Thursday, October 31, 2019

The closing of the Muslim mind Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The closing of the Muslim mind - Essay Example In Reilly's view, the success of this school over others in the ninth and tenth centuries lead to the decline of reason and therefore the closing of the Muslim mind. The consequences are drastic, but Reilly believes that, now that the problem has been diagnosed, it is possible to make fundamental changes in the Middle East by promoting different interpretations of Islam, embracing reason both in life and in theology, and essentially embarking on Aquinas' mission to unite reason and faith (197-207). Reilly refers frequently to the â€Å"dehellenization† of Sunni Islam in specific and Islam in general (11-40; 119-127). Initially, as Islam expanded, it was largely tribal, warlike and violent. This was due to the character of the region prior to Mohammed, of course: In many fundamental ways, Mohammed was a progressive reformer. Nonetheless, as a non-status quo power expanding outwards, Islam felt little need to absorb other cultures, until it started to find cultures and groups cl early superior in technological and military might. â€Å"Islam encountered Greek thought in its new Byzantine and Sassanid possessions. Exactly how these early Hellenic influences reached into Islam is a matter of some conjecture. What is clear is that huge areas of what had been the Byzantine Empire were largely Christian, and in them Greek philosophical notions had long been employed in Christian apologetics. There were also centers of Hellenistic learning in Alexandria (which moved to Antioch, Syria, around A.D. 718) and Gondeshakpur, northeast of Basra, Iraq† (23-27). As Muslims expanded, they encountered resistance, both theological and physical. As an outcome of the physical resistance, they got Greek books and knowledge; as an outcome of the theological resistance, Muslim scholars became versed in Christian ideology, Greek and Latin as languages, and became far more erudite (27-35). The consequence of this Hellenization was the emergence of the Mu'ztalite interpretati on of Sunni Islam (41-58). Greek thought in its classical form emphasized the role of reason over the passions, the rigorous use of logic, questioning authority, engaging in experimental analysis of the world, and using dialectical modes of reasoning and questioning to arrive at the truth from multiple perspectives. The synthesis of Greek and Muslim thought produced a period that Reilly waxes poetic over in Chapter Two, a period of learning during which Islam was the cradle of civilization alongside the Byzantines pitted against a horribly backward and ignorant Christian Europe. The Mu'ztalites viewed Man as free: The Koran (40:40) says, â€Å"Whosoever does an evil deed shall be recompensed only with the like of it, but whosoever does a righteous deed, be it male or female, believing shall enter Paradise, therein provided without reckoning†, alongside many other verses which establish that men are to think for themselves, which Mu'ztalites used to argue indicated that men we re supposed to be freely determine for themselves right and wrong, to create and inquire (35-40). But it was not to last. Political struggles determined the fate of Mu'ztalite interp

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Speech class assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Speech class assignment - Essay Example It delves deeper and in specific; this is as opposed to the general purpose of a given speech. Sproule (574) states that it enlivens the general purpose of the speech, where it covers aspects such as what the audience is being enlightened on. This situation is so, especially if the general theme of the speech aligns with informing the audience. It may also cover what the audience is being persuaded to do in the case the general purpose of the speech lies under the theme of persuasion. In listening to this speech, there are a numerous of points and emphases noted. Among them are the emphases of the fact that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was riding only two cars behind his boss when President J. F. Kennedy was shot. There is another emphasis, which states that barely 24 hours had passed before V.P Johnson ascended to the Presidency of the Unites States of America. The phrase ‘ladies and gentlemen’ are said in an emphasizing manner, where the lecturer introduces the issues to do with the ratification of the 25th amendment that deals with the succession of a president. Finally, there is an emphasis on the point that article 25 of the Constitution was vague thereby giving room to misinterpretations and confusions. Listening to speech four without the visual element, it is almost impossible to note the areas being emphasized by the speaker. The tone is flat without any poses and variations. As such, the speaker appears to be speaking on one subject. The tonal variation, which should come with the comparison of various aspects of the speech, remains lacking. The emphasis that should be placed on the various types of artwork, specifically the impressionistic versus the 18th-century artwork. On the mention of the example of an impressionistic painting, the speaker does not change his tone. The mention of the painter is also done in a flat tone. Finally, the changes in subjects are also done without much consideration of the tonal

