Societal impacts on learning
While students do seem to possess limitless amounts of energy, this assertion comes with two important caveats. First there is a great deal of variety with regard to the levels of different students and, therefore, in the amount of energy they are able to expend in any specific activity. Secondly, there are limits to the amount of effort any child can expend within any 24 hour period.
Most children encounter more demands on their time than they can effectively satisfy while, at the same, time more opportunities to engage in activities which interest them than can manage. In other words, there is a great deal of competition for students’ attention.
Family Ambivalence About Academic Pursuits
Despite strong evidence showing the link between high academic achievement and future earnings, Americans have traditionally been ambivalent about the value of education in relation to other objectives for their children. When offered a choice between education and the opportunity for their children to develop leadership skills, participate in athletic activities or develop a musical or artistic talent, many educators suspect that most parents would choose the later and forgo increased academic achievement as long as their children were meeting minimum standards. As one can expect, student’s opinions of education will reflect that of their family with regard to its relative important in relation to other goals.
There are, of course, significant differences among different cultures in their view of this issue. Some parents may feel that their children cannot succeed in school despite the amount of effort they expend, so stress their pursuit of other goals. Other families place a greater value on establishing a family or getting a job, or in striving to achieve non-academic goals, such as developing athletic or artistic skills. Even in those families where there is an emphasis on academic achievement, there is still a strong value in non-academic accomplishments.
The result is that those involved in the educational system—students, parents, teachers, and administrators, as well as policymakers—find themselves in conflict regarding the amount of effort a student should be expending to reach an academic goal. While most parents want their children to work hard and succeed in school, they are also reluctant to significantly rearrange the priorities they have established (unconsciously or consciously) with regard to those areas they want their children to devote most of their time and energy.
The ambivalence most Americans feel about the importance of educational achievement is also reflected in the degree of parent involvement with the school. While some parents do play an active role in supporting their children’s academic pursuits, to include consistent attendance at parent-teacher conferences, a significant proportion of parents have no such contact. Studies have shown that this may be related to the educational level and socioeconomic status of the parents (National Center for Education Statistics, 1996). Increased parental involvement in their children’s education has been identified as a key component of effective schools, yet it remains the most difficult aspect of school reform.
Poverty
Many children live in families whose financial resources are inadequate to provide the basic needs that all children require in order to perform effectively in school. In 2007, 18 percent of all children ages 0–17 lived in poverty, an increase from 17 percent in 2006. Compared with White, non-Hispanic children, the poverty rate was higher for Black children and for Hispanic children. In 2007, 10 percent of White, non-Hispanic children, 35 percent of Black children, and 29 percent of Hispanic children lived in poverty. Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2009)
Many studies have been conducted which provide solid evidence that childhood poverty is highly correlated with poor academic performance, lower IQ scores, and an increased rate of school drop-out. One study found that the IQ scores of children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds were, on average, 25 points lower than children form more privileged families. (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002-google authors: Poverty also affects the level of education students will attain as well as their math and reading ability.
The educational level of the parents, especially the mother, is known to be closely related to a child’s school performance. In those families where the mother has less than a high school diploma there is not an appropriate role model for the behaviors necessary to achieve school success. The child is provided with little, if any cognitive stimulation, which is so important during the early years in setting the foundation for high academic achievement throughout the child’s academic life. In many cases, children of impoverished families leave school before graduation in order to care for younger siblings, or start work in order to supplement meager family earnings.
Whether or not children of impoverished families have enough to eat, are sufficiently clothed, have access to health care, severe limitations on family income have a significant negative impact on children’s ability to fully engage in classroom learning. Thus, the effectiveness of educational efforts is greatly dependent on the cultural background each student brings to school. Teachers should focus their attention on the performance of each individual student because it is only by that method that academics can hope to correct the effects of poverty on educational achievement.
