Race, Class and Attainment
“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
The educational attainment gap is one that
represents and is entirely intertwined with social factors such as class,
wealth, living circumstances and race. It’s not that kids from a ‘certain
background’ are idiots or that they lack potential, despite the stereotypes
that burden them. Let’s talk about classism, racism and how various –isms come
to play in the gap that separates equally bright or capable children
from achieving the same academic and accordingly, career success.
The EEF’s most recent report outlines how the
attainment gap is prevalent from early years consistently to secondary school
and beyond. It also emphasises that the gap is a historical trend in the data,
which means that the process in closing it will also take time. However, the
gap is currently narrowing at too slow of a pace.
The report focuses on disadvantaged children, which
refers to pupils who have been eligible for free school meals in the past six
years, classified as ‘Pupil Premium’ pupils. These pupils can also be those who
are looked after by authorities or are in service families. This criterion was
developed to measure economic disadvantage and allocate government funding to
schools with these pupils as a result. It is these pupils, along with those who
have special educational needs, that statistically have the lowest academic
attainment. It is easy to observe figures and statistics, then come to
conclusions (i.e. generate stereotypes and prejudice) about young people whose
lives they just do not understand. Simply put, hungry children can’t focus. The
schools they attend may be short on resources and have over-crowded classrooms.
They’ve skipped breakfast and can’t afford lunch. The teachers may be
disinterested and often act as the igniters of a child’s self-fulfilling
prophecy of failure, if their parents don’t do it first. They may also come
from dysfunctional or broken homes. An interest in crime or gang culture, for
instance, may outweigh their interest in school. The list goes on. If these
young people finally make it to the point of their lives where they must choose
whether or not to pursue higher education, it isn’t always the eager, exciting
experience most consider it to be. At this point many of these teenagers ask
themselves why they would want to apply for university,
especially the top universities in the country.
First of all, young people, particularly those who
are ethnic minorities are not oblivious to the feeling of being unwelcome and
segregated, regardless of how many smiling black and brown faces are put on the
university brochures. It has become common knowledge now that minorities are
‘overlooked’ in top university selection processes. In 2015, 1 in 3 Oxford
colleges failed to admit a single black British A-level
student. Not even one. This unspoken norm that we’ve all internalised as
typical can affect students’ decision to even bother applying to finding out
more about top universities. But regardless of if universities improve their
admission policies, which many have made recent efforts to do, this does
nothing if students still aren’t applying in the first place. Aside from the
attainment gap, extremely bright disadvantaged students may not be motivated to
apply to top universities for a range of reasons.
If no one else in the family has progressed to
university before, not only can they be ill-informed about crucial knowledge
such as the application process, personal statements, student loans, interview
or audition advice, league tables, career opportunities post-graduation and
more, but can be discouraging or contemptuous towards the concept of higher
education as a whole. Their parents may not know the differences between
universities to help with a dilemma or may urge them to go directly into
finding a job. Now the motivation for reaching university lays mostly in the
hands of their school/college that lack sufficient advice and rather encourage
alternative higher education options: internships, job-seeking fairs and
vocational courses. The school’s UCAS advisor or teachers are also nonchalant
and don’t expect that the student will achieve their target grades, thus say
“think a bit more realistically”. The Sutton Trust found that 40% of state school teachers never or rarely advise their brightest students to apply to
Oxbridge, claiming they “wouldn’t be happy there”. This
isn’t a total lie, but I digress. These students don’t have the money to pay
for train tickets to visit different university campuses and find out more.
They manage to go to a couple, and realise everyone in these
cities are – yes, you guessed it, white.
For many disadvantaged young people, the concept of
making it to any university is one that is a distant, funny
possibility, let alone one that is known for being where only ‘posh kids’
attend. It is simply out of the question. The self-fulfilling prophecy that
because of who they are – despite their academic potential – they are not
‘supposed’ to be in certain environments and have certain achievements is a
mindset that unconsciously burdens and limits them for a lifetime. No one talks
or thinks about its prevalence, so it has become extremely normalised. So, what
happens when disadvantaged young people (or simply POC, however race and class
create an important intersection) do get into universities? In
terms of race and university life, Annabel Murphy (editor of The Tab) says “The
kind of people that go there are often very privileged. They’ve had a lack of
exposure to other races and have grown up surrounded by vaguely racist jokes
that have been seen as just ‘banter’”. Recently, social media exploded when a
fresher at Nottingham Trent shared a video of her flatmates chanting “We hate
the blacks” outside her door in her halls. Or the Exeter Law student group chat
where boys discussed a “race war”, “being chased by a n****r” and used other
slurs such as “p*ki”. Or the Exeter students wearing jackets with swastikas and
‘F**k the Syrians’ on them, on a pub crawl. Or the other Exeter students that
wore ‘The Holocaust was a good time’ t-shirts (someone please tell me what is
going on in Exeter). Or the Anglia Ruskin rugby student who wore blackface and
called himself Serena Williams. Or just any fancy dress party, ever.
