cultural deprivation of children and their attainment
Sociology: Assess the view that working class children under achieve because they are culturally deprived.
Cultural deprivation is the lack of certain values, attitudes, skills and knowledge that’s necessary for educational success. An example of this would be low expectations of parents. The basic ‘cultural equipment’ includes things such as language, self-discipline and reasoning skills. Many working class families fail to socialize their children adequately, and these children grow up ‘culturally deprived’ where they have a lack of skills needed to do well at school which then results in them under achieving. There are 3 main aspects of cultural deprivation: intellectual development, language and attitudes and values.
Intellectual development is a problem for culturally deprived children. It’s the development of thinking and reasoning skills, such as the ability to solve problems and use ideas. Working class children come from the type of backgrounds where they lack the books, educational toys and activities that would stimulate the child’s brain and its intellectual development so they haven’t developed these skills to their full capacity so end up falling behind and need to work harder to progress in school.
Further research shows that JWB Douglas’ study supports the cultural deprivation view. He found that working class pupils scored lower on tests of ability than middle class pupils. He thinks this is because working class parents are less likely to support their children’s development through reading to them and also other educational activities at home. Bernstein reached similar conclusions as Douglas. He found that the way mothers think and choose toys for their children influence on their child’s intellectual development
However, the importance of language for educational achievement is very high, especially with the use of restricted and elaborated code being much more distinguishable. Bereiter and Engelmann (1966) highlight this importance.
Cultural deprivation is the lack of certain values, attitudes, skills and knowledge that’s necessary for educational success. An example of this would be low expectations of parents. The basic ‘cultural equipment’ includes things such as language, self-discipline and reasoning skills. Many working class families fail to socialize their children adequately, and these children grow up ‘culturally deprived’ where they have a lack of skills needed to do well at school which then results in them under achieving. There are 3 main aspects of cultural deprivation: intellectual development, language and attitudes and values.
Intellectual development is a problem for culturally deprived children. It’s the development of thinking and reasoning skills, such as the ability to solve problems and use ideas. Working class children come from the type of backgrounds where they lack the books, educational toys and activities that would stimulate the child’s brain and its intellectual development so they haven’t developed these skills to their full capacity so end up falling behind and need to work harder to progress in school.
Further research shows that JWB Douglas’ study supports the cultural deprivation view. He found that working class pupils scored lower on tests of ability than middle class pupils. He thinks this is because working class parents are less likely to support their children’s development through reading to them and also other educational activities at home. Bernstein reached similar conclusions as Douglas. He found that the way mothers think and choose toys for their children influence on their child’s intellectual development
However, the importance of language for educational achievement is very high, especially with the use of restricted and elaborated code being much more distinguishable. Bereiter and Engelmann (1966) highlight this importance.