Educational achievement Essay

rearingal institutions take in two basic functions. On the whiz hand, they act as agencies of accessibleisation, transmitting social rules, norms and values on the a nonher(prenominal) hand, they atomic number 18 mechanisms of allocation, channels for selecting and training people to fill the legion(predicate) occupations of industrial economies. This dual function of socialisation and allocation is fulfilled to some leg by all educational activityal arrangements. However, in a society with a complex year of labour there is often a contradiction between the two functions of socialisation and allocation.This essay will use twain Marxist and Functionalist perspectives to question the educational trunk. Educational policies after the Second piece War were primarily concerned with facilitating greater, and more equal, access to educational qualifications. This was seek in R A Butlers 1944 Educational Act which sought to take hold entering to selective schools and unive rsities meritocratic, that is dependent on ability earlier than social status or wealth.The Act proposed a system in which children would be transferred at the age of eleven to grammar, secondary modern, or technical schools harmonise to their age, aptitude and ability. Grammar schools continued to be seen as superior and diagonal towards middle order staminates receivable to the academic subjects, Mathematics (traditionally a manly subject) and English being the key indicators used to measure the students. Since we have unanalyzable tests of dis c everywhereing childrens natures (and there are luckily two varieties of these) we can dead easily tailor the schooling they get to suit these natures.Such a position accords a pretty self fulfilling and pessimistic function to education, and the establish this process of division has always produced a heights correlation with the division between middle partitioning and working class children simply serves to patronize the a ppropriateness of the division in the first place. ( Miller, 1992 pg. 15 ). The above course credit highlights how the comm scarcely held attitudes towards the working class only rewardd the class distinction.Talcott Parsons verbalise in his writing on education its Functions to allocate these human resources at bottom the role structure of adult society, (Haralambos and Holborn, Sociology Themes and Perspectives 1995 pg. 729). Perhaps if the government had create a crowingr quantity of technical colleges then the education system would have been more successful in allocating individuals into work roles that match their abilities. By its very nature the eleven plus looked at students academic skills completely ignoring students personal abilities.Whereas in the education systems of Germany and Japan, in the same period, the majority of students took a vocational path in order to secure educational success. Perhaps this is why their societies achieved greater industrial and e conomical accomplishment (Abercrombie, Warde Contemporary British party 1994 pg. 350). Equally, successful launch to a grammar school was not guaranteed if the student had passed their eleven plus exam, this was due to the limited number of places.If we compare the number of grammar schools in Surrey, (which is known for its large percentage of upper and middle class), to the number in the industrial Midlands (with its high population of working class), there is proportionalityally less number of places for students, consequently making the educational system largely a postcode lottery. It is sight in Plummers Failing Working fall apart Girls, that not only did grammar schools have better teachers but also superior buildings and resources- An overwhelming proportion of working class children were being educated in elementary schools.Their middle-level buildings and resources, lack of graduate teachers and limited curriculum, compared badly with the better resourced secondary grammar and recompense paying schools, at flowed mostly by children from middle class backgrounds. (Plummer 2000 pg. 15). From the 1960s onwards, education was increasingly measured in terms of economics i. e. as an institution of national interests rather than personal fulfilment. During this period racial and cultural minority groups entered the debates, due to immigration be attack more prevalent.It was assumed that children coming from these backgrounds needed to become like the ovalbumin populous as right absent as possible therefore little genuine progress was do (Finch, 1984). Perhaps this is due to the nature of the curriculum for example, history lessons concentrating on light European perspective with often-fanciful representations of ethnic cultures. Equally teachers and local authorities did not downstairsstand their growing presence in schools and it emerged that in some schools, boss teachers were refusing to admit more black pupils (Donald and Rattansi, Race, Culture and Difference, 1992 pg.14). Professor fanny Rex, a leading figure in British Race traffic Research, accused black youth of being arrogant, rumbustious and contempurious and having a true fascination for violence. (Rex, New Debates in pitch-dark Politics 1990 pg. 18 and 33). Its hardly surprising that these students felt marginalised. In addition under achievement of ethnic groups appeared to be over looked- many of the teachers indicated they had never considered hard the apparent failure or under achievement of working class or black children in the education system.