Educational Attainment and Ethnicity

Here are some revision notes on educational attainment and ethnicity. As previously, think in terms of input factors and school factors.

Input Factors – Inteligence

Sociologists like Hernnstein and Murray and psychologists Eysenck and Jensen have argued that ethnic differences in attainment are the result of natural differences in intelligence. However, many sociologists would criticism the methodology of such studies and the validity of IQ testing in general. Often what is lying behind such apparently ‘objective’ results are cultural differences, language differences, or cultural deprivation. It can also be argued that if differences in intelligence do emerge and are real, they are the result of years of economic disadvantage not innate differences in IQ.

School Factors

The usual range of school factors can be applied to the explanation of ethnic attainment differences. Studies of labelling and more recently, school exclusions of disruptive pupils have led some sociologists to argue that schools are ‘institutionally racist’. Such studies would emphasise the role school factors in explaining ethnic minority educational attainment.

Input Factors or School Factors

There is debate as to the relative importance and explanatory value of these sets of factors. Pilkington has pointed to the considrable differences which exist between different ethnic minority groups. Some Asian groups, for stance, achieve much the same as white ethnic groups, while others have fallen some way behind. One interpretation of this sort of explanation is that it is input factors (perhaps class position or income) which are more important in explaining ethnic miniority educational attainment.

Other researchers, such as Cecille Wright and David Gillborn, have argued that the education system can be institutionally racist. This is a complex concept, but the implication is that while individual teachers may not intentionally act in a racist way, the effects of their beliefs and the way they treat students can have racist consequences.

Finally

Data on educational attainment and ethnicity has to be interpreted carefully. Official statistics often fail to distinguish between different ethnic minority groups, nor does it differentiate between class, gender, and ethnicity. For instance, data may indicate how many ‘Asians’ get A levels, but it fails to distinguish between different Asian groups, fails to examine how ‘Asians’ from different social classes compare, and fails to examine whether there are differences in attainment between male and females in the ethnic category.

Remember also, that if racism does exist, its unlikely to be confined to schools. Schools often or always, reflect the inequalities and prejudices of the wider society.