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Impact Of Education System On Social Class Opportunity Sociology Essay

Impact Of Education System On Social Class Opportunity Sociology Essay What is social mobility? Drawing on different perspectives, assess the impact of the education system on opportunities and life chances on the basis of social class. What implications does this have for the work of helping agencies? Social mobility simply describes how people move along the social ladder. For this to happen there must necessarily be some form of social class in place. Social class occurs everywhere, even in the poorest communities. Take a typical village in Ghana for example, you will find that probably the village palm wine tapper or renowned farmer may be at the top of the social ladder; by village standards, they are the rich guys; these in addition could also serve as money lenders or movers and shakers. In the middle of the social ladder in the said village you might find the middle class who constitutes probably the majority of villagers with average incomes making just about enough from their farming or other vocations to make ends meet. Of course, at the bottom of this ladder will be the lower classes that have no jobs or qualifications and are at the mercy of the rich palm wine tapper. Social mobility describes how the classes move from their level of class upwards or downwards. This movement could involve the acquisition of new skills or education in the bid to get better jobs and hence get more income. Sometimes movement is caused by for example winning the lottery, an inheritance from parents or relatives or any procedure either deliberate or accidental which moves a person from one class to another. Social mobility or intergenerational mobilityas economists prefer to call it measures the degree to which peoples social status changes between generations. It is seen by many as a measure of the equality of life opportunities, reflecting the extent to which parents influence the success of their children in later life or, on the flipside, the extent to which individuals can make it by virtue of their own talents, motivation and luck. (Blanden J et al 2005) The Sociology guide has described Social mobility as a vital part of social stratification and an inseparable part of social stratification system because the nature, form, range and degree of social mobility depending on the very nature of the stratification system. Stratification system means the process of placing individuals in different layers or strata. (http://www.sociologyguide.com) In a social mobility paper Stephen Aldridge describes social mobility as a movement or opportunities for movement between different social groups and the advantages that go with this in terms of income, security of employment, opportunities for advancement etc. (Aldridge, 2001) There are types of social mobility. Intra-generation is when there has been a change in a persons social position. A typical example will be clerical assistant who works his/her way up in an organisation. However, if a persons social position changes over a generation it is called inter-generation mobility. An example is Margaret Thatcher and many others. She became prime minister as a grocers daughter. There appears to be significant intergenerational mobility in the United States, although perhaps less than is sometimes believed. Origins significantly affect destinations. Specifically, adult sons and daughters are more likely to look like their parents in terms of occupation or income than one would predict on the basis of chance. Still, there is considerable mobility. Indeed, even when occupations or income categories are broadly defined, a majority of adult offspring occupy a different occupational or income category than their parents.(Daniel P et al 1997) Horizontal mobility is another type of social mobility where a person changes their job-related position but does not change social class. An example is where a clerical assistant moves from Wellingborough to London and becomes an administrative officer. Vertical mobility on the hand takes the stage where people change their job-related position and change their social class as well. An example of vertical mobility will be for example a street cleaner becoming a solicitor or an army officer becoming a cleaner. They have fundamentally changed their socio-economic position. There are types of vertical social mobility. If someone moves down the social ladder it becomes downward mobility. When they move up on the social ladder it becomes upward mobility. For example if an Army officer is promoted in rank it becomes an upward mobility. The magazine Business Week in 2007 wrote an article about how mobile phones in Africa are creating high standards of living and boosting upward mobility. Only a few years ago, places like Muruguru didnt even register in the plans of handset makers and service providers. What would a Kenyan farmer want with a mobile phone? Plenty, as it turns out. To the astonishment of the industry, people