Social Background in Determining Success of Pupils - Essay Example

? Does Matter Thesis: Recent studies reveal that social background determines pupils' success. It is as if saying, DoesMatter’, but does it shows that UK government is heading in the wrong direction? Outline: Introduction Class does matter UK Government’s direction Work Cited Social Class Social classes are cultural or economic arrangements of the groups in society. Class is a vital object of analysis for political scientists, economists, sociologists, anthropologists and social historians. If we study the social sciences, social class is usually discussed as 'social stratification'. If we see in the modern western context, it is typically comprise three layers: upper class, middle class, and lower class. Each class may be further sub divided into smaller of these classes (e.g. educational).The most basic of all still lies between powerful and powerlessness. (Robert 1975, Turner 1990) According to Encyclopedia Britannica social class is also known as the class, a group of such people within any society that possess similar socioeconomic status. Besides being vital in social theory, the concept of social class as a collection of individuals who share similar economic circumstances it is been widely use in social mobility. According to Judith Martin There are three social classes: upper middle class, middle class, and lower middle class. Today social Class determines pupil’s success It is true that social class determines people success. Children belonging to disadvantage areas suffer the most say the report by Liberal Democrats. It further sheds light on the low probability of poorest children becoming doctors, senior civil servants lawyers and financiers. The social mobility commission highlights the importance of this mobility agenda and share its investment in this sector, however still the working class children’ suffer the most. The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has issued a report that would deflate America’s inflated sense of fundamentalist and self-devotion to “free-markets.” According to report findings, social mobility measure according to wages, earnings and education among generations has been relatively low in comparison to other developed nations such as Sweden, Germany Canada, Denmark, and Spain. (Walton, 2010) Last year (in 2008) educational sector report showed only 35% of students eligible for free school meals got five or more C above GCSE grades, against 63% of students from wealthier backgrounds. From early 80’s to late 90s, the proportion of poor children graduating from Universities has risen only by 3%, against 26% from wealthier backgrounds, the Liberal Democrat report says. The chair commissioner Mr. Martin Narey, CEO of children's charity Barnardo's, says: "Inconsiderate of progress in decreasing child poor background and heavy investment in education, a student’s chances of success in UK today are still greatly dependent on the earnings and background of its parents." (Political News, 2009) Education has been tried in older days to remove the class differences arising due to the financial differences. However, by 2000 education subject to the market principles had become rather a commodity and a competitive business rather than polishing up for the democratic society. (Tomlinson, S, 2005 under Education in a Post Welfare Society, p.1) The Social mobility commission advises ministers to donate more sums to schools with the poorest students and to teachers who working in such "a society of consistent inequality". Moreover, it suggests allowing child tax credits only to families with low-income background and these loans should non-bearing interest such as interest-free loans. This would help widening poor student's access to higher qualification such as medicine, civil service, media, law, and the armed forces. And an institution of higher education justifies the title when it promotes educational processes of proper kind (Barnett, R 1990 under The Idea of Higher Education, p.202). The committee will report its findings in June; right now, it is considering recommending state funded internships that would support graduates from poor families entering careers that need weeks of unpaid work experience. Milburn says, "This is inconsiderate to identifying the hindrance that stand in their way and removing such there forth." He further adds social mobility had been declining in UK for several decades, but since recently "bottomed out". Studies Carried Out The scene that is usually is sighted in many homes is a kitchen table are the parents pouring reports and broachers figuring out which is the best school for their child. However, this is against the Education Guardian phenomenon who says that these parents are headed in the wrong direction as what they should do is search for no further than the average earning / middle class parents do. There decode inspectors reports or comparison of results or school is not a comprehensive study to achieve best results. Some of studies carried down at big universities reveal that the factor behind a children success is how well he does not what type of school he gets into. This is mainly a secondary issue in comparison to child own effort, which is the primary factor one needs to take in consideration. It appears to show what has been said several times but of course ignored is the difference that lies between children that come from under privileged areas and those coming from elite standards. The current league tables does not account for the most crucial factor affecting the children progress at school, colleagues, high schools and universities which is a –pupil’s address One of the other studies carried out also reveal that