Three Forms Of Capital In Education

Three forms of capital have a tremendous impact on education and will affect all future teachers. The first form of capital is social capital. Social capital is defined according to Eval (2016) as either “obligations and expectations, information channels, or as social norms” (p. 1). The implication of social capital in education is that “social patterns and processes” “contribute to the ethnic disparities of student achievement” (Eval, 2016,p. 1). As teachers, we need to be aware of how much social capital can affect our students. Social capital has a lot to do with a student’s home life. Parental expectations and obligations, as well as the social networks that exist between the school, the family, and the community are key for a student’s …show more content…
The final form of capital is economic capital. Economic capital is the amount of income a family has. According to Baoyan “economic capital indirectly facilitates academic performance through the mediating effect of parents’ education expectations, educational support, and attention to school education” (2015, p. 412). As a future teacher it is important to know the economic capital of each student. Knowing which students come from lower income families will allow the teacher to better accommodate each student’s needs. Knowing which students come from lower income families will allow the teacher to be aware of times when the student may go hungry, when they may need clothes, and other needs. In order for students to be able to succeed academically all of their basic needs must be met first. As a teacher knowing the economic capital of each student will allow the teacher to provide the student what he or she need in order to be able to succeed academically. Knowing all forms of capital for each student will give the teacher the information they need in order to understand their students, what they need, and how to best help them …show more content…
Micaëlla told me that her family was not poor. They always had food to eat, a roof over their head and clothes to wear. However, her family did make some sacrifices in order for them to stay within their financial means. Micaëlla said that when all of her teammates were staying at the nice hotels and going out to eat, she would be staying in the cheaper hotels and her mother would pack them food to eat. Micaëlla also said that her family would never take trips, and as she got older, she realized that her mother would wear some of her old clothes in order to save money. Micaëlla and I have similar socioeconomic situations, however, I would say that my family has a higher socioeconomic status. All throughout my childhood I was on traveling sports teams, my family would go out to dinner occasionally, and we would take a family vacation every few years. I have had a few more privileges than Micaëlla and her family, but I also know what it is like to make sacrifices in order to stay within financial means. Even though Micaëlla came from a little lower of a socioeconomic background she says that this has not affected her education. The reason her education was not affected by her socioeconomic status is because she had a great support system at home. Micaëlla told me that her mother and father both valued education and made sure that their children did the best that they could in school. Even