Galatea and Pygmalion glances: perception and strategies of the ‘other’ in front of (pre)judices

Abstract

One of the most universally recognized mechanisms in the sociology of education is the Pygmalion effect: the expectations and prejudices of teachers (from a position of power), projected onto the students, have the potential to become a self-fulfilled prophecy – either positive either stigmatizing. But what elements are used to build these expectations? In this interaction how relate Pygmalion (professors and directors expectations) and Galatea (stigmatized students strategies)? What institutional and political alternatives can be used to combat these – racist? – prejudices? Based on a research of young immigrants pathways from various ethno-racial groups (mostly Latinos), over the period 2007–2011, this article exposes that: moreover than the critical importance of teachers in students’ pathways, it is also important reconsider how the perceptions and strategies of stigmatized students are nuanced, ambivalent, and creative.

Keywords:

• Pygmalion effect
• teachers expectations
• pathways
• strategies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The Spanish secondary education system is organized through a basic secondary compulsory education (ESO, taken by students from 12 to 16 years of age), which has a comprehensive character, at the end of which 80% of the students graduate in ESO. The ESO graduates are allowed to accede to upper secondary education, with a post-compulsory character: the academic track – upper secondary academic, or 'baccalaureate' (taken by approximately 2/3 of Catalan students) and vocational training (Professional Formation, taken by approximately 1/3 of Catalan students). The students who do not graduate in ESO – about 20% – can only choose an initial vocational qualification program

2. This cultural gap has been specially explained in terms of the class: through symbolic violence (Bourdieu 1988; Bourdieu and Passeron 1985); linguistic codes (Bernstein 1988); the school resistant cultures (Willis 1988), etc. Bonal (1998) realizes a comprehensive summary. This class narrative has been so prolific that, in certain cases, other distances had become invisible, such as gender, race or ethnicity. In fact it is precisely this invisibility which explains the passage of some intellectuals of the Critical Legal Studies to the critical race theory (CRT) group (Rollock and Gillborn 2011). Anyway, it is clear that more than calculate 'weight' of each 'factor' in this distance, these elements must be understood as complementary; e.g., see Rubie-Davies, Hattie, and Hamilton (2006, 431), Gillborn and Mirza (2000), Demack, Drew, and Grimsley (2000).

3. The Catalan educational system operates with an 'immersion linguistic' methods, where Catalan is the language of instruction, and where Spanish has a significant presence in the classroom. In the institute where the fieldwork was conducted, Spanish was more common in social use. According to Idescat sources (2011), the vast majority of people understand Catalan (90%), and more than half speak and read it (59% and 61% respectively), but only 1/3 can write it (36%).

4. Furthermore, Trenchs-Parera (2009) identifies a 'linguistic ideology' in South American students, based on the confrontation between the Spanish mainland and South American dialects, as a form of identitarian vindication. In contrast, Catalan is simply another academic difficulty (although in specific cases can also occur negative attitudes (Huguet and Janés 2008).

5. For Pàmies (2006a), the Moroccan students were perceived as students who have poor cultural backgrounds and require compensatory educational measures. This is because teachers perceive a discontinuity between the school's world of the majority and the familiar universe of the Maghreb minority. This point of view has produced the omission of cultural rights, and Moroccan culture (real or suspected cultural traits, like language, religion, family practices, etc.) were interpreted as an obstacle to schooling.