Cultural Expectations and School Performance
The culture and individual upbringing influence how the individual thereof perceives the world and how he or she processes information. By reviewing Richard Nisbett’s work The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently, it is a fact that one’s culture has an influence on his or her thoughts and thus, affects school performance as well. Furthermore, Nesbett worked collaboratively with psychologists from Japan and Asia; hence, he concluded that how they view issues in the world was different from how American psychologists viewed the same things. Japan and Asia see things from a holistic perspective. At the same time, Americans classify the world in parts or distinct object classes clouded together through some sets of rules. Such results indicate that cultural expectations have influences on school performance. This paper explores more on culture and school performance.
By using the expressive outcomes realized by Richard, it is evident that Asians view the world through a perspective of the relationship between things while Americans regard objects in the world as distinct entities. Therefore, this is essential in understanding that cultural background influences the approach towards learning as well as determining school performance in general. Researchers have developed a variety of theories to offer an in-depth understanding of why there are differences in school performance among cultural differences in terms of race and ethnicity. Some of these theories include the cultural deficit theory, cultural difference theory and the expectation theory.
Under the cultural deficit theory, researchers address the fact that school-going population perform poorly in schools because the background or home environment in terms of linguistic, social nature as well as cultural nature does not prepare them prior before starting school and the expectations or required work they will undertake in the schools thereof. For instance, some children do not get access to as many books as possible, read to them by their parents before commencing schools. In contrast, others do (Ogbu, 6). This may lead to differences in performance among the two distinct students. Inability to read negatively influences vocabulary development among the children. Home interaction helps children to develop some vocabularies; thus, the lack of such communications does not foster vocabulary development. That is why some children commence school and find it challenging to attain vocabulary development expectations. Therefore, the cultural deficit theory indicates that deficiencies in the culture surrounding or home environments influence child development, leading to shortcomings in skills, knowledge and behaviours, which leads to poor performances in schools.
The cultural difference theory defends the idea that different cultural settings lead to differences in upbringing, hence influencing the approach of learning and education in general. This indicates that the school atmosphere under the cultural difference theory is different from the home environment of a student. That is why cultural differences and traditions influence how people approach education, which may be different from the mainstream, especially for those from Asia and pursuing their education in America (Ogbu, 10). For instance, the Polynesian concept of learning encounters such cultural differences because, in this concept, young children are taught by older children, unlike American systems, where adults teach young children. Therefore, supposing, a Polynesian student attends school in America, his or her performance will be affected due to such differences in educational approaches.
The expectation theory emphasizes on teacher-student relationship and treatment. Naturally, teachers expect less or little efforts from students who come from a certain race, ethnic group or culture. Thus, when a teacher expects a student from a certain background to perform poorly, he or she will use a low-level learning approach to align with the low expectations therein. Therefore, in such situations, students perform poorly because their teachers expect them to do so. Rosenthal and Jacobson tested this theory in their Pygmalion effect study where teachers were attending to students with an intellectual growth spurt. The students were average performers; however, according to the survey; teachers treated the students based on the expectations set forth (Ogbu, 13). But at the end of the study, the students indicated improvements socially and academically, probably through the self-fulfilling prophecy which states that students with high expectations seek to attain higher results. On the contrary, those who experience low expectations exercise low behaviours to meet the expectations as well.
Through the above theories of cultural expectations and its effects on school performance, cultural cognitive issues in academic achievement arise. An individual’s culture causes different problems on the social cognitive aspect of learning as well as the cognitive psychology of the students in question. Cultures have documented and observed goals and expectations that members of the cultural groups should strive to meet. Therefore, there are social and cultural beliefs of learning that shapes the values of a given group. Today, the core achievement and motivations on research are embedded in beliefs and attitudes (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network). Therefore, it is essential to understand how students are motivated since achievement beliefs influence the success in school work.
In most cases, researchers have used belief achievements to predict students’ performance because it is a better predictor as compared to the intelligent quotient. More so, parents’ belief and expectations towards the performance of their children is greatly influenced by the cultural diversities. Cultures that believe in learning and achievement as a tool to shape a child’s future influence a parent’s expectations towards his or her children (Lee and Natasha, 199). Such parents will hold optimum expectations towards the learning process of their children, with a strong belief in competency hence exposes their children to higher experiences, persistence and problem-solving techniques which acts as an intrinsic motivator for learning and higher performance.
In addition to cultural influence on school performance, social classes also have an impact on school performance. References groups and social comparisons have controls on the performance of students. As children grow in a given social class, they develop individual perceptions over performance and school grades. Students from low classes are perceived to have little or no access to reading materials and exposure to god performing schools; therefore, such students develop a notion that they are poor performers as compared to their counterparts from middle or high classes (Lee and Natasha, 203). More so, social comparisons influence students’ academic competencies since most of them are likely to question their levels of skills based on the comparisons entailed in the social classes. Students from lower social classes develop low self-esteem due to social similarities; therefore, they tend to evaluate their school performance as below standard and unlike that of their peers. That is to imply that self-esteem influences one’s self-worth, evaluation and judgment(McCallum and Feyisa, 151).
It is paramount to understand that learning a joint process that requires the home and the school to work together to achieve greater outcomes. The home of a child has an impact on the academic promise of a child. Family is vital in shaping the personality of a child, character and attitude towards life in general. Homes also provide the foundational learning to a child in terms of behaviour, attitudes, interactions and academic expectations. Therefore, the values that a given family puts in a child determine the life and the things the child will pursue in future (McCallum and Feyisa, 150). Thus, the family background dictates the level of education given children will attain and whether he or she will enrol in a good school. Therefore, there is a relationship between social class and academic achievements among students. Based on the income level of a given family, the student’s performance level will be influenced. Schools do need fee payments to sustain the students in school. Higher earning families will manage to pay for their children and still provide the basic needs for them. However, low-income families will find it difficult to pay for their children’s fees and let them go hungry, thus, will resolve on providing for the basic needs instead of paying for school fees. This, in return, will have an impact on academic performance and achievements (McCallum and Feyisa, 149).
In conclusion, cultural expectations influence school performance among students. This is because people are brought up differently, leading to variations in world perception and life experiences. The culture also influences parental expectations towards their children performance. For instance, parents from societies that value education and higher academic achievements will push their children to work smarter to achieve academic excellence as compared to parents from cultures who do not value education or academic achievements.
Works Cited
Lee, Jung-Sook, and Natasha K. Bowen. “Parent involvement, cultural capital, and the achievement gap among elementary school children.” American educational research journal 43.2 (2006): 193-218.
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, ed. Child care and child development: Results from the NICHD study of early child care and youth development. Guilford Press, 2005.
Ogbu, John U. “Understanding cultural diversity and learning.” Educational researcher 21.8 (1992): 5-14.
McCallum, Ian, and Feyisa Demie. “Social class, ethnicity and educational performance.” Educational Research 43.2 (2001): 147-159.