The society we live in is to a large extent a stratification system that is founded on factors like privilege and wealth, and the hierarchy of power. Such factors result in the classification of people within society into what is extensively know today as social class, a distinction that is largely characterized by social inequalities. The inequalities determine which person gets what as well as how and why they get it. As such, social inequity is not only about class, but also about gender and ethnicity as well as ethnicity. This paper deliberates the impact of this social class on education.
From a sociology point of view, the impact of social class on education performance of students can be deliberated through the lens of two main views; the Marxists as well as the functionalists. The functionalists perspective views the education system as a meritocratic system. That is, for one to get rewards, he or she must work hard for them. Sociologists such as Emile Durkheim share the school of thought that believes that an education system is an essential tool in society as it binds it together hence contributing to social solidarity. Besides equipping society with norms and values, education provides a sense of history and gives people a sense of belonging to a particular society. In his theory, Durkheim also proposes that education brings about specialization in skills which are a combination of what one is taught and what they learn from their parents. That is, a student whose parents are doctors is likely to become a doctor. While developing further into Durkheim’s theory, Talcott Persons terms education as secondary socialization, in which the schools advance the primary socialization that learns receive from their parents. In his arguments, Persons believes education helps with personal achievement by rewarding high achievers with praise. He also stipulates that education gives equal opportunity to every student to a attain success. Nevertheless, this is not the case on the ground. The functionalist theory holds other external factors constant by assuming that students are equal in every aspect of life. It is for this reason that functionalist argument is criticized as there is massive evidence showing underachievement among certain groups in schools. Such evidence shows that achievement is influenced social class in the sense that not every person has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Marxists, on the other hand, believe that the education system is more of an ideological tool. Marxists proponents such as Louis Althusser believe that education systems equip learners with the necessary skills and knowledge for their roles in jobs as well as prepare them to except explorations in the future. In other words, learners are entirely equipped with education as well as qualifications to match their employment role ( Ferretter, 2007) . In that sense, Althusser believes that education not only brainwashes individuals, it also manipulates them. In contradicting Person’s role allocation theory, Bowles and Gintis argue that individuals who attain the highest education achievements and consequently top jobs do so simply because not only do they work hard but also do as they are told. The two sociologists base their argument from the results of their study in which they establish that learners with high grades are obedient, conforming as well as hardworking which results to their rewarding with high grades and subsequent top jobs upon completion of their education.
Nevertheless, social class has a profound effect on the education system and educational achievement. Over the past 50 years, studies by sociological researchers as well as government statistics have proved that individuals ranked higher in the social class often have better educational performance. For instance, students in Westminster and Newham showed differing results in 2012/13 in London. Students in Westminster had an 86.6% likelihood of achieving more than five A to C grades compared to the 79.1% of their counterparts in Newham (( Trueman, 2015) ). Even though both areas are found in the same locality within inner London, their difference in social class results in the gap between their respective educational attainment. Likewise, the social class status of the parents plays a crucial role in the educational performance of the students in school. According to a research conducted by the University of London’s Institute of Education established that students whose parents were in top managerial and professional jobs were at least eight months ahead of the students whose parents were in low-income jobs or unemployed. Such results second the famous argument that the education system is biased and meant for those who rank highest in the social class such as the whites and middle class. In other terms, the education systems ignore the needs of the working-class students and ethnic minority.
However, some sociologists observe that every social class has a similar range of ability. The factors that account for failure in the working class or those who rank lower in the social class within a society results from their low expectations, economic challenges as well as lack of deferred gratification. The economic difficulties in this social class make it very difficult for students to access educational materials and accessories resulting in their underachievement. Numerous sociologists have cited the lack of financial muscles for low social class students to obtain the required educational items such as books, computers, desks, internets as great contributors to the failure of students from poor backgrounds. Moreover, those who rank the lower in the social class often lack the means to meet the heavy burden of educational costs such as tuitions fees, implying that students from this group are not able to attend the best schools as well as advance their education. Sociologists such as Person attribute the high performance of middle- and upper-class students to the enormous attention and encouragement they receive from their parents from a young age. On the other hand, J Douglas cites the lack of understanding of children educational needs among the working class as the reason for their underachievement. Their disinterest in their children’s performance and their attitude towards teachers encourages teachers to pay more attention to middle- and upper-class students.
Recently, sociologists have established that social class subcultures that include but not limited to norms and values contribute to the difference in educational achievement ( Trueman, 2015) . For instance, Barry Sugarman contends that the working-class has a fatalistic subculture implying that they have accepted their situation and have done little or nothing to improve it. Moreover, their subculture is oriented on the present time and has little or no plans for the future. The lack of immediate educational gratification among the working-class accounts for the little motivation to make sacrifices for the future among students which is not the case in the middle- and upper-class. Such differences are the key contributors to the negative attitude towards education often leading to lack of enthusiasm as well as the right mindset to strive for academic success among students from working-class backgrounds. Other sociologists such as Basil Bernstein believe that cultural deprivation like the absence of certain skills, attitude, and values, as well as norms crucial to educational performance, accounts for underachievement among working-class students ( Atkinson, 2014) . In his cultural deprivation theory, Basil suggests that students ranking lower in the social class have inferior speech patterns. He attributes the inferiority to the restricted speech code that working-class student adopt which is parallel to the educational system’s elaborate speech code ( Atkinson, 2014) . The difference between these two speech codes results in language barrier which hinders communication between the teacher and the students resulting in their subsequent underachievement.
Other sociologists such as Pierre Bourdieu agree that the inability of lower social class students to grasp tutors tone, accent as well as grammar and teaching delivery contributes to their underperformance in school. He contends that cultural dominance increases with the rise in social class. In other words, those at the top of the social class have a dominant and superior culture as they have the power upon which the education system is founded. Bourdieu argues that the perceived superiority of higher-class culture gives students from such backgrounds an upper hand in their education ( Swartz, 2012 ). As such, he concludes that the education is both cultural and social reproduction that reproduces the dominant culture resulting in a class system.
Mothers, as well as their social class status, play a crucial role in their children’s education by making the cultural capital work for them. According to sociologist Diane Reay, middle-class mothers have more educational qualification as well as know how the education system works which results in their better utilization of the cultural capital such as helping with homework which is not the case in among working-class mothers. The middle-class mothers have also created adequate time for their children to focus on their education such as employing people to do the house chores thanks to their cultural capital ( Reay, 1998). As such, since the cultural capital increases with social class status, the mother's assistance increases as well resulting in better educational performance in higher class students.
In collusion, the impact of social class on education is undeniably massive. The social class gives students from upper- and middle-class students certain privileges that working-class students cannot access. The higher an individual is on the social class, the more advanced education support system he or she can receive. Such individuals can pay for the best schools and educational items as well as higher home tutors. Moreover, since their social class culture is more dominant and perceived to be superior, they have higher probabilities of excelling in an education system which is based on the power of the culture as compared to lower social class students.
References
Atkinson, P. (2014). Language, Structure, and Reproduction (Routledge Revivals): An Introduction to the Sociology of Basil Bernstein . Routledge.
Ferretter, L. (2007). Louis Althusser . Routledge.
Reay, D. (1998). Class work: Mothers' involvement in their children's primary schooling . Taylor & Francis.
Swartz, D. (2012). Culture and power: The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu . University of Chicago Press.
Trueman. (2015, May 22). Social Class and Achievement. Retrieved February 2, 2019, from https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sociology/education-and-sociology/social-class-and-achievement/
