Middle class children and low performance in school: How are they to be refereed?

Abstract

Opinions of teachers and families on some middle class students in the fourth grade with low academic performance are debated. The essay examines the factors related to inadequate academic performance of children in a private school. Bourdieu is the main reference for current study since the philosopher´s works highlight the impossibility of analyzing school inequalities as merely the products of supposedly natural inequalities among people. This is due to the fact that, within the educational system, an implicit process that generates differences exists. Moreover, Lahire and Charlot, who emphasize the importance
of analyzing marginal school performances of children of certain social classes, state that results go beyond the statistical stance. Data were collected during the activities of students and in interviews with teachers and mothers. Analyses showed that the children produced results below teachers´ expectations. Performance was regarded as a phenomenon generated within school circumstances and justified by demonstrations related to innate characteristics or factors influenced by the children´s middle-class environment.