living on a few dollars a day have proven avid phone users, and in many parts of the world cellular airtime has become a de facto currency. The reason is simple: A mobile phone can dramatically improve living standards by saving wasted trips, providing information about crop prices, summoning medical help, and even serving as a conduit to banking services. (Business Week, 2007) Another recent example of downward mobility is in this article in the telegraph. Though she is married to a builder, the 27-year-old housewife has rickety wooden planks for walls and covers her roof with plastic sheeting to keep out the rain in Harares Hatcliffe suburb far from the neighbourhood where she used to live. Right now I dont have a housing lot, but we are paying money to local co-operatives (to save for a down payment) so we may get lots to build houses, Chama said. And she is far from alone. According to official estimates, around two million Zimbabweans in this country of 12.2 million need accommodation. (Reagan Mashavave, 2009) Another type of social mobility is structural mobility which involves vertical mobility but its movement is brought about by a major disorder. It can also be brought on by changes in society that brings improvement to a large number of people. Typical examples will be industrialisation, expansion of education and computerisation. These changes have all brought improvement to people in the UK and around the world. People have through it acquired higher social status and found higher paid jobs than their parents. There is also individual mobility which involves people being hindered from taking opportunities because of where they were live, their colour, gender, religion, their educational background, job, wellbeing and many others. The impact of the education system on opportunities and life chances on the basis of social class is enormous and hasnt changed much since education began. It is still difficult for working class children to access grammar and good comprehensive schools as the middle class and upper class have populated areas where these schools are placed. Childrens social class is still the most significant factor in determining their exam success in state schools, the Governments head of teacher training acknowledges today. In an interview with The Independent, Graham Holley, the chief executive of the Training and Development Agency, said: The performance of a school and a child in it is highly linked to social class. If you turn the clock back on pupils in school today 15 years and predict their outcomes from where they were born, you can do it. (Garner, 2008) Working class families are tied to the low paid jobs and often live in areas where schools are failing. Jobs are hard to find in these areas and its inhabitants are usually heavily dependant on benefits. Their lives are occupied with how to manage everyday living and not on reading to their children and giving them music and language lessons. The poorest children still have little chance of becoming lawyers, doctors, senior civil servants and financiers, a report published by the Liberal Democrats today shows. The Social Mobility Commission, set up by the party, said billions of pounds spent on improving social mobility over the past decade has helped middle-class rather than working-class children. Last year only 35% of pupils eligible for free school meals obtained five or more A* to C GCSE grades, compared with 63% of pupils from wealthier backgrounds.(Shepherd J, 2009) Disadvantaged children have little chance of watching educational programmes on television nor do they have the chance of reading the broad sheets. They are simply not patronised in their households. Libraries are rarely used and mobile libraries are not highly participated in working class areas. Areas in London for instance have seen various housing developments but they are not in the reach of the low paid. Overcrowding has many implications for the already struggling families as there is often no where to do homework. After school clubs charge for their services leaving low paid families out in the cold. Therefore chances of disadvantaged children reaching high levels of achievement in school are slightly dim. Young people in manual social classes remain under-represented in higher education in Great Britain. Despite increasing from a participation rate of 11 per cent in 1991/92 to 19 per cent in 2001/02, participation remains well below that of the non-manual social classes. Participation rates for the non-manual social classes increased from 35 per cent to 50 per cent over the same period. (http://www.statistics.gov.uk) The consequences of the manual or low class remaining under-represented in higher education is unthinkable as children from these background will experience either downwardly mobile or not move on the social ladder at all as a result of them not entering higher education. Todays job market is very competitive and even those with good qualifications are finding it difficult to hold onto their jobs. It means that most all white collar jobs will be held by the middle class and upper class families. All the independent evidence shows overall standards to be rising. But the bad news is that when it comes to the link between educational achievement and social class, Britain is at the bottom of the league for industrialised countries. Today, three-quarters of young people born into the top social class get five or more good GCSEs, but the figure for those born at the bottom is less than one-third. We have one of the highest university entry rates in the developed world, but also one of the highest drop-out rates at 16.