322 THE PROB LEMS OF EDUCATION ARE NOT GE NE TICphysical and mental health. And, of course, they exhibit cultural aspects—
language, dress, self- presentation, and so on—of the social class to which
they already belong.
When they enter school, children quickly become labeled by teachers
as “bright” or “dull.” Th ese are not technical terms, although they are
used regularly by educators, psychologists, and politicians. Th ey are also
much used by behavioral ge ne ticists, who argue that they refl ect under-
lying ge ne tic variation.
Pygmalion in the Classroom was a 1968 book (updated in 1995) by
Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson summarizing the eff ects of
teacher expectation on children’s classroom per for mance. Th ey had con-
ducted an experiment in a public elementary school, in which teachers
were told that certain children could be expected to be “growth spurters”
based on the results of a psychometric test. In fact, the test was non ex is tent,
and the children were chosen at random. Nevertheless, those labeled
children made massive gains in IQ scores over an eight- month period
compared with controls. Th e expectancy eff ects have been confi rmed in
much additional research since.
Research in the 1970s and 1980s suggested that such attributions were
on the basis of language accent, self- presentation, parental priming, and
even facial appearance— that is, corresponding closely with social class
background. Guy Claxton and Sara Meadows have summarized more re-
cent research indicating a range of other criteria, including the following:
- Physically alert and energetic
- Strongly oriented to adults and alert to their presence
- Facial expressions
- Sensible responses for the classroom context
- Ability to maintain focus
- Articulateness
- Quick on the uptake
- Ability to sit still and listen to adults
- Greater ease and fl uency with peers
- Ability to remember and make links to what has happened
- Proactive and inquisitive
- Greater perceptiveness about sensory details and patterns
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