{"id":31391,"date":"2025-11-19T08:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T07:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalevidence.com\/?p=31391"},"modified":"2025-11-19T08:47:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T07:47:29","slug":"we-must-not-resign-ourselves-to-the-idea-that-a-childs-background-dictates-their-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalevidence.com\/en\/we-must-not-resign-ourselves-to-the-idea-that-a-childs-background-dictates-their-future\/","title":{"rendered":"We must not resign ourselves to the idea that a child\u2019s background dictates their future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo:\u00a0 Michael von<\/span> Aichberger<\/a> –\u00a0Pixabay<\/p>\n

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License Creative Commons <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paco Ben\u00edtez<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt matters not how strait the gate,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How charged with punishments the scroll,<\/em><\/p>\n

I am the master of my fate,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am the captain of my soul\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Invictus<\/em>, by William Ernest Henley, 1888)<\/p>\n

It is a frustrating yet well-known reality in the field of education: a child\u2019s socioeconomic background has a direct influence on their linguistic development <\/strong>(Hart & Risley, 1995). The kind of verbal interactions children have with their families during their first three years of life\u2014just before they enter the school system\u2014largely determines their subsequent linguistic and academic progress. In homes where little is spoken, the child\u2019s brain remains under-stimulated, and learning suffers as a result. Studies have estimated that the gap in words heard between children whose parents interact with them regularly and those who are not so fortunate can reach 30 million words by the age of three (Hart & Risley, 1999). Moreover, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are not only exposed to fewer words (quantity), but also to poorer linguistic quality. In some homes, communication consists mainly of swear words, orders, and prohibitions; in others, parents use richer, more varied language, offering explanations and words of encouragement.<\/p>\n

Does this mean that children from modest backgrounds are academically doomed? The answer, though nuanced, is no. Evidence consistently shows that, on average, pupils from lower-income families perform worse academically than their middle- and upper-class peers. Yet reality stubbornly resists such reductionist readings. While socioeconomic status matters, there are always exceptions<\/strong>\u2014and these exceptions are deeply significant. First, they sustain hope for every student within the system, offering examples of those who have managed to thrive despite adversity. Second, they help dismantle the view of disadvantaged pupils as a monolithic group, as though all were destined to follow the same path. They remind us that individuals possess agency\u2014the capacity to act, to make choices, and to change their circumstances\u2014even when those circumstances are far from favourable. The dominant pedagogical discourse often attributes the same traits to all disadvantaged students, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that casts them as academically weak and behaviourally disruptive. Yet those of us who work in classrooms know that reality is far more diverse. There are pupils from humble backgrounds who behave impeccably, just as there are privileged pupils whose conduct is anything but.<\/p>\n

Let us consider some examples that challenge the assumption that one\u2019s starting conditions determine one\u2019s academic fate\u2014cases in which minority groups have outperformed the privileged majority in different countries<\/strong>. In Malaysia, throughout the 1960s, members of the Chinese minority earned more university degrees than the Malay majority\u2014including over 400 degrees in engineering, compared with only four among Malays (Suffian bin Hashim, 1973). In the United States, a 1985 study found that the proportion of students of Asian descent scoring above 700 in the mathematics section of the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) was more than twice that of white students (Ramist & Arbeiter, 1986)\u2014a trend that still holds true today. In Fiji, descendants of Indian migrants (many of whom arrived as plantation workers) obtained university degrees at several times the rate of indigenous Fijians, who nonetheless still own most of the land (Premdas, 1991). Examples of disparity in academic achievement between different sociocultural groups have existed throughout history and across the world: in Israel, between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews (Smooha & Peres, 1980); in Sri Lanka, between Tamils and Sinhalese (Richard de Silva, 1984); and in Northern Ireland, between Protestants and Catholics (Compton, 1991).<\/p>\n