(Independent, 8 September 2003) Anthony Giddens writes in Sociology and Social Mobility that education is not necessarily a means to an end. Education would have to work with other factors to foster social mobility. Education shouldnt be seen as a panacea for all societys problems. It has a significant role to play, but we cant hold schools and Universities solely responsible for promoting social mobility. Its important not to think of the education system as if it works in a vacuum factors like changes in employment and the economy, and the social determinants of childrens educational attainment, are critical in determining patterns of mobility.(Giddens, 2007) However, education definitely has opportunities for people to progress along the social ladder by providing relevant new skills, information, courses and therefore creating opportunities in life for them. A few years back a hair dresser did not need know too much about what she/he did as a hair dresser but in today environment he/she would have to know all the science there is to cutting, dressing and managing the business. Technology and other factors have raised the standard of work so high that without continuous professional development opportunities are not stretch far. In this new labour market, the value of college degrees overall is greater than ever before. Between 1984 and 2000, employment in jobs requiring a college degree grew by 20 million in the US, accounting for two-thirds of total job growth. Over the same period, wages for college graduates increased. In contrast, high school graduates in America who did not continue with education saw their wages fall below middle class levels for the first time. As a consequence, the opportunities for Americans with terminal high school diplomas are less than a generation ago.(Social Mobility Foundation, 2008) Although a small percentage of poor families are accessing higher education there is evidence that the UK government for instance is working frantically to improve the chances of the less privileged through innovations like Every Child Matters. This innovation is to give every child the chance of accessing education and other services in the community to give them better outcomes in life. Hence the establishment of Surestart Centres which is a one stop service for early education, childcare, health and family support. This Government has invested heavily in policies designed to give all children the chance to succeed. There have already been significant improvements in educational achievement, and reductions in teenage pregnancy, re-offending and children living in low income households. Todays children and young people experience wider opportunities and benefit from rising prosperity, better health and education than those in previous generations. (http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/background/backgroun)10) The implications on the work of helping agencies are many. Helping agencies like Childrens Centres pick up the brunt of any inequalities that lay in society. We bid or vie for large sums of money to run various courses and projects that underpin social mobility. In the bid of helping families read we have set up borrow a chattersack in our childrens centre. This is to encourage parents who might otherwise not access libraries or buy books for their children. The books and toys are expensive but we charge a very minimal fee for them. Often people bring to us various problems like divorce, debt and housing issues which we do our best to refer to other agencies for further assistance. We hold classes with Citizen Advice Bureau to advise people on budgets and other financial incapability. Many of our clients are lone parents or young families struggling on low incomes. They are often in debt and or have little financial knowledge. They often live on large council estates where aspirations are not that great. The recent recession has hit these areas hard and some people are experiencing downwardly mobility. This comes with various demands like counselling, retraining and financial loss. Equality of opportunity is a sine qua non for any modern society and, in Britain, is a principle supported by all mainstream political opinion. Despite this, household income remains the biggest single predictor of a childs future success, and a recent report by the Sutton Trust found that, all too frequently, young people from financially disadvantaged backgrounds end up in a cul de sac of opportunity. (Social Mobility Foundation, 2008) Below is an example of some the types of work some helping agencies do. They use government funds to bridge the gap between rich and poor by organising trips to parks, educational establishment to boost confidence and increase knowledge. Nearly 175,000 bright children on free school meals will be given a chance at the