they study them, the teachers give orders, and pupils obey.
At school students are encouraged to have satisfaction from the external reward of a qualification. The qualification gives the promise of employment with better pay, and employment gives the external reward of the wage packet.
Subculture is the behaviour, beliefs and attitudes of the pupils, however the label given to the student effect the way in which they are taught and expected to behave. After being labelled they are treated differently by their teachers. Not all students can live up to the ‘ideal pupil’ image, and if they fail to do so, they form there own subcultures which reject the values of the school.
Conclusion
Teachers operate (in their social construction of ability) with a broad pattern of idealised reference points concerning how to identify talent, ability and so forth, then it is evident that the child who is most closely able to match these references (teacher expectations), will be the ones who benefit the most in terms of encouragement, help and so forth, and the children who are not able to match these ‘teacher expectations’ are stereotyped and treated accordingly.
Bibliography
Abercrombie, N, Hill, S and Turner (2000) The Penguin Dictionary of sociology, 4th edition, London: Penguin
Giddens (1989) study of human life, groups and societies, Sociology
Electronic references
04/11/2005
