The role of school in student development

Culture Capital and Its Impact

Summary and response

The article deals with the concept of cultural capital and tries to weigh the validity of the claim that cultural capital affects students academic performance in the light of some recent researches and author' own research. The article is highly informative and offers an insight into the various socio-cultural factors that affect one's educational performance and success in practical life. It has often been argued that certain discriminatory factors influence the academic performance of students of lower class due to which the social division remains static and the gap widens instead of narrowing with the passage of time. However this article reveals that instead of discriminatory factors, culture capital is believed to be the asset that determines the academic performance of various social groups. The author presents findings from various important studies in this area and introduces us to concepts that are almost new and unfamiliar to us. For example, in the process of testing the validity of this claim, he learns that apart from culture capital, there is another thing that affects one's academic performance and is responsible for maintenance of social class differences. The author learns that habitus is what affects one's educational performance to a great extent. Habitus refers to social conditioning by means of which one assumes he can go to this particular extent and not beyond this in his life. This thinking reflects in his actions and his educational performance. For example those who are born in higher social class take education almost for granted, knowing that good education is to be attained regardless of hurdles and obstacles in the path since everyone in the family does the same. He is aware of his ability to attain higher education and reach certain social status. On the other hand, those born in lower social groups either do not attain educating and even they do, they usually withdraw from educational courses after a certain extent believing that they can't go beyond this since no one in the family has ever dared to. This thinking affects their academic performance and the social divisions remain. The main point of the article is the comparison between the potential impact of culture capital and habitus. This analysis helps us understand that regardless of what some researchers says, it is one's own personal thinking and limiting beliefs that determine his attitude towards education and thus affects his whole life. The author's conclusion makes great sense and helps us better comprehend the intricacies of this particular issue. Instead of blaming culture capital for social divisions, I agree with the author that it is social conditioning and the resulting limiting beliefs that determine one's future.