age of 11 to visit a university as part of a drive to lift the aspirations of working-class people and increase stalled social mobility in Britain. Young people in the top 20% of ability based on test results, and who are eligible for free school meals, are about half as likely to go to university as those who are not eligible for free meals. They will now be offered two chances to visit universities. (Wintour, 2007) We organise sporting activities that will encourage the less privileged to put their feet in door of expensive sporting activities. We work with other agencies to bring information and understanding to parents who in effect calve their childrens place on the social ladder. A new report by the British think-tank Demos has hit the headlines, with its claim that Parents are the principal architects of a fairer society. Based on research from the Millennium Cohort Study, the report argues that how children are parented has a more significant impact upon their future life chances than just about anything else, including poverty and the social class into which they are born. (Bristow J, 2009) Helping agencies are faced with many demands for services they can and cannot provide. At our centre for instance there is the demand for certain services like computer classes, some sort of back to work training, cooking classes but we havent got the facilities and the man power to run such courses. We are therefore forced to send clients to other childrens centres in that losing their business. If we do manage to run any of the courses that put pressure on our facilities then we have to limit the numbers which in turn causes us to run the courses several times to fit everyone in. There is also a steady demand for information on sensitive family matters like finance. Education seems to be one the important factors manipulating social mobility. In todays society, education is becoming increasingly important as it used to ascertain the jobs people will end up in. Education is also used to determine peoples social class position. The recent government for instance has introduced many initiatives. Free child care for two year olds was trialed for sometime and is going to be offered to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Back to work incentive of  £500 and the investment into early years, FE schools and workplace training are all initiatives which research has suggested that has not boosted social mobility. In 1999 Tony Blair told the Labour Conference: If we are in politics for one thing, it is to make sure that all children are given the best chance in life. A decade on, the Government has had to admit that billions of pounds of investment in nurseries and schools and on training has failed to bridge the class divide, and that social mobility in Britain has stalled. (Bennett and Bahra 2007) As mentioned before there are many factors contributing to this fact. One such fact is the advantage that middle class families have over poorer families when it comes to education.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Ethnocentrism :: essays research papers

Ethnocentrism #1a.> The difference between the way that the Thais deal with traffic accidents is very different from our own in the manner that when an accident occurs they compare the damage done to each vehicle and then the damage done to each person. To call the police is a big waste of time because many other riders do not have a license. After the problem had been taken care of you are not supposed to make any other contact with the other party. It almost seems like the debate between the groups that gathered was the way that the people could get rid of boredom. #1b.> Not going to jail and the passing of the day is the need that the Thais obtained. #2.> Three examples of Ethnocentrism: a) When the people from the street approached the injured men, the people seemed just as interested in the damage to the motorcycles as they were to the injuries to the persons riding the bikes. b) There was no direct contact between the parties that were in the accident, the people standing aroun d each of the men did the running between the men. The police were not called and there was no lawsuit or fight between the motorists. c) There is just as many people without licenses as there are people with licenses. #3.> Sometimes when we avoid ethnocentric behavior, and respect the other cultures, we lose a portion of our own culture. Our culture is supposed to be based on peace but, for example, with the rise of violence in schools it is necessary to keep all knives out of the classroom. The government let â€Å"ceremonial knives† enter the school. What really is the difference between a â€Å"ceremonial† and regular knives? They both cause bleeding when used and they both kill, isn’t this what we’re trying to stop? We are going to lose our culture in order to keep religion alive.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Waging War: The Iraq War and its implications

