This essay gives an explanation and evaluation on the impacts of social class on educational outcomes. Sociologists view the society as system of stratification that is based on several factors such as; privilege, racial supremacy, cultural supremacy, the power hierarchy and wealth, which creates inequalities among various social classes. This text therefore critically explains how cultural deprivation, racism, inequalities on socioeconomic factors and critical consciousness have impacted on education. This is as per supported by various scholars. Inequality is all about what one gets, the mode one gets it and reason for why they have it. Social class, gender and ethnicity are all characterized by the presence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social groups. The explanation given here is about how racial supremacy have made some races be deprived of education hence failed to achieve higher educational qualification. Moreover, stated here are the various ways some of the cultures have been rendered obsolete leading to cultural deprivation that makes some people with certain culture borrow others culture and embrace since the so seen supreme culture has been made part of education. The social class factors discussed include social inequalities, race differences, and cultural deprivation. This essay is bringing into the table the facts that just as education and social class education are intertwined, education stratification leads to social class stratification. The essay aims at bringing out the facts that social class inequalities have impacts on educational outcomes unlike those who claim social class does not affect educational results.
Inequality and Socio-economic factors
Class plays a significant role in the educational outcomes in all social groups. At every age group in the education setting, it is likely that students from working class would get lower grades compared to those belonging to a middle class. This is because the system is so much biased and is only designed for the white, middle-class children who disregard what the working class need and what children from ethnic minority need. However, it is believed that there is an equal range of ability in all social classes. This would mean that differences in class in educational outcomes are not because of differences in class in terms of intelligence but most have a connection with other things in society such as aspirations and expectations that are low, lacking gratification and socio-economic issues of which is more seen in the working class.
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Education is a social class major component, both indirectly and also directly. Directly, those from high social classes are likely to afford to study in more prestigious schools hence like to receive higher educations. Indirectly, benefactors from such higher education are likely to get excellent jobs; thus high salaries. Social class and education are intertwined such that stratification in social class leads to social class stratification. Moreover, parents in Upper-class can take their children not only to excellent schools but also to public schools given funds by the state. That kind of schools offers a higher quality of education in areas that are affluent since they are given funds by taxes from properties around the school location. Regions with more wealth often accumulate more taxes hence more revenue, which leads to schools in the regions giving high-quality education. Educational inequality perpetuates the divide of social class across all generations. Individuals from subordinate families and groups suffer socioeconomic deprivation hence getting low income, poor parental education and likely to reduce test performance (Fischer, 1996). The poor would resist paying for the growth due to low incomes hence impact educational outcomes (Gans, 1971).
Racial Differences
Race and social class have a role in Educational outcomes. Mostly people from a minority ethnic group have no historical reputation of achieving higher education. Of course, there are more chances that if the parents and grandparents did not have the opportunity to be educated, then the child that from such a background to lack someone read to them or even have that chance of getting access to books (Epstein, 1998). Those teaching know that this is disadvantageous when such children are put in a class with other children who have had more significant exposure to the books. They may look like they are in learning through what it means is that they have to start late. Teachers should know these to ensure that these students do not see themselves as being not good students. The surrounding should be encouraging, and help that is focused can go a maker longer strides in assisting such students in gaining track and these need to be handled carefully due to its sensitivity. There is therefore essential to provide teachers with resources that offer various levels and contain rubrics that put into consideration in details of races. Example before there was invisibility of Asians students in America; hence no one considered them. Most of them were white and blacks. Asians were banned from California schools consequently failed to get an education. This denied Asians Education, but as we see in Berkeley schools when Asians were introduced to the schools, there was a quantitative analysis that was done (Wing, 2007). They found out that Asians even did better than whites in other subjects such as Math though whites outdid them in others. This, therefore, shows that social class has a role in education outcomes. Racial discrimination can lead to one race not getting the necessary education hence backwardness.
Primary socialization differences are also another factor that has a role in the educational attainment by pupils from different social groups. Children from middle class have the chance to get more encouragement and attention from parents since childhood which later is a source of foundation for high education attainment as they join primary school (Douglas 1964). This is an objection to the primary socialization received by most children from the working class. They always have parents who do not know the requirements of their children for them to succeed in their education. The interest amount showed by parents in the education of their children was viewed by Douglas as a key factor in any education attainment by the child. The parent's attitude on the education topic can also become apparent to teachers by so doing the teacher may treat one pupil differently than the other.