Institutions receive reports of racism or
discrimination frequently, but often fail to act unless accusations or videos
go viral on social media.
Besides the more blatant examples of racism, it is
true for many ethnic minority students that university life is extremely
trying, beyond the standard challenges of being a student. The lack of
representation not only in the student body but in the lecturers teaching
(especially lecturers that teach on culture, race relations, slavery etc. that
lack understanding or interpersonal sensitivity, view events from a colonial
lens, use problematic or racially insensitive terms, etc.) is hurtful. When the
curriculum is inherently Eurocentric and the prominent figures within it and
those teaching it do not represent or relate to you in the slightest - how
would one ever feel inspired to become successful or recognised also in their
desired field? Additionally, outside of the school environment, is the city
culturally diverse and tolerant? Are we living in buildings and streets named
after slave traders? Is there adequate effort from communities to be welcoming?
Are cultural societies active in students’ lives - that is if they exist (you’d
be surprised how many UK universities do not have an Asian or Afro-Caribbean
society, let alone sub/category societies). Do the welfare & well-being
programmes as well as mental health services offer effective enough support for
ethnic minority students? Are ethnic minority students made to feel as safe and
respected as everyone else? It is literally more difficult to secure student
housing if your parents are not UK nationals or homeowners. These are issues
that no one else has to even think about when choosing to come to university,
let alone carry the emotional weight of daily. Feelings of isolation,
depression, or insecurity are consequences as much as they are symptoms; there
is a cyclical nature of detrimental social and economic issues that result in
lower attainment. In 2016, 21% of black students were less likely to be
satisfied with their time at university than their white counterparts and only
17% of UK-domiciled students of Chinese background were very satisfied with
their university experience. In this light, it is
easier to understand why an attainment gap is present even in higher education,
regardless of the fact that everyone got in based on meeting the same academic
requirements.
It goes without saying that more work needs to be
done to close the race and class gaps in society, which would contribute to
closing the attainment gap. These are systems that are historical,
institutional and alive. Attacking disadvantaged youth does nothing but promote
the already brutal circumstances they face. Widening participation programmes,
early years intervention schemes, charities like the EEF, workshops, one-to-one
tutoring, changes to school and university admission policies etc. are all
important steps. Additionally, for young people to take accountability and have
self-determination is crucial. However, the myth of just ‘working hard’, often
spewed by those blind to the head-start they were given in life, is thoughtless
and frankly, ridiculous, when we don’t understand the contexts in which people
live in nor work to dismantle the systems that keep them in these
circumstances. We can’t pull ourselves up by the bootstraps if we have no boots
to wear.
More links:
The EEF report
https://www.ecu.ac.uk/guidance-resources/student-recruitment-retention-attainment/student-attainment/degree-attainment-gaps/
This is something that really annoys me to. People saying you just need to work harder to get where they are automatically because of their privilege. And then when this is pointed out, a fraction of school funding is put in- an extra career advice meeting or school counselling one a week or financial aid for trips and meals- the school board/headteacher/whatever pat themselves on the back or tick their box saying they've helped the under privileged and don't bother investigating further into all the other things that hold kids back. And when you speak out for change and improvement, you're patronised with some ageist crap particularly in schools. Or told that it just isnt possible with the resources they have, the funding, the time.
ReplyDeleteIts just not in the radious of the rich, privileged, uneducated people who've created the educational system, to leave space for the amount of diversity in support that is needed. You have to infiltrate and work your way up to the top, playing by the rules, to even whisper into the ears of people with the keys to action change. People who have no need or desire to educate themselves because its not to do with their own lives. Its too much time or effort. When one second of their time could mean crazy improvements to thousands of others' lives.
Well I'm heated up now! Fantastic post :) - Lizzie
You're totally right! It's upsetting that people could make such a difference in the lives of millions if they just took the time to care. We should all have a level playing field.
DeleteThank you so much for reading!! Please share with anyone who might find this stuff interesting (: