All parents want the best for their children, and many hope that they will do well in school; that they will enjoy learning, and grow up feeling knowledgeable, confident and self-assured. However, many children go through schooling not performing as well as what they are capable of, and in many case become disaffected. Signs of this include persistent truancy, disruptive behaviour, withdrawal, and alienation. It has been shown that this has a strong correlation with underachievement, pupils who consistently produce work perceived to be below their ability, one of the problems that pupils experience in school.
Children who underachieve generally show feelings of a ‘sense of inadequacy and limited ambition; a dislike of school work and book learning; poor work habits; unsatisfactory relationships with peers; a high incidence of emotional difficulties; and behavioural problems in school.’ (Montgomery, 2001 p.2-3) There are various factors behind why children underachieve, the most notable influences being parents, teachers and the school. During their childhood, children go through stages of rapid change in the period that they are developing. Other factors that cause children to underachieve in school and become disaffected can be related to fear; boredom; mental, physical or social hindrances i.e. learning disabilities, special needs, physical disabilities etc; abuse; or confusion. In many cases where disaffection is related to underachievement, the situation becomes worse over the years as ‘school become more goal-orientated and less flexible and, as part and parcel of those changes, increasingly unwilling to accommodate diversity of behaviour, cultural expression and ways of learning’ (Klein, 2000, p. xii)
How parents a...
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...g lazy or incapable. A disability or pattern of behaviour may often be masking an underlying problem, and it is therefore crucial to treat this problem rather than simply dealing with the surface symptoms such as rebellion, truancy and disruptive behaviour.
Works Cited
Goldstein, S. and Mather. N. (1998). Overcoming Underachievement: An action guide to helping your child succeed in school. USA: John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Klein, R. (2000). Defying Disaffection: England: Trentham Books Ltd
Montgomery, D. (2001). Able Underacheivers: England: Whurr Publishers
Varma, V. (1994). How and Why Children Fail. England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd
Wilkinson, R. and Pickett, K. (2009). The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. England: Penguin Books Ltd
Winstanley, C. (2004). Too clever by half: a fair deal for gifted children. England: Trentham Books Ltd
Because of his cultural background my father found my brother's poor performance in school incomprehensible. I too was puzzled by my brother's attitude towards school. He and I grew up in the same house with the same parents and the same set of values. Yet, he seemed to not care about school at all. For a long time, my family and I attributed my brother's C's in school and obvious inability to concentrate to laziness and a lack of motivation.
If deciding to hold back a child for not successfully completing their grade, it would result in low self - esteem, hinderance and humiliation, nada problem child. As a result of this child becoming a hinderance, gaining low self - esteem, and becoming a problem child. Reach out out and help these students that are struggling and are being left behind. Help them to understand what's happening better. Make these children feel as if they are the future, and they are not a hinderance nor a problem child. Help these children to gain something they lost, their self - esteem along with courage, pride, and mainly confidence.
Wilkinson, R. and Pickett, K. (2010). The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. London: Penguin.
Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland, eds., Equality: Selected Readings (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1997), 33.
Lamb, Kevin. "The Problem of Equality". The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies. v20, #4 (Winter 1995) 467-479.
What makes a person gifted has been debated historically and continues on today. The debate has been influenced by politics and culture, which impact how gifted children are educated. The three articles discussed in this paper explore the origins, development, social-emotional impact, and politics of giftedness.
The effects of poverty can cause negative behaviour in the classroom due to emotional and social challenges. Research suggests that children who have had a disadvantaged upbringing are less likely to do well at school (Connell, White and Johnson as cited in Ewing , 2013, p. 74). Not being socially accepted because of socio economics can deter a child’s experience of schooling and create cognitive lags. For this reason, it is important for schools to bridge this gap. Children from different socio economic backgrounds bring similar knowledge to the classroom, but it is the children’s experiences that can have a negative impact on a child’s learning (Thomson, 2002, p.4). For example, children from low socio economic backgrounds can have high levels of behavioural and emotional problems, anger, have less linguistic knowledge and high levels of absent days from school. Likewise, another factor that can affect a child’s schooling experience is gender
Knapp, Peter, Jane C. Kronick, R. William Marks, and Miriam G. Vosburgh. The Assault on Equality. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1996.
R. Wilkinson and K. Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, Bloomsbury Press, NY, 2009, in particular pages 49- 173.