One particularly striking case is that of several African American high schools during the era of racial segregation in the United States\u2014schools that achieved far higher academic results than nearby white schools serving students from much wealthier families (Sowell, 1986). These included McDonough 35 High School in New Orleans (which produced Wilson Riles, the first African American state superintendent of schools), Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore (alma mater of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court), Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. (which educated the first Black general, Benjamin O. Davis Sr.; the first Black Cabinet member, Robert C. Weaver; the discoverer of blood plasma, Charles R. Drew; and the first Black senator, Edward W. Brooke), and Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta (attended by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martin Luther King Jr.). Clearly, beyond the individual merit of these students\u2014and that of their families\u2014the decisive factor lay in the schools themselves: institutions with a strong culture of high expectations and quality teaching that fostered academic excellence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In short, qualitative differences between social groups in education have been common across time and geography. Although there is a positive\u2014though not necessarily causal or proportional\u2014correlation between socioeconomic level and academic performance, there are, and always have been, cases showing that certain habits of behaviour can play a crucial role in reversing the disadvantages of one\u2019s starting point. It may seem obvious, but it bears repeating: the education and values that families pass on to their children are essential<\/strong>. Families who instil in their children the importance of studying and of behaving properly at school are doing a service not only to the institution but, above all, to their own children. By contrast, families who overprotect their children and excuse every instance of poor behaviour hinder their growth and harm the educational community. This is why schools\u2014and public institutions\u2014must actively engage in educating families about these matters. The message cannot be overstated: family engagement is fundamental.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, pupils whose families, either because they cannot (lacking time, means, or cultural capital) or because they do not know how, fail to provide rich linguistic interaction from an early age. Studies have shown that children in families receiving welfare benefits experience roughly 616 words per hour, compared with 1,251 words in working-class families and 2,153 words in professional families. Over four years, this amounts to about 45 million words for children of professional parents, 26 million for those from working-class homes, and only 13 million for those from welfare-dependent families (Hart & Risley, 1999). Hence the so-called 30-million-word gap<\/em> mentioned earlier. This linguistic gap means that too many children begin school at a disadvantage compared to peers raised in homes rich in linguistic and cognitive stimulation<\/strong>\u2014a disadvantage which, if not addressed early, only grows wider with time.<\/p>\n

And this is precisely where the essential role of the state school comes in. If state education fails\u2014if the schooling it provides is neither demanding nor of high quality\u2014disadvantaged pupils are deprived of the one genuine opportunity for social and academic mobility available to them. The examples mentioned earlier\u2014those exceptional cases where minority or low-income groups achieved high academic performance\u2014defy the logic of determinism and demonstrate that social origin does not have to define one\u2019s destiny. These facts are, in truth, profoundly hopeful: they show that reality can be transformed, that individuals have agency and the power to shape the outcomes of their own lives. This does not mean denying the existence of inequality, nor abandoning the struggle for a fairer society that offers equal opportunities to all. On the contrary: it means complementing that struggle with a recognition of individual responsibility. Such recognition allows us to move beyond the view\u2014so prevalent in dominant pedagogical discourse\u2014that society is ignorant and in need of reform by its enlightened interpreters. To achieve this, parents must be made aware of the research showing how critical verbal interaction is during a child\u2019s first three years of life<\/strong>. Public institutions should therefore promote awareness campaigns encouraging families to create as rich a linguistic environment at home as possible. Yet all of this will come to nothing if schools lose faith in their own ability to transform lives.<\/p>\n

If schools fail to address<\/strong> the inequalities with which children from diverse backgrounds arrive in nursery and early primary education, those inequalities will only continue to widen over time<\/strong>\u2014a dynamic long recognised as the Matthew Effect<\/em> in education. In fact, Hart and Risley\u2019s 1999 study was followed up years later, and their early measurements of linguistic development in three-year-olds were found to predict language ability and academic performance at ages nine to ten\u2014roughly the equivalent of Year 5 in the British system\u2014when pupils move from learning to read to reading to learn.<\/p>\n

