The Cycle of Education and Poverty of the Ethnic Minority in Britain - Essay Example

Education is a right but seems like it has now turned to be a privilege. It is a privilege among those who can afford it. The poster itself illustrates a cycle involving the factors of education, race, employment and poverty. Given that education is an important capital to have decent jobs in order to support the daily standards of living, the ethnic minority of Britain is continuously repeating the history of their situations. The opportunity to have better lives is not given to the minority groups.

Poverty embraces the ethnic minority in Britain because of the fact that inequality still remains even in the face of educational system. In this regard, this essay will serve as a supporting evidence for the visual presentation of the educational system in Britain. Since not all issues on education system in Britain can be captured by the poster, the goal of this paper is to help elucidate in details the points illustrated by the poster. Body Ashtana (2010) stated that how British pupils will succeed at school is still based on the factors contributing to inequality such as gender, class as well as race.

There are various studies that support the persistent relationship between education and gender (Fergusson and Horwood, 1997; Hillman and Rothman, 2003), between the education and class (Shavit and Bossfeld, 1993; Breen, 2005; Breen and Jonsson, 2005; Pfeffer, 2008), and between education and race (Zeus, 2007; Mizra, 2006). The differences in gender in relation to educational achievement is explained by the biological differences in behaviour, skills and cognitive abilities which are all influenced and shaped by genetics, hormones as well as brain organisation (Gibb, Fergusson and Horwood, 2008: 64).

Gibb, Fergusson and Horwood (2008: 74) suggested that male is at a disadvantageous position in the educational attainment since age of 8 and continues onwards. However, educational achievement is not explained by gender alone for it can be influenced by other factors like social class and race as well. Meanwhile, Cassen and Kingdon (2007: xiii) suggested that the low educational achievement in Britain is caused by the social and economic disadvantages. According to Perry and Francis (2010: 2), social class remains to be the most powerful predictor of educational attainment in the case of United Kingdom.

This is true even in the other developed as well as developing countries as well. This is explained by the fact that belonging in the lower class indicates the lack of means to access the needs to education. Those who belong in the lower class could not afford the cost of studying since money serves as a crucial factor when making decisions whether going to the university or not. Pursuing university education will make them be in debts in the near future. In this regard, at some points of education, they have to stop studying but work instead.

In terms of relationship between education and race, Mizra (2006: 137) suggested that the common image that Britain has on the Black and ethnic minorities in school is underachievement. However, research evidenced the fact that racialized women have positive relationship with education (Mizra, 2006: 137). On the one hand, Mickelson (2003) stated that the disparity in education attainment has something to do with racial discrimination. It was suggested that first, the actions of individuals towards students differ depending on the racial or