(Lee, Pride and Prejudice Teachers, Class and an Inner City Infants School, 1987 pg. 108). Girls coming from an ethnic minority are not the only group held back from achieving their full potential equally white girls coming from middle class backgrounds feel this. Even today, the dominant (arguably unconscious) ideologies to reinforce cultural norms of gender behaviour (Walker and Barton, 1983) both pu pils and staff give these norms in schools.Girls are not expected to do as well, are not brought up to be assertive to the same level as their male counterparts, and therefore tend to underachieve and blame themselves for it (Light and Dwek, 1987). Staff praise contrasting qualities. Until very recently girls choices in curriculum activities were limited, they were encouraged to veer forward from scientific or technical subjects Deem 1978 sights girls examination result successes tend to be in art subjects, which have limited value for entry into employment and therefore lead females down a different pathway in further education.The format of exams themselves and other measures of curricular achievement are biased towards males e. g. multiple choice tests are geared towards male logic than female abilities. Issues such as these highlight the importance that moves are make to alter prejudice expectations and the way assessments are undertaken including educating teachers to under stand their own biases, promoting a change in the expectations of girls so they can achieve what is really in spite of appearance their interests and capabilities.Another area in which the education system is failing today is the treatment of those to be deemed as special needs. The 1988 Education Act delineate this by learning difficulty that calls for special educational provision to be made. This definition obviously makes some comparison with a norm, this norm is not specified and different education authorities have different averages. Although steps are being taken to move away from labelling since the 1983 Warnock Report many such pupils are til now educated distributively within schools themselves or special schools together, this again becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.Barton and Tomlinson (1981) ask, at which point does caring become controlling? this is due to current attitudes that problems are psychological, rather than social and pupils are categorised. Despite the promises of the 1940s Act and the many worthy reports that have been commissioned (and largely ignored), still the education system in Britain is riddled with inequalities as set out above. The education system has disoriented its focus on personal fulfilment. Arguably the pupil has become a homogenised asset to be utilised in the interest of economic progress.If the child does not meet this criteria then they are virtually excluded to protect the accepted norms that society seeks to reinforce on tomorrows world. In the ideal situation school children will learn a human body of skills throughout their schooling, to aid his or hers development to achieve their full potential. By the time a young person leaves school at whatever age suits their abilities and aspirations, they should be a self confident and fulfilled individual. severally individual should have gained a wealth of knowledge, motivation for further development, support skills and exam success, which realistica lly reflects their capabilities.Equally a pupil should have had the probability to form friendships with peers and to have built relationships with teaching staff, thus providing a convinced(p) image of society at all levels. Everyone should have been exposed to young ideas and activities. This is an ideal how many people having experienced the British Education system would relate their own schooling to this statement? For many this statement is altogether alien to their experiences due to the inherent prejudices the institution reinforces such as the class structure, racism, sexism, beaurocracy and commercialism of schools.It is evident that British schooling has changed considerably since 1945, in many ways there has been great improvement for the majority of pupils. However still today there are a significant group covering ethnic minorities, girls and Special Educational Needs pupils who have largely been over looked so far. If Britain is to make the most from its human res ources it is vital that attitudes change so that the individuals potential, which is currently ignored, may be fulfilled.Bibliography Miller, J. , 1992, More Has Meant Women The Feminisation of Schooling, Institute of Education and London Tufnell PressParsons, T. , 1995, Haralambos, M & Holborn, M. , Sociology Themes and Perspectives. Fourth edition. London Collins Educational Abercrombie, N & Warde, A. , 1994, Contemporary British Society. Second Edition.Cambridge Blackwell Publishers. Plummer, G, 2000, Failing Working Class Girls. Stoke-On-Trent, Trentham Books. Finch J. , 1984,Its long To Have Someone To Talk To The Ethics and Politics of Interviewing Women, in C. campana and Robert (eds) Social Researching Politics, Problems, Practice, London Routledge and Kegan Paul. Donald J. , Rattansi A,.1992, Race Culture & Difference, London, Sage Publications. Rex J. , 1990, Debates in Black Politics, Warwick, Warwick University.Lee, J. , 1987, Pride and Prejudice Teachers, Class and an Inner City Infants School, in m. Lawn and G. deck (eds) Teachers The Cultural and Politics of Work, Lewes Falmer Press ODonnell G. , 1985, Mastering Sociology, Basingstoke, The Macmillan Press. Pugh, M,. 1994, State & Society A Social and Political History of Britain 1870-1997, London, Arnold Publishers. Other Sources Campaign for accredited Education web-site www. cre. org. uk Word Count 1,691.