The linguistic differences with which children begin school are striking, and fully compensating for them may be close to utopian. Yet what our education system must never do is give up on helping every child reach their fullest potential. The task of intervention needed to offset inequalities in early upbringing is immense and complex\u2014but the sooner it is done, the more likely it is to succeed. <\/strong>To this end, disadvantaged pupils should, first and foremost, be taught by the best teachers\u2014teachers who use rich and varied language in the classroom. Secondly, these pupils must be given every possible form of additional support. In short, schools must offer a demanding education, with high academic and behavioural standards, so as to protect both teaching and learning for vulnerable pupils\u2014pupils who have no time to waste.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, our current education system is producing students who struggle increasingly to understand what they read<\/strong>, as shown by recent PIRLS results. Instead of compensating for innate or environmental learning difficulties, the system is now creating<\/em> them through poor instruction. Content knowledge is being eroded in favour of vague, supposedly \u201cgeneral\u201d competencies\u2014contrary to the evidence, since skills are not transferable but rooted in specific domains of knowledge (Willingham, 2011). Worse still, the latest Royal Decree 157\/2022\u2014which defines the minimum national curriculum for Primary Education\u2014does not explicitly mention literacy (except digital literacy) or phonological decoding, a basic skill for learning to read that requires explicit instruction (Piasta, 2023; Ripley et al., 2009). The decree even states in its introduction to the area of Spanish Language and Literature that \u201cLa adquisici\u00f3n de las competencias espec\u00edficas debe producirse de manera progresiva a lo largo de la etapa, y siempre respetando los procesos individuales de maduraci\u00f3n cognitiv<\/em>a<\/em>\u201d (\u201c<\/em>The acquisition of specific competencies must take place progressively throughout the stage, always respecting individual cognitive maturation processes\u201d<\/em>). This reflects a dangerously na\u00efve belief that one should \u201cwait until the child is ready\u201d (rooted in the sacrosanct belief in individualised learning, which ultimately leaves so many pupils behind. Research has long shown that interventions addressing reading difficulties such as dyslexia are most effective when applied early (Wanzek & Vaughn, 2007; Ferret et al., 2015). Reading\u2014being a biologically secondary form of learning\u2014is not acquired naturally, but must be explicitly taught. Waiting for a child to \u201cmature\u201d is therefore not only misguided but condemns them academically\u2014and, by extension, economically and socially\u2014for life. And all this at a time when the scientific evidence on how children learn to read is overwhelming. Studies have shown that teaching reading in accordance with such evidence can reduce the proportion of poor readers in the United States from 33% to between 3% and 5% (Ruiz Mart\u00edn, 2025).<\/p>\n

However, the current education law \u2014 LOMLOE \u2014 explicitly promotes so-called alternative constructivist methodologies such as Project-Based Learning (PBL), learning situations and learning areas, not to mention approaches verging on educational myth, such as learning styles (Ruiz Mart\u00edn, 2023) or the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), models which undermine the progress of vulnerable pupils. In fact, some of these approaches have even been imposed \u2014 or attempted to be imposed \u2014 by law, in clear violation of teachers\u2019 methodological freedom. Methodology should serve learning, not become an end in itself. Yet in regions such as the Valencian Community, for instance, \u201cProjects\u201d has been turned into a subject in its own right in primary education. Each method can serve particular learning goals, but it is the content of the subject \u2014 and pupils\u2019 level of understanding \u2014 that should determine which approach is used.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Evidence repeatedly shows that explicit, structured instruction led by the teacher is far more effective in helping pupils acquire basic skills \u2014 notably phonetic decoding, the most fundamental component of reading and, by extension, of all subsequent learning. A very recent report by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel on reading instruction in low- and middle-income countries underlines the same point (\u00c1lvarez-Marinelli et al., 2025): \u201cla <\/em>crisis mundial de alfabetizaci\u00f3n, [el hecho de que] el 70% de los ni\u00f1os de diez a\u00f1os en pa\u00edses de ingresos bajos y medios no puedan leer y comprender un texto simple, es principalmente debido a una crisis de instrucci\u00f3n, causada por la falta de uso de m\u00e9todos de ense\u00f1anza probados por la investigaci\u00f3n<\/em>. <\/em>(<\/em>\u201cThe global learning crisis \u2014 the fact that 70% of ten-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries cannot read and understand a simple text \u2014 is primarily a crisis of instruction, caused by the failure to use teaching methods proven by research\u201d). In other words, the methods of the \u201cnew education\u201d, despite their rhetoric of inclusion and equality, paradoxically generate greater educational inequity. The evaluation of Project Based Learning carried out by Durham University (Menzies et al., 2016) already concluded that, at best, PBL has no positive impact on literacy; at worst, its effects are negative for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n

