Introduction
Cultural capital involves the social characteristics that give an individual an advantage in society. It can range from the skills to the values that one possesses, which makes them a more valuable individual compared to other people. Cultural capital enhances one’s social mobility, which is the ability of a person to improve in status. When related to education, cultural capital entails the social aspects of life that can make a student progress academically. An example is personality. A person with a likeable personality can easily relate well with a wide range of individuals in class. The person easily fits into working groups and creates networks that help them perform better. There are many more advantages of cultural capital in education. By showing these advantages, the paper proves that cultural capital is important in education.
Importance of Cultural Capital in Education
Cultural capital improves a student’s performance, which places them in a position of success in life (Gan, 2023, p. 2). When a person comes from a family that has resources and the family atmosphere is favourable, they are said to have family cultural capital. The individual does not have to deal with the stress of family scandals, which would easily affect them emotionally in class. Also, the availability of family resources ensures that such individuals do not lack the learning materials they need for studying. As a result, their studies do not face as many distractions as those of individuals who lack the family cultural capital. This boosts the performance of the individuals with the family cultural capital. With better performance in school, such individuals have the upper hand in securing better jobs than individuals who have poor performance because they lack cultural capital.
Cultural capital improves the practicality of education among individuals, making students relate to the real professional world while still learning. To increase the overall cultural capital of students, schools have to engage them in activities that are beyond what the classroom can provide. For example, to give students better negotiation skills for their professional market, which is a form of cultural capital, the school has to ensure that it provides avenues where the students can interact with real professional situations so they can sharpen these skills. In doing so, the school enhances the practicality of what the students have learnt in class such that their lessons are not only theoretical but also practical. Hence, it enhances students’ ability to learn.
Cultural capital improves the ability of students to join higher learning institutions of their choice. Stenhouse and Ingram (2024, p. 1) researched about private and state-owned schools in England. The researchers established that private schools produced students who performed better than those in state-owned schools and had higher chances of joining higher learning institutions to progress their education. Questions arose about the issues of inequality as individuals thought that students from state-owned schools were being discriminated against. However, upon further research, it was established that private schools perform better because they have invested more into creating cultural capital among the students. Schools work on improving the skills of students to make them better. There exists a positive correlation between cultural capital and students’ performance (Jheng et al., 2023, p. 1).
Cultural capital enables diversification when it comes to education. Without cultural capital, education is rigid. Students only learn what the developers of the education curriculum think is beneficial to them. However, when they grow up, they get disappointed when they discover that the lessons they undertook may not be what they want to do in life. Not all students desire to undertake official work. The consideration of cultural capital during one’s studies ensures that a student gets different options to develop their skills in the different possible areas. For example, it ensures that a school offers music and art lessons in addition to the other lessons that already exist. The students build capacity in all the areas that they desire since they are not restricted by the curriculum. The diversity provided by cultural capital helps the students do what they love in life.
Cultural capital enables easier conformity into the education system, which enhances the ability of a student to learn (Mikus et al., 2020, p. 198). The skills that students have that relate to cultural capital are the same skills that are required in schools for the students to learn. For example, cultural capital requires students to have knowledge of cultural awareness so they can relate well with other people. On the other hand, class requires students to acquire the same knowledge. Therefore, students who have cultural capital already have the upper hand in learning compared to students who do not have cultural capital.
Cultural capital reduces the chances of inequality among students, which helps them with an easier time to learn. First, a student with cultural capital understands other students better than a student without it. Hence, he knows why they act the way they do. This is helpful to students who might wrongly feel like they are being discriminated against by other students. He reassures himself that they are acting in such a way because of who they are and not because of the student’s background. Such reassurance reduces the probability of internal conflict for the student who might feel like he is being discriminated against. Hence, they have peace while they study in an environment that other people can consider discriminative.
The second way in which cultural capital eliminates inequality deals with the way that a student interacts with other people. A student who has only been exposed to a single group, such as people of one race, can easily think that the group is superior to others. When such an individual is in a situation that requires interactions with people from other groups, they find it a challenge and easily discriminate against other individuals. However, a person who has interacted with other groups of individuals and built cultural capital knows that no group is superior to another. When put in a class with other students, they do not discriminate against the students. They are the promoters of equality and the enablers of working in groups with other students.
Conclusion
Cultural capital involves the social characteristics that give one an advantage in society. In education, cultural capital has proven to be essential in improving the overall status of a student and making their performance better. It ensures that one has an improved personality, which improves the way one relates and networks with other people. It helps a student work better in groups, and it helps them even after they complete their education. Improving a student’s performance through cultural capital helps a student become successful in life. Cultural capital also increases the practicality of learning by making students relate to real-world issues when they are still in school. It ensures that students have a better chance of joining higher learning institutions. Also, it promotes diversification in education, promoting the ability of students to choose a path that they desire. Cultural capital also improves conformity to the education system among students and eliminates the chances of inequality.
References
Gan, N. (2023). The effect of cultural capital on students’ academic motivation in the context of involution: Ecological perspective. SHS Web of Conferences, 163. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202316304014
Mikus, K., Tieben, N., & Schober, P. (2020). Children’s conversion of cultural capital into educational success: the symbolic and skill-generating functions of cultural capital. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 42(2), 197–217.
Stenhouse, R. L., & Ingram, N. (2024). Private School entry to Oxbridge: How Cultural Capital Counts in the making of Elites. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2024.2315117
Jheng, Y., Lin, C., & Liao, Y. (2023). The Way Cultural Capital Works: A meta-analysis of the effects of cultural capital on Student’s Reading Performance. International Journal of Educational Research, 122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2023.102259
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