child’s background is of vital consideration when seeing his academic performance. School success is not base on the teachers, or the type of school, or how it is run but even on the class backgrounds. This outcome is the result of study carried out by the Department of Education and skills which matched 1 million pupils backgrounds with their result card One of the faculties of a university with initials UCL (University College London) express his views on similar issues he says “The recent studies have given way of some very important grounds that would affect parents, politicians and pupils about how they think about schools. These are among great times as studies in these areas have been carried out.” The findings come at a very pivotal stage with government determine to push the educational reforms renewal. If there are chances of success all the schools inconsiderate of primary sections or the secondary will be encouraged to be an independent trusts controlling their own admissions. Nevertheless, many still argue in favor of government intervention to support the admissions of working and middle class and to keep a balance in that. The study reveals that the school performance gets affected by the social make up pupil inside it. Whatever the background is of an individual if he is attending a high school with good social make up the child’s success affects It has been recorded that affluent areas of UK has student achieving five or more passes above the C GCSE grade, the percentage of such class is almost 94%. Students at level 5 also achieve better results when seen as elite attach to the affluent community. Meanwhile, those children who grow in less advantage areas, the deprived areas, have only 15% of students in GCSE achieving grades of C or above. The percentage of youngsters is also similar. To make whole story short it is the middle class or the “class does matters” the better the class of the school the better the output of the school. This is the proof that class still matters at educational platform as it does in various others matters. Conclusion Therefore, it can be establish that a children personality is reform by the social gatherings or their social circle. Hence, it would be better for parents to select school with better gentry as the gentry’s matters rather than the school type or the quality of the people. This is in consideration with views of another professor of a prestigious university KCU (Kings Council University) who says that schools’ success depends more on social profile of its people. Experiment Analysis In another experiment perform to understand this 500,000 who were eleven years old and 500,000 who were fifteen years old were selected. The sample was made large in order to encompass a wider population and provide reliable results out of the study carried out. The study was made in consideration to culture, behavior socio-demographics, lifestyles and attitudes of citizens and then assessment of interlinks between social class and educational performance was carried out. The study included 476,000, 482,000 of 11 and 15 years of age retrospectively. The data was analyzed through Mosaic, a programmed devised by the information company Experian, which divides the UK population by postcode into 11 main groups and 61 types, providing detailed insight into the socio-demographics, lifestyles, culture and behavior of UK citizens. It was in use in central polices but this is the first time it has been used in the manner to study the connection or interlink between education performance and social class. The study revealed how pupils better perform considering their social economic background which had been very strong. The statistics reveal new insight in to this field which was unknown and unconsidered earlier. This is a break-through in educational history. More study would be carried out to see more exact results. Nevertheless, the studies proved that there is class that does matter and the privileges available to rich or middle-class rather than poor helps them somehow score better in schools and their careers. Free Schools, City Academies and Comprehensive Education Introducing free schools and academies would not be such a bright idea as few of the researchers say as this would provide an opportunity to middle class parent and schools to choose each other and would leave the poorer ones stranded behind. If the government stops, intervening then because of the better educational performance associated with upper class schools would not be attractive to children belonging to lower class. Parents (from middle class families) also want their children to study in better schools so they strive to get their children inside such schools. With middle class parents and schools working to reach each other the poor class would be left behind in the segregated system. This would cause severe issues of polarizing pupils along class lines. The best effect result from drawing students from a broad social mix of pupils in different schools (covering both grammar and comprehensive schools) as much as possible. This would result in a mix of class lines in a single batch providing opportunities for poor class to learn from middle class and middle class to learn from upper class. As a result the class differences would reduce on an educational basis. When poor class would interact with rich class their ways of thinking and approaching the world would change. Usually the pupil belonging to poor class percept the world differently this is one of the reasons behind their poor educational performance. If some methods are imposed the result would be best educational achievement for greater number and overall increase in the educational standards. One of the