When the dominant pedagogical discourse paints such a monolithic picture of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, it inevitably finds its way into education policy and legislation. The result is a tendency to make it easier for pupils to pass rather than to learn more<\/strong>, to excuse negative attitudes instead of teaching habits of behaviour that will serve them in the future. This logic assumes that the way to \u201cleave no one behind\u201d is to ensure that everyone obtains a qualification \u2014 regardless of what they have actually learned. Yet true inclusion does not consist in lowering standards, but in deploying every possible resource to ensure that the greatest number of pupils acquire the knowledge and skills they need to progress<\/strong> academically, professionally and personally. What we see instead is a kind of well-meaning condescension<\/strong> that disempowers students and prevents them from advancing \u2014 a form of short-termism that soothes the conscience of those who propose it but ultimately harms the very pupils it claims to protect.<\/p>\n

Those who suffer most from this lack of effective knowledge transmission are the pupils from vulnerable backgrounds.<\/strong> One particularly striking observation, made by Javier Mestre<\/strong>, Professor of Spanish Language and Literature, during the el IV Congreso de Expertos Docentes para un An\u00e1lisis Cr\u00edtico de la Educaci\u00f3n (<\/em>organised by the OCRE Association in Seville, October 2024), summed it up perfectly: \u201cTo fail a pupil is to strengthen state education\u201d. At first glance, this may sound contradictory \u2014 and it will no doubt horrify the champions of the dominant pedagogical orthodoxy, who share much of the blame for the current state of education \u2014 yet it highlights the crucial role of <\/strong>academic rigour<\/strong> in preventing the devaluation of state schooling<\/strong>. Rigour is essential because the public system is often the only one accessible to vulnerable pupils, who lack the means to compensate for its shortcomings through private tuition or family support. With rigorous education from the earliest years, far fewer pupils would end up repeating grades.<\/p>\n

The primary mission of the state education system should be to provide genuine opportunities for improvement to those who need them most.<\/strong> But achieving this requires more than slogans \u2014 those empty declarations of good intentions that never materialise in practice. The state school system has a moral duty<\/strong> to offer every pupil the chance to move up the social ladder. We know that this is extremely difficult \u2014 but it is not impossible. One of the greatest rewards for any teacher is witnessing socially vulnerable pupils achieve academic success. That is what gives full meaning to our work as educators. Speaking for myself, having come from a humble background and having achieved what some of my students are now achieving, I can say that this feeling is deeply personal. Yet observing my colleagues, I am convinced that it is shared by all teachers. There is no greater success, and no deeper satisfaction, than helping those who need it most<\/strong>. There is nothing more urgent \u2014 or more just \u2014 than taking by the hand children and young people from economically and culturally limited backgrounds and offering them a high-quality education that instils in them enough self-confidence to progress in adult life. For in doing so, we help them become the masters of their own destiny<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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References:<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Alvarez-Marinelli, H., Boggild-Jones, I., Crawford, M., Dubeck, M., Jhingran, D., Lack, C., Mohohlwane, N., Oviedo, M.E., Piper, B., Saavedra, J., & Taha, H. (2025). Effective Reading Instruction in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: What the Evidence Shows<\/em>. London, Washington D.C., New York. GEEAP.<\/p>\n

