To What Extent Does Ethnicity Affect Educational Attainment?

Howard, T.G. (2010). Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in

There are many reasons for educational underachievement and it has been said that ethnicity is one of these key factors. It has been found that Indian and Asian pupils are of higher educational achievement than White, African-Caribbean, and Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils.

     Why do some groups not succeed in academic settings? One theory brought up in “Understanding inequality” suggests that the gap in the socioeconomic status drives the inequalities in the school system. The low and working class have less time and income to intervene with schooling. This means they have less time to meet with teachers, hire tutors, and provide continuous transportation. Therefore the lower class can’t possibly compete with the middle and upper classes. Angela Valenzuela gives the accounts of some Hispanic students’ experiences in school. These students feel that it is the inferior nature of the schools in the US that contribute to the low success

Students who attend schools can be affected by their culture, race and background, much like how Puerto Ricans were oppressed in East Harlem in the 1980’s. This article explains how race can affect how people of certain races grow up, and how they are treated, and how when this treatment is unfair, the students usually drop out of school. “Study examines how race, culture influence school discipline, dropout rates”.

The underachievement of white working boys in the education sector remains a social problem here in the UK, Why? The reason being, as Sir Michael Wilshaw (Chief Inspector of Ofsted) outlined that these group of individuals make up two thirds of the British pupils which in affect makes them are the largest group therefore the attention should be directed at remedying the issue. PISA outlined that countries such as Finland, Hong Kong, Iceland…. Are all working better to support their disadvantaged pupils in comparison to students here in England receive.

The article by Diane Raey (2009) titled ‘Making sense of white working class underachievement’ provides a lot of information on the problems leading to low academic performance of the white working class children. The article has well-articulated sections and topics, which describe the problem well. In each section, the author provides all the necessary information

Race affected American education in many different ways with segregation and integration. But it wasn’t easy integrating schools to positively affect American education, they had quite a few challenges with it. Segregation had the negative affects on American education. One of the sources states, "Segregated schools have never been equal, Kelly said, largely because high minority schools are often high poverty schools." (Shaw pg.1).

There clearly is a problem right now in American schools. The gap in educational outcomes between students of different races and ethnicities is fairly substantial. Although there could be numerous explanations of why this inconsistency exists, I have chosen to focus on one issue stemming from an economic obstacle.

John Ogbu’s oppositional culture theory explains racial differences in educational performance by looking at the societal structures of minorities. Ogbu uses case studies which he looks at the affluent neighborhoods that represent oppositional culture. There are several explanations as to academic disengagement among certain minorities. He also looks at white academic efforts and explanations of their own disengagement. According to James Ainsworth-Darnell and Douglas Downey, they state that, “Immigrant minorities tend to compare their condition to that of relatives in their homelands and because this comparison is usually favorable, they develop optimistic attitudes regarding both their chances for success in the new country and the payoff for efforts aimed at promoting achievement” (p. 536). However, involuntary minorities are in a “psychologically vulnerable position; their members did not migrate with an expectation to improve their condition, but were incorporated into society against their will” (p. 536). Ogbu pointed out that there are high achieving blacks that did not adopt the oppositional theory.

Racial disparities exist in every aspect of our society. It exists in religion, socioeconomic status, life-chances, media, etc. It affects everyone even if they realize or not. Education is one of the things that are also affected by the racial stratification occurring in the United States. In this paper I will look in to whether Tennessee is better or worse for educational advancement by comparing four races and their high school graduation rates on the national and state levels. The four races used will be; Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White. I will then tie specific theories to why these disparities may exist. This will hopefully give insight in to this touchy topic and provide a starting point for correcting the gap.

In the current times, the ethnicization of cultures is rising which is catapulted by the negativity to the society on individuals. In most cases, a student attends a school without assessing their background but rather the driven to attain

Cultural tendencies have a huge impact on the way children tend to participate in educational activities. The ethnicity of a child may change the way that teacher view a child. Suppose you had an Asian child in previous years who was quiet and reserved. You get a new child, you expect this one to be the same way, but he is not. We as teachers have to learn that each child is their own individual self, and they do not act the same way, no matter what race, gender, or social status they are.

The affect of low socioeconomic status is still influential among high achieving students, with the likelihood of achieving a bachelor’s degree increasing with socioeconomic status on students that scored in the upper quartile of an eighth grade math exam (Lee et all., 2008). Race is still an indicator of academic achievement, but its direct and indirect effects are less strong (Lee et all., 2008). Students of majority race (White and Asian) complete high school at a rate of 93%, while students of the non-asian minority complete high school at a rate of 85% (Lee et all., 2008). The gap between students of differing socioeconomic status was far wider, of 44 percentage points, as compared to the gap between races and high school completion rates, which is 8 percentage points. Differences in gender also shows discrepancies, with 31% of females receiving at least a bachelor’s degree and only 26% of males receiving at least a bachelor’s degree.

sits the same exams up to the age of 16. So why are there marked

Cook, Sam., (2011). 9) Ethnic groups differences in achievement in education. Available: https://revisesociology.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/9-ethnic-groups-differences-in-achievement-in-education/ (22nd November 2015).