researchers says that it is for the first time the educational scores are measure this way using the most crucial factor that was avoided all these years. Now are the times that step should be taken to ensure that intake with proper social mix up becomes part of the habit of schools as privileged intake would not suffice. There is a need to measure equal opportunity in the educational field as have been measured in employment field. One of the Head teachers at Larkspur School says “we always knew we had been doing well for children. We were serving disadvantage areas nearly 46 to 59 percent. Among these were those offered free school meals. The results were not that prosperous as of other schools but we knew that students who came at a very low level were the ones making massive strides as they leave.” Conclusion In the end, it is really is not about, how the schools placement are in the league tables but what differences schools make to children lives. If such consideration of equal opportunity (irrespective of class differences) provided everywhere, it would act as the motivating key for those individuals who had been working hard all these years but were those behind because of their poor class. The country could utilize its resources better when education is available everywhere, this does not mean free academies but much greater opportunities and incentives for hard working poor class. This would result in greater number of individuals with more improved lives inconsiderate to who they were when they started. In the end it is about making children recognize their best abilities and helping them reach their full potentials. Parents and Schools Parents must choose a school that is best for their children with greater social mix. Schools should provide fair chance to all hard working candidates inconsiderate of their socio-economic backgrounds. Government should form non-profit organizations that consider school class As it stands, parents who want to do the best for their children should select an institution or academy according to how middle class the school is rather than being in concern with the type of school or the value of its teachings. The best way would therefore be selecting children with high status neighborhoods in order to attain the best exam results and then carrying out any statistical studies on them. The results calculated this way would prove to be more logical than when the studies are perform on students drawn from various different backgrounds. As then the studies would be rather unfair and imprecise means of judging achievement of school. The schools that place highly in the league tables of future would be those providing fair chance to deprive individuals. Such schools would work on better grounds than those running on class difference. UK Government Direction A year back report by government office for fair access revealed a positive increase in intake of less privileged individuals. However, the real situation is left behind the rosy blue painted picture. Ministers Actions Ministers who do not understand this concept and theory have gone cold on the concept and do not take much heed in respect to these latest researches and their positive impacts for the society. However, still this recent break – throws would definitely raise conscious among the wider number, individualist and media. Therefore, the government could no longer remain cold without taking beneficial steps to handle this situation well. Top Universities are inaccessible Work has been carried out in England to ensure more diversity in Universities as result universities have expanded from 39% up to 45%, covering the poorest in neighborhood. Nevertheless, the top Universities are still inaccessible. Among the top 3 universities of UK the participation by poor is a static percentage since 1990’s. Tuition Fees The UK government has been charging tuition fees equivalent to ?9,000 tuition fee this will deter poorer students, even if they have access to generous bursaries or fee waivers. In UK tuition fees is vital as it is a means of funding tuition fees for undergraduates and postgraduates certified candidates studying in UK Universities. Introduced in 1998 where people were required to pay ?1,000 (BBC News, 2009). The fees increase to ?3,290 in 2010/11 (Timeline, 2011). From 2013 onwards 20 universities have announced intention to raise charges up to full ?9,000 allowed by the UK government (The Guardian, 2011 under Tuition fees 2012: what are the universities charging) Eight of the universities announcing plans to charge a ?9,000 yearly tuition fee are allowing too few state school pupils, showing that nearly third of the institutions aren't meeting targets of widening the social mix. UK Education System David Miliband, who is the Minister of State for school standards, has revealed the findings in one of the article for a magazine published by Department for Education and Skills (DfES) that was circulated among teachers. 