Compton, P. (1991). \u201cThe Conflict in Northern Ireland: Demographic and Economic Considerations\u201d, in S.W.R. de A. Samarasinghe and Reed Coughlan (eds.), Economic Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict: International Perspectives<\/em>. London: Pinter Publishers.<\/p>\n

Ferrer, E., Shaywitz, B.A., Holahan, J.M., Marchione, K.E., Michaels, R. et al. (2015). Achievement gap in reading is present as early as first grade and persists through adolescence. The Journal of Pediatrics, 167<\/em>(5), 1121-25.e2.<\/p>\n

Hart, B. & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children.<\/em> Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes Publishing.<\/p>\n

Hart, B. & Risley, T.R. (1999). The Social World of Children: Learning to Talk<\/em>. Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes Publishing.<\/p>\n

Menzies, V., Hewitt, C., Kokotsaki, D., Collyer, C., & Wiggins, A. (2016). Project Based Learning. Testing the impact of project-based learning in secondary schools<\/em>. University of Durham: Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).<\/p>\n

Piasta, S.B. (2023). The science of early alphabet instruction. What We Do and Do Not Know. En: S.Q. Cabell, S.B. Neuman & N.P. Terry (Eds.), Handbook on the science of early literacy (<\/em>pp.83-94). NYC, USA: Guilford Publications.<\/p>\n

Premdas, R.R. (1991). \u201cThe Political Economy of Ethnic Strife in Fiji and Guyana\u201d. Ethnic Studies Report<\/em>. Sri Lanka: International Centre for Ethnic Studies.<\/p>\n

Ramist, L. & Arbeiter,S. (1986). Profiles, College-Bound Seniors, 1985<\/em>. New York: College Entrance Examination Board.<\/p>\n

Richard de Silva. C. (1984). \u201cSinhala-Tamil Relations in Sri Lanka: The University Admissions Issue\u2014the First Phase, 1971\u20137\u201d, in R.B. Goldman and A.J. Wilson (eds.),\u00a0 From Independence to Statehood: Managing Ethnic Conflict in Five African and Asian States<\/em>. London: Frances Pinter.<\/p>\n

Ripley, W.H., Blair, T.R. & Nichols, W.D. (2009). Effective reading instruction for struggling readers: The role of direct\/explicit teaching. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25<\/em>(2-3), 125-38.<\/p>\n

Ruiz Mart\u00edn, H. (2023). Edumitos. Ideas sobre el aprendizaje sin respaldo cient\u00edfico<\/em>.\u00a0 Barcelona: International Science Teaching Foundation (ISTF).<\/p>\n

Ruiz Mart\u00edn, H. (2025). \u00bfC\u00f3mo aprendemos a leer? Y c\u00f3mo ense\u00f1ar a leer seg\u00fan la ciencia<\/em>. Barcelona: International Science Teaching Foundation (ISTF).<\/p>\n

Smooha, S. & Peres, Y. (1980). \u201cThe Dynamics of Ethnic Inequalities: The Case of Israel,\u201d in Ernest Krausz (ed.), Studies of Israeli Society, Vol. I: Migration, Ethnicity and Community<\/em>. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books.<\/p>\n

Sowell, T. (1986). Education: Assumptions versus History: Collected Papers<\/em>. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press.<\/p>\n

Suffian bin Hashim, M. (1973). \u201cProblems and Issues in Higher Education Development in Malaysia\u201d, in Yat Hoong Yip (ed.), Development of Higher Education in Southeast Asia: Problems and Issues<\/em>. Singapore: Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development.<\/p>\n

Wanzek, J. & Vaughn, S. (2007). Research-based implications from extensive early reading interventions. School Psychology Review, 36<\/em>(4), 541-61.<\/p>\n

Willingham, D. T. (2011). \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 a los ni\u00f1os no les gusta ir a la escuela?: las respuestas de un neurocient\u00edfico al funcionamiento de la mente y sus consecuencias en el aula<\/em> (Vol. 34). Gra\u00f3.<\/p>\n

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Source:\u00a0educational EVIDENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rights:\u00a0Creative Commons<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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