The United States of America has always viewed itself as a â€Å"Big Brother† responsible for protecting others and helping them is desperate times. This may prove to be a Good Samaritan act. However, at times, circumstances warrant that things be done according to what is just.   George Bernard Shaw once said that the reasonable man adapts himself to the world but the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself that as a result, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. In the course of history, this appears to be the truth (Young, 1995). World Politics determine the relationship that exists among states today.   Even the course of history is greatly affected by decisions pertaining to politics and international law. It has become a determining factor in assessing the harmonious relationship between and among states, recognizing equality, sovereignty and respect for power and authority (Jensen, 1982). Quite noticeable is how, historically, States to what the United States has dictated. Political camaraderie has always been far more important than plain public service to subordinates and constituents. The Iraq War has magnified all the necessary details of unjust practice of desire for political advancement and world dominance (Graham 2000). This paper seeks to discuss how the Iraq war has not served its purpose at all, making it being unjustified all the more understandable. The premise on Iraq war lies on the misery experience by the people. President George W. Bush has aggressively pointed out that the threat of weapons of mass destruction such as chemicals and biological weapons, contribute to the misery of Iraq. This is because of the fact that sanctions in connection with this threat has added significantly to the poor living conditions of Iraqi people when it comes to the exercise of their freedom. President Bush labelled Saddam as a Madman in control of a very dangerous weapon and capable of spreading terror and strife. This argument has reached far and wide, magnifying the unjustified conditions of Iraqis under the leadership of Saddam Hussein.   This is evident on the fact that for almost 25 million inhabitants of Iraq, the per capita income is becoming less and less compared to five or six years ago. Its economy shrank to more than six percent and among its major problems are mortality, malnutrition and poverty. The life of the Iraqis on a daily basis has been tremendously difficult, far worse than its situation a decade ago.   This is the main reason on which President Bush has hoped to bank on when convincing others to join in the United States’ plight to wage war against Iraq. Now that everything has been done and over with, has it been a justifiable cause? The answer is a resounding NO. Primarily because the condition of Iraq has not improved after such war waged against it. More significant is the fact that mortality rates have increased, hurting more American troops and Iraqis in the process. Terrorism has not decreased but all the more became rampant. Another argument is the catching of a â€Å"madman† on the loose. Saddam Hussein has been captured and his demise has not changed anything. Terrorism still exists, and his avid followers continue to flourish long after he is gone. The end result—- misery and struggle among the people. The war on Iraq is nothing but a political move to help sustain American economy, which is practically a war economy. The fact that waging war would solicit support from other countries means that America would once again flourish in the eyes of so many people thinking that the â€Å"saviour† is here again. But come to think of it, has anything resulted from such war? Aside from achieving President Bush’ goal of seeing Saddam in his demise, nothing else has been considered a productive result. The claim of existence of weapons of mass destruction has been proven futile. No proof f such claim has been produced. In effect, what could be concluded is the fact that the United States has took advantage of the terrorism issue, magnified it and pointed it directly on Iraq, so that people all over the world will sympathize and unite with them in removing Saddam and waging war. Presently, what we have is an Iraq with a civilian government, a more â€Å"free† society but at the end of it all still looms the fact that people are suffering, having lost the identity of a country invaded by foreign entities. The war on Iraq was based on less compelling reasons. At the expense of the people, President Bush has been successful in removing Saddam, but has he been successful enough in making true his promise that suffering and poverty will be addressed and given proper solution? NO. Years have already passed since the war, nut no improvement has been evident. The plight of the Iraqis now is far worse than when they had a dictator for a government. REFERENCES Jensen, Lloyd. Explaining Foreign Policy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1982. Ray, James Lee. Democracies and International Conflict. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. Greenstein, Fred. Personality and Politics .Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1987. Neustadt, Richard. Presidential Power. New York: Wiley, 1976. Graham, Allison. Essence of Decision. Boston: Little Brown, 2000. Baumgartner, Frank. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Young, Oran. System and Society in World Affairs: Implications for International Organizations. New York: Mc Millan 1995.   

