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  • Essay / The description of academic success and the impact of cultural capital

    The definition of educational success is not set in stone and has been the subject of debate by philosophers for centuries (Messersmith, 2007) . According to York, Gibson and Rankin (2015), the definition of educational success is broad but can be broken down into six elements which are academic success, satisfaction, acquisition of skills and competencies, perseverance, achievement learning objectives and professional success. In order to discuss the relationship and effect of cultural capital on educational achievement, we will also need to establish the meaning of cultural capital. “Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviors and skills that one can leverage to demonstrate one's cultural competence, and therefore one's social status or position in society” (Cole, 2016). The link between cultural capital and educational success appears in their definitions, both including “abilities” and “competencies”. This suggests that a certain level of skills and knowledge is required to be successful. Cultural capital is therefore an essential tool for educational success. This is true when looking at the issue from the perspective of class and ethnicity, but the gender perspective debunks this position. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayIn the case of social class, students from a higher social class have an advantage over others in terms of imbued cultural capital which increases their chances of achieving academic success. This is because students in higher classes are equipped with the necessary “linguistic” and “cultural” skills that are commonly present in their society. As Dumais (2009) mentions, “linguistic and cultural skills” are much more practiced in upper class society than in lower classes. “Differences in cultural capital are reinforced by an education system that privileges these styles, leaving most members of the lower classes with little hope of achieving social mobility” (Dumais, 2009). This point is also supported by Wallman (2010), who found that a considerable percentage of the population in the United States in recent years identified as having learning disabilities came from low-income families. Many of them had difficulty learning the English language, which played an important role in the school's educational system, and a large number of them dropped out of school for this reason (Wallman, 2010). A study by Sullivan (2001) which measured the social class of the parents and the cultural capital of the child showed that the two factors are very closely related to each other. In 2011, Tzanakis (2011) continued Sullivan's research and proved that "cultural variables" and "social class" are indeed important factors for students to achieve good grades. Therefore, cultural capital can be considered a vital factor for educational success. However, when looking at this issue from a gender perspective, cultural capital is not a vital factor in a person's educational success because the amount of cultural capital each gender receives does not reflect their performance schools. Jacobs (1996) mentioned that much research in sociology tends to neglect the gender factor. Many philosophers, such as Bourdieu, neglect this factor and many of his works imply that gender is not an important factor in the analysis of a particular society. However, Dumais (2002) 30