Differential Educational Achievement (DEA) is a

sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...

term often given to a concept that disagrees with some of the functionalist views on

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. Many functionalists believe that an individual's academic success depends completely upon that person's IQ (

intelligence quotient An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering ...

) and the effort they apply to their studies. They also believe that society works in a meritocratic system: that people work for what they achieve, and achieve what they deserve, according to their own merit and effort, i.e., they work hard to get the best jobs in later life. Some other sociologists do not concur with this idea. They think that other factors have a more prominent impact on one's education. These factors may include

social class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...

background,

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

and

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

.- "A" Level Sociology
- Teaching Notes for Students ''Education and Training - Differential Educational Achievement''

Marxists Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, and ...

believe that this is due to social class, and that in education only the ruling class values are transmitted. This means that working-class people find it difficult to connect with the education system. In this respect, according to this theory, many people from less

affluent Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

backgrounds are academically disadvantaged from the very start.

References

External links

Discussion of Meritocracy including an Introduction and arguments on both sides of the issue
Philosophy of education Affirmative action {{edu-philo-stub