Social Capital In Education Essay

Social capital forms connections with likeminded people in repeated and reciprocated social exchanges, these exchanges form similar sets of goals, values and aspirations (Shoji 2014). Geographical location and experiences also contribute to the reinforcement of social capital forms. This capital keeps people together and makes them feel a part of something bigger such as a community. Often the students that are a part of this low social capital or the working-class feel they don’t fit in at school and therefore often do not succeed in an educational setting. Education settings expect students to conform to a different set of social rules, often middle class (Connell et al 2013) this creates tension and causes the students to take control of the situation in their own way (Anyon 1981).

Factors that contribute to a student’s success at school are the philosophy of the school, teachers, and parents. It is not simply that students from low social

capital family are just not equipped for school; it is the pressures of constraining systems that do not allow all students to thrive in an educational environment thus creating resistance from these students.
When a school principal expects nothing from his teachers or students then that is what they will get.
"Just do your best. If they learn to add and subtract, that's a bonus. If not, don't
worry about it." (Anyon 1981:7)
This attitude not only suggests that the students are unteachable; it also suggests that these students are not worth any effort. The expectations of these students are low therefore the knowledge that is taught to these students is often using low order thinking skills; some see it as busy work that does not contribute to the overall education of the student. It is more so a control mechanism rather than teaching the students to be deep thinkers and readying them for the future. This means writing new scripts that prioritise learning over control is necessary. Learning that creates opportunities in an increasingly globalised society, such as engaging in negotiated action, open-ended dialogue, collaboration, problem-solving and multi-purpose writing is needed (Hayes 2009:262). The dominant theme that runs through working class schools is control and not teaching (Hayes 2009) and with this attitude students form a resistance to the dominant culture and people that are conductors of that culture such as teachers.
Resistance against the school and teachers is a way that students feel any sense of control (Anyon 1981)
"To get the teacher mad"; "Because he don't teach us nothin' "; "They give us too
many punishments." When I asked them what the teachers should do, they said,
"Teach us some more"; "Take us alone and help us"; "Help us learn."(Anyon 1981:11).
The above quote shows that the student’s expectations of education are not being met. They feel that they are not valued and why try when all you get at school is punishment and you never learn anything? Therefore resistance towards school and teachers seem like a logical step to take, they are living up to the teacher’s expectations.
Resistance can take many forms, ranging from disengagement to disruptive behaviour (Anyon 1981). This creates deeper rifts between teachers and students. Any attempt from a teacher to make lessons a little more interesting is met with little enthusiasm or interest thus leaving the teacher feeling it is a waste of time. The student resists the effort knowing what the teacher expects and doesn’t give it to them because of the underlining sense of low expectations of those students.
Education becomes a series of resistance relationships (Anyon, 1981), students purposely do not fulfil their duty as a student by not engaging, listening or even having their books and pens ready. Student often engage in disruptive behaviour such as annoying other children or falling off chairs. As the students get older the rifts are often too great to mend and lead to students leaving school early (Connell et al 2013:7). Again this fulfils the teacher’s expectations that they are not capable of doing well at school and the blame for the lack of success is placed on the students and their families. To make a difference to students finding themselves in this situation a concerted effort must be made from educational institutions and teachers a like.
If these students do not ‘fit the mould’ then the mould must change and be more flexible to be able to accommodate more students with low social capital.

Working-class children often experience a mismatch or disconnection between their family’s practices and the practices valued by schools (Mayo & Siraj 2015 and Hennessy-Himmerelheber, 2015). Student’s families often feel that they are not connected to schools and have little to offer their children in regards to support.

Schools that actively promote a sense of group membership and belonging of such families become the bridges of social capital. School communities appear to encourage social capital and the adoption of school values. This exposes the family to the schools value system, the staff and other families thus giving a sense of belonging and improving the experience of students (Shoji 2014). The perceived walls between parents and teachers are broken down and both parties feel the better communication between them is highly beneficial for all involved (Shoji

2014).
Parents also play a huge role in their children’s success. Through explicit, emotional support for school and learning students from low social capital families had felt that their parents had facilitated their academic success. It helped students develop a positive attitude towards school, teachers and learning. This emotional support became internalised motivation over time and was reinforced through positive learning experiences (Mayo &Siraj 2015). Therefore parental attitude played a huge role in academic success.