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Educational Underachievement Essay

Some sociologists believe in-school factors are responsible for educational underachievement because of many reasons such as- subcultures, setting and streaming and Interactionism where teachers label a pupils likely performance which have an impact on that individual which can be in the form of racism. In opposition, some sociologists disagree because there out-of-school factors too such as; material deprivation, cultural deprivation and innate explanation theory. I have to discuss if in-school factors are responsible. On the one hand, sociologists agree that in-school factors are the cause for educational underachievement as subcultures within schools change through anti-school students. This is because several individuals in school ethos may experience peer-pressure or feel intimidated from their teachers and pro-students who make them conform a specific culture that doesn’t value education such as; ‘urban’ or ‘street’. Therefore he/she could underachieve; they have anti-learning attitudes and a bad perspective of the school due to the expected code of behaviour from their teachers, which is failure, even know they may be smart. They start to accept their label as failure and displace the schools norms and values with their own where they bunk school, disrupt lessons and argue with teachers. Another reason is the educational system is unfair. Schools may give same test to all students however the test covers a less range of skills; memory, knowledge and logic. Therefore, some pupils have an advantage. Students who have mixed abilities, are shown as less able to achieve good grades as that test is excluding their best skills. The setting and streaming of a school can also be unfair. Some students are just thrown in lower sets (3,4,5) because of their behaviour rather than their smartness. So, teachers have lower expectations for them and may underestimate their abilities which causes them to underachieve even though they may be bright. The Interactionism theory is where school teachers can intentionally or unintentionally label students. They label students which is attached to that individual either as a good or bad stigma. But bad stigma can be very sticky to take off and it may result as a stereotype. Sociologists, Rosenthal and Jacobson experimented with the idea of labelling. They found out students that were told would be successful, achieved the highest by spurting as teachers believed in them more highly. This suggests labelling leads to self-fulfilling prophecy where pupils achievements are as good or bad as they were told. A bad label leads the individual to perform as badly as their teachers anticipated them to. As a result of this, they experience negative self-fulfilling prophecy that causes underachievement. Lastly, some schools can be institutionally racist. Some teachers can talk very slowly to different ethics, for example, African Caribbean boys because they have the sticky stereotype they are naughty and easily distracted. This can lead to African Caribbean boys accepting this therefore those ethnic minority pupils underachieve at school. Moreover, some schools have exams the day after Eid which can be racist as they don’t take into account Muslim students can’t revise for that particular test the day before therefore their self esteem is lowered. On the other hand, sociologists consider that out-of-school factors are responsible for educational underachievement. Sociologists believe that children’s attitudes towards learning begin to develop at an early stage, in their home environment and these attitudes affect success of the child’s education later on in life. Working class or underclass backgrounds, or different ethnics like Afro-Caribbean and Bangladeshi pupils are likely to suffer from cultural deprivation as parents lack interest and expectations in education making the children feel they lack skills, knowledge and feel less confident at school. Middle class and Chinese students achieve more as they have more cultural capital where their parents take interest and have high expectations. So early stages of an individuals life affects their education at school. Sociologists agree that material deprivation impacts on a child’s success. By material deprivation you can experience lack of resources. For example, if you are poor, you have no extra resources such as; revision books, laptop or a private tutor to help enhance knowledge in learning therefore you can underachieve and in the long term in would impact on the individuals career. Bullying can be caused from material deprivation from the lack of appearance in- shoe, clothes, make-up, hair. It can cause the individual to worry so much about that situation that the student couldn’t learn up to her/his full potential. The innate explanation is the theory where some people are genetically less intelligent. This leads to sociologists arguing some students are just not clever as others therefore in-school factors are not at fault for educational underachievement. Gender differences is also an out-of-school factor. It is said girls outperform boys, this is believed to be because girls and boys are socialised differently when young. Their parents put their beliefs on gender stereotypes and encourage girls to read in doors however disprove if boys to read so they send him outside to play. Therefore girls have an advantage as they are learning from a younger age while boys start to learn at school. Moreover, boys are less involved in education and seem casual; this could lead to underachievement. Whereas girls are organized and interested. To conclude, I think sociologists would disagree in-school factors are responsible as out-of-school factors are more the origin of educational underachievement. This is because children education starts in the home environment. Also of cultural and material deprivation. If parents value education more greatly; and the parents educational backgrounds are high-level they take interest in child’s progress and help with homework therefore the students would be achieving confidently at their best potential. However children who suffer cultural deprivation are not motivated from an early stage. Children from poor families have no access to facilities to help them study at home. Yet in-school factors such as- peer groups and the setting and streaming off schools can be very unfair as they don’t test a range of skills.