1st Edition

Human Capital or Cultural Capital? Ethnicity and Poverty Groups in an Urban School District

By George Farkas Copyright 1996
    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    216 Pages
    by Routledge

    This study seeks to reorient our understanding of the early educational determinants of social stratification outcomes. It focuses on the process and consequences of unequal cognitive skill attainment for ethnic and poverty groups within our nation's cities. It draws, theoretically, on the notion that experiences at home and school create a feedback loop by which the "cultural capital" of the students (their toolkit of skills, habits, and styles with which they construct strategies of action) evolves over time and largely determines differential success in mastering the teacher-assigned homework.

    Acknowledgments, PART I. CULTURE, COGNITIVE SKILL, AND EARNINGS, 1. Introduction, 2. Skills, Habits, Styles, and School Success, 3. Family Linguistic Culture and the Child's Cognitive-Skill Development, 4. Cognitive Skill and Earnings Determination with Paula England, Keven Vicknair, and Barbara Kilbourne, PART II. THE DETERMINANTS OF ACHIEVEMENT IN SCHOOL, 5. The Dallas Research Setting, Data, Methods, 6. Basic Skills, 7. Habits and Styles, 8. Coursework Mastery, 9. Course Grades, PART III. INTERVENTION, 10. Intervening to Affect the Skills, Habits, and Styles of At-Risk Students, 11. Reading One-One with Keven Vicknair, 12. Bureaucratic Politics and Instructional Service Delivery: The Central Bureaucracy Strikes Back, Appendix, References, Index

    Biography

    George Farkas