Does social class affect a child's educational success?

Everyone says that your grades are all your work, but what if it's not?

In sociological studies, children from middle-class homes are more likely to get better grades than a student of a working-class background. This can be for various reasons.

Material deprivation refers to the inability for individuals or households to afford basic resources and services, this would obviously be most likely to occur within the working-class as they are less fortunate compared from the higher classes as they do not earn as much money. This could result in issues such as bad diet, unsanitary housing conditions and clothes, along with a lack of resources such pens and books. This could point to situations where children might not come into school as if they do not have the correct uniform, in fear of if they get a detention or if they get bullied, or they might do not do their homework because they do not have a computer at home, as you can see, this can possibly lead to absences which results in poor grades as they either had not done an important homework or if they missed a significantly important lesson or if they simply had not had the necessary revision materials. Whereas higher class pupils are likely to be able to afford private tutors if they are failing a subject and can always afford their necessary everyday needs and wants.

Cultural deprivation belongs to the idea of different attitudes between the classes. It is thought that the working-class homes either do not have the means or they just fail to adequately prepare their children for their education. Whereas the higher-class families do, as they have the resources to progress their child's skills. Teachers often see higher students as 'bright' because of their perfect appearances, their manners and particularly advanced vocabulary which they would have been socialized into from an early age, this is called the 'halo effect' as teachers see children that look disheveled, are loud and rude as not as bright as children who have perfect uniforms, who are polite and quiet. How many times have you seen this effect? How many times have you seen the loud and brash student get told off and seen as not as smart as the rest of the class?

Parental attitudes and key values can also affect educational achievement. For example, parents who have placed less value on education and were given less encouragement towards them as children would treat their children in the same way because they don't know how to motivate their children in the right way. However, parents of higher classes would encourage their children in all the right ways and the children can also see what type of life would be laid ahead of them if they focused and worked hard in school, therefore giving them a higher level of motivation. All of this said, I believe that social classes are, most of the time, the reason for the differences in results when it comes to tests. Of course, you also need determination in the mindset of the student, but it helps to have even more motivation from a parent. Especially one that can provide for them in the ways that they need to achieve the correct grades needed for their child to reach their aspirations and goals.

And, again, I pose the question, does social class affect a child's educational success?

Or is it just all your work, regardless of what social class you are from?

By Saima Ali -The Sydney Russell School.