Subcultures
Su bcultures that exist within a school also help in the differences that children are learning from different class’s experience. Barry Sugarman, a British sociologist, described the culture of the working class as; orientated with present time, concerned gratification that are immediate and fatal. This when compared to the middle-class subculture, is different from it as it is more of dealing with ideas not fatalistic, deferred gratification and orientation of future time. The differences clearly show the disadvantage to children from the working class as their education attitude will not have success enthusiasm and their mindset will not encourage effort towards examination success (Bandryant, 2019).
Cultural capital and Habitus
Cultural capital is also an idea that has been used to give the distinctions in educational outcomes of students from various classes. It has been identified that there is a freak that occurs between the innovative as well as conservative production of experience as well as experience. The tension is due to some considerations that given past culture and the current has to be taken cared of as well as being reproduced in the schools. Bourdieu, a scholar, gave an argument that it is the dominant groups' culture; thus their cultural capital which exists in schools leads to reproduction. The dominant group cultural capital that is in the form of practices of culture and norms is withheld from being the only cultural capital that is proper, and it has the legitimacy to be used. It, therefore, asks all the students to have what it will not give. This genuine cultural capital drives students who have it to gain institutional capital by acquiring qualifications. Those disadvantaged are lower class students as usual. To obtain the required qualifications, they ought to have a catch of cultural capital that has legitimacy, by interchanging their cultural capital. It is not a straightforward interchange. This means children have to find success harder in school due to the reason that they have to learn a new culture first and relate it to the world. They also need to act against their own expected outcomes (Trueman 2015). Most of these students who do make it at school have had to learn the dominating classes’ values and use them as theirs to dump their first cultural ways.
Critical Consciousness
Critical consciousness is defined as the ability to intervene in reality to change it (Gan’s, 2007). It goes on through the identifying themes that are generated. Paulo Freire identified this as the representation, which is iconic and has a great impact on the emotions of learners in their day-to-day lives. Critical consciousness helps end the " culture of silence ” in which those dispossessed social put the negative images in their minds (Freire, 1970). The images are of them being made then propagated by the one oppressing experiences of poverty that is extreme. It lets the learners free from the notion of the so-called power and violence that is fratricidal and results from a significant sight of critical consciousness. Critical consciousness is a great popular education concept. The essential role of consciousness in education is common among adults and is also one of political consciousness.
Marks quantitatively analyzed the 12th year results across Catholic, government and independent schools. He came into a conclusion that is 20-30% was accounted by social class as an explanation of why schools belonging to the government are outperformed those not belonging to the government (Riddle 2017).
Conclusion
Social class should not influence education though this expectation is not real. These elements define the world we live in, and so our educational systems should put into consideration these plans and be drawn-up as early as possible. Ignorance of the role of social class in education may leave a teacher with a feeling he or she was not prepared even when he or she had meticulous lesson plans. A good teacher should be able to respond to students who are in situations caused by social class differences or distinction material facts. Indeed social class has enormous roles that it plays in education outcomes. There should be no racial discrimination to ensure all races can achieve higher education qualifications especially in an institution where races are more than one. It should be guaranteed that students and children get access to the same facilities in education sectors hence ensure no differences in education quality among different classes (Loewen, 2003). No class is superior the other it is just a matter of equal exposure of resources among all sorts of social class that is needed. Education outcomes depend mostly on poverty eradication if there is more of the middle class the high education qualifications are achieved in society. Despite all this, all students should know that educational success is all in the mind social class should not define whether the students' passes or fail. Social class has minimal impact on educational outcomes (Gan’s, 2007).
References
Fischer, Claude S, Michael Hout, Martín Sánchez Jankowski, Samuel R. Lucas, Ann Swidler, and Kim Voss . (1996). Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve. New York NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Epstein, T. (1998). Deconstructing Differences in African-American and European-American Adolescents' Perspectives on U.S. History. Curriculum Inquiry , 397-423.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Opressed. New York: Continuum
James W. Loewen. (2003). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong . New York: The Newpress.
Wing Jean Yonemura. (2007). Beyond Black and White : The Mode Minority Myth and the Invisibility of Asian American Students. The Urban Review, 455-476
Herbert J Gan’s. (2007). The uses of poverty: The Poor pay All. 327-331
C N Trueman. (2015).Social Class and Achievement.