'We move to have one of the widest class divides in system of education in this world with a socio economic attainment gap shown in children as young as twenty two months,' he said in article ( Focus on the Future). The class difference, once set, and then maintains itself within increasing rigidity throughout educational life, with the gap increasing for most children. “Only 14 % of kid’s people from lesser source of income go to higher institutions, against 75 % from better houses’ said Mr. Miliband. UK Government is not stopping top-charging universities from admitting too few state school pupils Moreover universities today are admitting fewer state educated children than their regular benchmark for entrants notifies. This shows what is in the books is not reality. Latest Figures represented: At Oxford 54.3% of undergraduate intake previous year who went to state schools or colleges, against benchmark of 70.2%. At Cambridge, 59.3% were the state-educated compared to 70.4% benchmark. (Guardian, 2011) The figures depict private schools' dominance over most highly selective universities. This just exposes the mafia that stops for lower class to make it to the higher universities. Though the UK Government is not supportive in approaching diversity few of the individual groups work to achieve social mix up. For instance, Russell Group universities are struggling to broadening access so that variety of student inconsiderate of class differences with the potential, qualifications, and determination to succeed can do so. However, Students who come from low-income backgrounds or are the ones who have attended comprehensive schools will be less likely to achieve the highest grades against those coming from more advantaged backgrounds such as independent or grammar schools. Nearly a million children didn't even score one G grade GCSE An "entire generation" of school going children has been let down by the Labor government, a new study proves. The report, by one of the Conservative think-tank The Bow Group, reports million of teenagers having failed to achieve even the lowest grades in five GCSEs since the new UK labor party came to power. Some of the studies fail to reveal the true scenes behind the story. The picture pose is distorted and a different slant on boasting UK Government’s achievement in improving results. The Labor party just covered a one sided picture focusing on the rise in the number of pupils achieving five C GCSE’s. However, the rosy-painted picture fails to cover the growing number of candidates who were left bottom of the pile. These had scores below C and could not do better than a G score. In between 1997 and 2007, 3.9million pupils almost 60 per cent of the total had not gained five GCSE 'C' grades, even not in English and Math; this increases risk of not getting a job. It is time for research and pause to complete the thought boxes that promote analysis and reflection over these issues as says John Sharp in his book Education Studies- an Issues Based Approach. Inequalities in UK 1. Reading: kids from the poorest house hear 13million words by the period they are aged four, while those which are from the most affluent households hear almost 45million, a government-ordered overview of the primary schools curriculum argued last year. 2. The Early years: Treasury report from late 1999 found poverty damages child's chances in his life before they could reach the age of two. Those who are born into poor homes perform comparatively worse in educational and the development tests at 22 months against those which are from rich homes. 3. GCSEs Grades: More than half (55% almost) of secondary schools in most deprived parts of the Great England did not achieve benchmark 30% these children got five good GCSEs, compared with the 3% in the least deprived areas, the Conservatives reports said last year. Of the school pupils who qualified for free school meals in 2006-2007, 47% that is 33,909 children could not attain any GCSE grades better than D. 4. Science and Math: In 2002, a gap in science knowledge among pupils aged of seven and 11 on free school meals while rest of their classmates got 10 percentage points; last year this stood at 15. In Math the gap widened to almost 20 percentage points up from 16 points in 2002. 5. In the University admissions: Teenagers from among poorer families are turning their backs on the university education because of the fear that they will be saddled with 1000’s of debt in pounds, research report published last year found out. The study on the result of increasing tuition fees revealed that almost two-thirds of pupils who decided not to get higher education resulting anxieties about money. Work Cited 1. Asthana. Anushka (2008), ‘One million pupils 'failed by Labour exam policy' ‘ from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/apr/20/schools.education 2. Barnett, R (1990) the Idea of Higher Education. Buckingham: Open University Press. 3. BBC Q&A: Student Fees". BBC News. 2009-07-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3013272.stm. Retrieved 2010-10-11. 4. Britannica encyclopedia from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/550940/social-class 5. Guardian. Liberal Democrats from http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/liberaldemocrats 6. Huffington post Social mobility from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/social-immobility-climbin_n_501788.html 7. Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007), A Man without a Country from http://www.quotationspage.com/ 8. Roberts, R. (1975)"Class Structure", the Classic Slum, London: Penguin. 13 - 31 9. Sharp. J, Ward, S & Hankin, L (Eds) (2006) Education Studies: An Issues Based Approach 10. Stuart Alley and Mat Smith. "Timeline: Tuition fees". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/jan/27/tuitionfees.students. Retrieved 2011-02-12. 11. Tomlinson, S (2005) Education in a Post Welfare Society, Second Edition, Open University Press. ISBN: 0 335 217532 12. Tuition fees 2012: what are the universities charging?, The Guardian, 25 Mar 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/25/higher-education-universityfunding, retrieved 2011-04-03 13. Turner, G. (1990). "Ethnographies, Histories and Sociologies". British Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Sydney: Allen & Unwind. 169 – 196 14. UK News (2008) Telegraph - Labor’s education policy: Failed from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1584967/Labours-education-policy-Failed.html Read More