Unemployment
Loss of income can translate into several negative consequences for the family. The stress that unemployment brings can result in conflicts between parents, along with changes in their parenting styles. The stress usually trickles down to the children and can result in increased school absence and drug use on the part of boys, and loss of self-confidence and depression on the part of girls. Younger children may be affected by more punitive discipline measure on the part of parents. Unemployment could also result in the loss of housing, with the need accompanying need to move—sometimes great distances—which means that children will need to change schools and start over again in adjusting in. adjust to a.
Family Instability
Income insecurity places much greater stress on those children living in single parent households. The poverty rate for children living in female-householder families (no spouse present) also fluctuated between 1980 and 1994; it then declined between 1994 and 2000 by more than the decline in the poverty rate for all children in families. In 1994, 53 percent of children living in female-householder families were living in poverty; by 2007, this proportion was 43 percent. (Forum for Child and Family Statistics, 2008)
It is also estimated that a substantial portion of men who abuse their female partner also abuse the children in the household. There is also evidence that children, who witness violence, and especially those who are victims of violence, are prone to show symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder similar to soldiers returning from war. As children get older, those who have been abused or neglected are likely to perform poorly in school; to commit crimes; and to experience emotional problems, and alcohol/substance abuse. Clearly, such environments are not conducive to student engagement in learning.
Neighborhood Violence and Crime
In recent times a growing number of children and young people are living in neighborhoods characterized by high crime, most of it associated with drugs, youth gang activity, or frequently, both. Many of these same children are also exposed to violence within their own families thus increasing the potential for serious psychological damage. As with children in abusive families, these children are also susceptible to posttraumatic stress disorder arising from the violence of their daily lives. (Osofsky, 1999.) It is no wonder that children living in such environments experience significant difficulty in focusing on schoolwork.
Alcohol and Drug Use
In a 2009 Survey conducted by the National Institute for Drug Abuse it was shown that heavy drinking actually declined from the most recent peaks of 13 percent in 1996 to 8 percent in 2008 for 8th-grade students, from 24 percent in 2000 to 16 percent in 2008 for 10th-grade students, and from 32 percent in 1998 to 25 percent in 2008 for 12th-grade students. However, illicit drug use was unchanged from 2007 to 2008. Eight percent of 8th grade students, 16 percent of 10th grade students, and 22 percent of 12th grade students reported drug use during this period. While these statistics show some mildly encouraging trends, it is clear that drug and alcohol use among young people continues to be widespread. The negative impact of drug and alcohol use on student engagement and performance within a school setting continues to be a major problem in our society. It is a recurring cycle as children of substance abusers tend to use drugs and alcohol themselves, thus passing the lifestyle on to their own children.
Health Concerns
In 2007, approximately 12 percent of children living below the poverty level and 10 percent of children living in families with incomes 100–199 percent of the poverty level had chronic physical or behavioral conditions which limited their ability to fully participate in school, compared with 7 percent of children with family incomes 200 percent or more of the poverty level. Once again, poor and children from lower middle income families are more likely to be negatively affected by health problems ranging from asthma to lead poisoning than are children of families of upper socio-economic status.
Television and Computers
Both television and computers can enhance and support instruction. Cable and satellite connections have greatly increased the variety of educational programming and the ever-growing number of computers in the home and at school has enabled more and more students to become proficient in their use (sometimes at a greater level than adults!)
However television and computers also have a strong entertainment value to children and the majority of time they spend in front of either is primarily recreational, not educational. Children’s engagement in these activities absorbs great amounts of their time and energies. Educators wonder how much achievement could be gained if teachers could redirect the energy student expend in front of the television or computer screen back toward learning.
Studies have shown that, particularly for children over the age of ten, a very significant proportion of American children are essentially unsupervised during the hours after the school day ends. These studies show that as many as 30 percent of eleven to twelve year olds regularly care for themselves after school, while as many as 70 percent of students age twelve and over are on their own at least a portion of the time. (Kerrebrock and Lewitt 1999). This study highlights the problem of not only how much effort students are able to expend on learning after school, but on how that time is managed. |
