The researchers say some policy
initiatives have lost their way
Posted on 06/22/2007 6:26:41 AM PDT by yankeedame
Last Updated: Friday, 22 June 2007, 10:25 GMT 11:25 UK
The researchers say some policy
initiatives have lost their way
Most of the persistent low achievers in England's schools are poor and white, and far more are boys than girls, a Joseph Rowntree Foundation study says. Chinese and Indian pupils are most successful. Afro-Caribbean pupils do no worse than white British from similar economic backgrounds, results suggest.
The analysis, by London School of Economics academics, says that some policies are having positive effects.
But others, such as school league tables, actually make things worse.
The authors, Robert Cassen and Geeta Kingdon, analysed official data, focusing on four measures of low achievement:
Prof Cassen also visited schools and colleges and interviewed educationists and council officials.
The chief characteristic of low achievers is that they come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
They are more likely to qualify for free school meals, live in areas of high unemployment, and have single parents who themselves have poor qualifications.
Second language
Children with special educational needs and those in local authority care figure prominently.
"No child deserves a worse teacher for any reason, least of all because he or she may not help a school reach a target," --JRF report
Not speaking English at home, however, is "a short-lived handicap", overcome by most youngsters by the time they are in secondary school.
Schools do make a difference - though only about 14% of the low achievement can be attributed to school quality, the report says.
Disadvantaged students are more likely to be in worse-performing schools, and measures to promote fair selection will help.
But there is considerable variability between schools and between local authorities.
Case for change
The researchers say the policy implications are that progress is being made, but some policies are not implemented as well as they should be - for example, those to help special needs and cared for children.
"Giving far greater priority to reducing low achievement would represent money and effort well spent,"-- JRF report
"No child deserves a worse teacher for any reason, least of all because he or she may not help a school reach a target."
The researchers say the government attainment target of five GCSEs at grade C or above, and associated league tables, "do a disservice to potential low achievers".
The latest incarnation of the national literacy strategy is out of step with current research and "there is a case for changing it".
"It appears to have been introduced without rigorous attention to the findings of research about the teaching of reading."
They express doubts about the focus on synthetic phonics - just as a new teaching system centred on this is being promoted to primary schools by the government.
And they say funding is not always directed to where it can help most.
Investment
"Giving far greater priority to reducing low achievement would represent money and effort well spent, for the individuals concerned and for society at large," the report concludes.
Schools minister Jim Knight said: "Boosting achievement for low achieving groups is at the heart of our education reforms and we are delivering a curriculum and school experience to better engage boys.
"We have invested over £1bn to support personalised learning, with special weighting for deprived areas, to ensure that low achievers are helped to catch up and do not fall further behind."
The government was also providing one-to-one tuition for 300,000 pupils in maths and 300,000 in English to help low achievers.
"In recent years, the proportion of white boys eligible for free school meals achieving five good GCSEs has improved faster than the national average."
National Union of Teachers leader Steve Sinnott said: "The foundation has identified the impact of social deprivation on all young people's achievement.
"Its conclusions are straightforward common sense which should be adopted by the government."
Indians breaking class barriers in UK
http://www.freerepublic.com/%5Ehttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1294956.cms
LONDON: Second-generation Indian immigrants are breaking their adopted country’s class barriers with consistent ease and steaming ahead of much of white, black and brown Britain, new research has found.
The research, which tracked 140,000 children born in England and Wales over a 30-year period, found that a massive 56 per cent second-generation Indians sailed over class barriers and went into professional or managerial posts, compared with just 43 per cent of white children.
In a further breakdown of what it called the “Indian success story”, the study added that Being Hindu or Jewish enhanced the probability of a professional/managerial class outcome, other things being equal, while being Muslim, Sikh or from a religious group other than the main religions made such a destination less likely”.
However, the study admitted that today’s immigrant successes could not discount the reality and dreadful toll of the so-called “ethnic penalty” levied on newer, foreign-origin claimants for jobs and positions.
The research said two-thirds of British Pakistani and Bangladeshi children remained static and at the same working class levels of their parents, thus languishing at the bottom of the UK’s social and economic mobility ladder.
The study, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and conducted by Essex University sociologist Dr Lucinda Platt, is considered one of the most comprehensive attempts to track ethnic minority “life chances” in the world of Western opportunity. Platt concluded that the differing levels of South Asian success makes for caution “in what we claim for ‘ethnicity’ and what we attribute to it”.
Platt said it was indisputable that British Indians were taking full advantage of the fact that an expansion in professional and managerial occupations over the past 30 years had created more “room at the top”. But she cautioned that the “welcome progress” of Indians and Afro-Caribbeans was “no cause for complacency (because) Britain is still a long way from being a meritocracy where social class plays no part in determining children’s chances of well-paid careers”.
This is “bull$h!t with statistics”, plain and simple.
Yeah, “most” of the underachievers are white Brits, because MOST OF THE STUDENTS are white Brits.
Look at the similarity between “white British” and “All” in the bar graph. It’s not a coincidence — it’s due to the relative weight of that group in the mix!
And... could this report BE any more obfuscated than it already is???
Sheesh. Liberal “social engineering” academics.
He was a doctor at a poison ward and he documents women who tried to committ suicide to escape abusive boyfriends, who then form new relationships with new abusers who were in the ward because they tried to committ suicide to avoid going to court for their abusive acts.