According to Byman and Kansanen (2008, p605) ‘… teaching in itself does not imply learning’. The underachievement of young people in education has been a priority in British politics for over two decades (Ross, 2009). The estimates of academic underachievement at Key Stage 4 (KS4) are reportedly between one fifth and one third of the KS4 population in England (Steedman and Stoney, 2004). An Ofsted (2013) report identifies that pupils’ aged from 11 to 16 (early KS4) is below the national average. Underachievement in KS4 has become a recurring phenomenon (Wogboroma, 2014), with several academics and government bodies, identifying a range of significant implications, not only for the individual but also for wider society (Beinart, et al. 2002; McIntosh and Houghton, 2005; Hosie, 2007; Ofsted, 2013; DfE, 2014). This unseen cluster of learners that are academically underachieving is representative of an objectionable waste of potential, in addition incurring subsequent costs, from an individual viewpoint to a national scale (Ofsted, 2013). Consequently, recognizing and instigating timely interventions to tackle underachievement in KS4 and subsequently achieve social justice for this learner group should be a fundamental goal for schools. Motivation is recognised as an effective tool to overcome underachievement (Mega, et al. 2014) Furthermore, the intrinsic loci of motivation has developed to become an important phenomenon for educators, as it produces high-quality and effective learning in addition to creativity and achievement that can be progressively nurtured by teacher practices (Ryan & Stiller, 1991). Theories of motivation, self and society are critically evaluated to determine effective strategies...
Author unkown (2003, March 9). In gifted classrooms is diversity lacking?. Salisbury Daily Times. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://www.dailytimesonline.com/new/stories/20030309/localnews/1142640.html
During early years of life, children undergo several developmental changes. Their logical reasoning, attention, perspectives, skills begin to develop. When children go to the elementary school, they begin to integrate knowledge from their interactions with parents and teachers in order to confront the academic challenge. Some children successfully achieve their academic goals; however, some children fail to meet this challenge, which can have a long-lasting negative impact on their success in the school context (Supplee al et., 2006). Thus, parents and school are critical for academic performance and personal development. In a long time, families were responsible for preparing their children with the necessary skills in the early years, and schools took over from there with little input
It can be argued that the academic performance of children has nothing to do with their socioeconomic status, because there have been many cases of children from very poor families who have excelled greatly in academics (APA, 2017). Furthermore, many predominantly high-end schools have posted poor results when compared to school with poorer backgrounds. This is despite the fact children from lower socioeconomic classes do not have access to the best forms of learning materials. The high performance of children from poor backgrounds is often attributed to the fact that they are not preoccupied with many activities which would otherwise hinder them from concentrating on their studies (Sacerdote, 2002). Therefore, some believe it is false to say that poor performance is associated with children who come from low socioeconomic classes. Rather, they believe academic achievement is genetic (Sacerdote, 2002).
In this paper I am going to critically discuss how parental involvement in children's education does make a positive difference to pupils' achievement. I will be using research in differing trustworthy media such as literature, journals and government documents to strengthen my discussion.
When a lower tracked student is placed in the low-ability class, the placement can destroy a child’s confidence as well as promote inequality (Enns 2015). As the lower tracked education quality is much lower than a higher tracked classroom, there is a disadvantage for students who actually want to learn. There is not much encouragement for the lower-ability students because expectations are significantly reduced (Enns 2015). Despite being in a high-ability class, a child may feel pressure because he or she has to compete with other kids with the same intellect. When a child feels the need to compete, it could harm his or hers confidence level as well (Holloway 2003). A homogenous approach creates inequality within society because tracking is based off on an individual’s social background. Therefore, tracking will create a divide between the minority and majority groups. The majority dominant class has the upper-class advantage meaning that their children are most likely to be in the high intelligent class due to the extracurricular within their lives. While the minority is placed in the lower tracked class, they are given the lower quality education that they do not deserve (Enns 2015). Nevertheless, according to Paton (2012), the mixed approach was thought to have a its disadvantage because it might put high-ability children at a disadvantage. Parents were scared that the lower-ability children would hold their high-ability children back academically (Paton 2012). Having said that, the parents are wrong, as it is not another child’s fault in why their children are not pushed to their full potential. It is the teacher’s responsibility to provide more challenging lessons for the more intelligent children. The teachers are the ones who should push their students to their full potential (Paton