He talks about interns from Calcutta, India who are used to seeing dead bodies rolling off trucks and not being noticed. They cannot believe the generosity of England's welfare state. It is a dream come true ... until they notice the spiritual poverty. Poor people who always eat out becaues they literally cannot cook a single meal, the abusers and drug users, the women who cling to the worst sort of man. And they change their mind. As physically poor as India may be, its poverty is far less terrifying than the spiritual poverty in the wealth of England.
Talking about the spiritual poverty of England, I once read an article about the problems the Church of England faced because fewer than 4% of the English population went to church on a regular basis. With so few gracing the doorsteps of a church, it’s no wonder that country is basically morally bankrupt.
I agree. This used to make me really upset, but I’ve since come to terms with it. I think God wants to make it clear that our successes are not because of technology and education, but because we have let the Holy Spirit into our hearts. The failures of communism followed by the failures of secularism make for a powerful one-two punch.
“Britain is still a long way from being a meritocracy where social class plays no part in determining children’s chances of well-paid careers”.”
Has, or could, such a place ever existed? It’s just a fact of life, if your from a poor “working class” background, you’re gonna have to work harder to reach certain positions than if you come from a more priveleged background. Similarly, if you want to reach the highest levels of the business or political worlds, coming from an “upper class” family is an advantage, and those who don’t will have to work extra hard to overcome that disadvantage. It’s just a fact of life - but the opportunity is there for anyone to rise above their circumstances.
for later reading
In a further breakdown of what it called the “Indian success story”, the study added that Being Hindu or Jewish enhanced the probability of a professional/managerial class outcome, other things being equal, while being Muslim, Sikh or from a religious group other than the main religions made such a destination less likely”.
I doubt religion has much, if anything, to do with it. Rather, it all comes down to how willing a person is to work hard and utilise opportunities as they arise. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."
Immigrants from India tend to have a better work ethic, and their children generally are taught to study harder and to do well in school. If the white underclass in Britain has anything like the same pathologies that the black underclass in America has, it's no wonder they aren't getting anywhere. The children of immigrants to America, regardless of where they come from, tend to succeed in school more than native-born children, because they are taught to study and work - and this holds true whether their families are from Jamaica, Korea, or Poland. I remember reading once about some Polish children whose family immigrated after Communism fell. These kids would spend 4-6 hours a night doing their homework. They were absolutely mystified that the average American kid spends 4-6 hours a night watching television. Therein lies the difference. It's all about work ethic, not religion or race.
Opportunity often knocks, but many people don't open the door because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work.
The reason our, ahem, inner city kids are doing pitifully in school is because there is an ingrained ethos in the urban black community, implanted from decades and generations of government handout programmes and victim mentality propaganda, which says that working hard and getting good grades is bad. It's "acting white". It's being a race traitor. Kids in inner city schools will be harassed, threatened, and even beaten up for doing well in school. If the white underclass in Britain has the same mentality (as a poster above alluded), then the same results will occur - dead end jobs, drugs, illegitimacy, welfare dependency, broken families, suicide, violence, and every other ill that plagues our cities.
Post modern new age liberalism’s deconstruction of the host dominant culture...pull out their teeth, emasculate, destroy, infiltrate, infest, achieve ethnic parity while the dumber they get the louder they applaud their destruction. Surreal.
“As physically poor as India may be, its poverty is far less terrifying than the spiritual poverty in the wealth of England.”
What a ridiculously ignorant comment! Spent much time in India lately, have we? Own a passport even? If you had any idea of how the poor in India suffer... Go and do a little check on child prostitution in India, then come back and slam the English.
“no wonder that country is basically morally bankrupt.”
Oh dear. I know you like to believe that America is some sort of beacon of morality, but sadly that’s not a view shared by the rest of the world. Take a good look around you, then ask yourself if you should be pointing fingers.
That is not my opinion. Go read the book. He was quoting his interns from India.
They are very similar to American blacks, who live in a state of perpetual resentment and fury because they see themselves as utterly passive subjects of the state. They expect things to be given to them, they expect to have everything done for them, and they are profoundly offended by the suggestion that they might have to make some effort of their own. And furthermore, they have no idea where to begin, and the treacherous "leadership" of their exploitive political leaders makes it impossible for them to find the very logical way out of their predicament.
I think religion has a lot to do with instilling work ethic and an education ethic. It depends a lot on the religion. Jews are very big on higher education, Amish are not but they have a terrific work ethic.
read later
For decades in America we have been giving all kinds of scholarships and financial aid to poor families. The real hurdle is not financial as much as it is in overcoming learned cultural habits.
That's because most of the rest of the world has a very peculiar notion of what is "moral".
“That’s because most of the rest of the world has a very peculiar notion of what is “moral”.”
And they say Americans have no sense of humour...
Apologies for misconstruing your post (my bad), but the fact remains that comparing the two nations is madness. I shan’t read the book, simply because I’ve read it all before, only it’s generally British liberals who are busy denigrating British society and its values, and hailing those of nations whose people genuinely understand what it’s like to have their spirits crushed.
I find it particularly bizarre and ironic coming from a US Republican, but there we go.
The truth is, all western nations have problems and need to find a balance - I just don’t understand why so many on this site focus so intently on Britain’s faults, when America’s are so clear for all to see.
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