Is School Important to the Middle
School Child?
by Latonya Harris/ Shantell Holiday
Having a good education is the benchmark for success in the American culture. People around the world travel to the United States of America in order to fulfill the American Dream: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. One way they can pursue this dream is by receiving a quality education. The question is, why do so many American students not appreciate the opportunity to receive a free education? There are many factors that contribute to the lack of awareness of the importance of education to American students such as; economic status, schools not meeting the needs of all students, and peer pressure.
Literature Review
Economic Status
The economic
status of the students’ family plays a major role in their views on
receiving an education. According to
Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis the perpetuation of a family’s position in the
distribution of income from parents to children reflects the genetic and
cultural transmission of individual traits, as well as the inheritance of group
memberships and income earning assets (12/2000). Children learn the essential of life from their parents because
it is not a natural instinct; therefore, they will inherit their standard of
living from their parents. Students that come from upper and middle class
families realize the importance of education.
They want to do as well or better than their parents. They also tend to have someone in their
family that has a college education, so they are constantly receiving positive
feedback on the value of education.
Students that come from a low-income family don’t know the value an
education, and they don’t know how to improve their economic status. Economic status leads to the lack of importance of education by those
students that come from a low-income family.
According to the census bureau report in 1999, "Educational attainment
is one the most important influences on economic well being". The negative attitude of education leads to
poor performance in school, which results in these students being labeled as
low achievers. These students tend to
look for careers in low paying service jobs that do not require much education
or little at all. According to Thomas Mortenson, students from
low-income families have lack of parental involvement in schools. Children are
labeled because of their family and financial backgrounds (2001).
Meeting the Needs of Students
Schools aren’t meeting the needs of
all students, which in turn causes many students to turn their backs on
receiving a quality and effective education.
Low achievers are placed or grouped in a category by themselves away
from their peers and they are labeled as under achievers. This label is a negative stigma that
characterizes them as being dumb or stupid, which results in them having a
negative view and nonchalant attitude about the education process. However, it is important for teachers to pay
attention to the special needs of under achievers. Ability grouping is common in middle schools, and it creates a
negative status for the students that need more educational assistance. Tracking labels students according to their
academic performance. Labeling is very
embarrassing to poor achievers, and it causes them to have low self-esteem, and
in times it causes them to reject receiving a quality education.
Instead of teachers and administration turning their backs on those students that fall through the cracks of the educational system, the needs of poor achievers need to be addressed by providing them with more detailed instructions and detailed methods of teaching that always enforce positive attitudes toward education. Labeling students is not always the case best practice since there can be a number if underlying factors outside of school that may result in the poor performance of students. Therefore, it is important for teachers to assume an active role in the lives of their students by knowing and understanding the family backgrounds of the students and talking to their student’s daily. Furthermore, all students don’t learn on the same level, some students may need more time and a variety of teaching techniques in order to achieve academically. Tracking may not be the best method because it doesn’t provide all students with the opportunity for an equal education. As stated in a film titled “Common Miracles”, “Instead of using tracks to label students, schools need to find better methods of teaching to improve students academically”. Mark Ecker states, As middle school teachers, we need to stop labeling students, and concentrate on providing each student with the same amount of attention and instruction, which will lead to a rise in academic achievement in all areas of education (2002). Teachers and administration need to allow students the opportunity to explore new ideas and ways of learning. Teachers’ main focus needs to be on the academic achievement of all students, and teachers need to set realistic goals for the students. Instead of labeling and chastising students, the middle school needs to focus on meeting the needs of their students by focusing on William Glasser’s idea that each person is genetically designed and motivated from within to fulfill some basic needs that are love, power, fun, and freedom (p. 179).
Teachers need to take on an active role in the lives of their students. Teachers need to establish effective communication with their students, which will create a bonding teacher/student relationship. Teachers should be very supportive and caring about their students’ thoughts, concerns, and views on education. Therefore, the curriculum needs to be student centered. It is important for teachers to create an environment that encourages freedom of ideas. Willingness and eagerness to risk self-expression and become more involved in their education process increases, when students feel good about themselves as thinkers and educators
It is important for teachers to meet the needs and wants of their students. They need to make the students feel like they are a part of this process. Teachers and administration should encourage students and nurture them with great ideas and techniques that will stimulate their educational growth. This will allow students to take on an active role in their education, and it will allow them to value the importance of education. This type of guidance, by teachers and administration, presents a positive outlook on education in the eyes of students.
Peer Pressure
With respect to monumental transitions caused by hormonal changes and adjustments to a whole new system of education, middle school students are faced with the negative effects of peer pressure. "School counselors had observed that many of these students were distracted at school by various social pressures and negative emotions such as anxiety and depression, which diverted their attention from focused academic learning, even among students with high ability. A preliminary analysis reinforced the need for the school to implement the self-management training, indicating that a number of the students were at risk for anxiety, school dropout, risky behavior problems and negative peer influence, and many had difficult home lives"(1999). Peer Pressure affects the lives of many middle school students. To many students, this is just a passing phase, but some students get caught up in the negative trap of peer pressure. In middle school, students tend to care more about their peers, appearance, and fitting in, than they do about their education. They want to feel like they belong, and they want to be apart of a group. This feeling causes many students to pair up with others who may have a negative view about education. Because they want to belong in this group with their peers, they are pressured into engaging in activities that are detrimental to their education. This includes cutting school, fighting, drugs, misbehaving in class, and rebelling against their parents and their teachers. For this reason, parents need to become involved in their children’s education.
Parents need to play an important role in their child’s education. According to the national coalition for parental involvement in education, "When school and families work together to support learning everyone benefits; students do better in school and life, parents become empowered, teacher morale improves, schools get better, and communities grow stronger". Parents need to be actively involved in their child’s studies by talking to the teacher or academic advisor, attending school functions with their child, and also knowing their child’s strengths and weakness. Parental involvement in a child’s education is one of the best things a parent can give to a child. Showing your child that you care and that their education is very important lets the child know how much you value their education and also how important it is to have an education. Studies have shown that parents increased involvement in their child’s education leads to better grades. The reason for this is that when a children sees that their parents are concerned about them getting a good education, they tends to want to do better in school to prove himself to his parents. This is also a forms positive reinforcement in a child’s life. When a student knows that good grades and a good education lead to a positive place in society, he becomes more interested in his education.
Methods of Research
We conducted a survey of a class of thirty middle school students in which we asked the following questions:
1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
2. If you couldn’t be the first choice what is your second choice of what you would like to be when you grow up?
3. Do you want to go to college?
4. Why do you want to go to college?
5. Is getting a good education important to you?
6. How are you doing in school?
7. Is doing what you are doing in school getting you to where you want to be?
8. Do you like going to school?
9. Did your parents tell you about the importance of an education?
Results of Research
Our results of this survey coincided with our finding within the paper. Students whose parents take on an active role in their education know the importance of education, want to go to college to improve their economic status, and they value the meaning of furthering their education. The students, whose parents aren’t involved in their education, tend to have a lack of interest on educational ideas, don’t have interest in attending college, and would rather have a trade job, and they have a lack of motivation on improving their economic status.
Conclusions
The significances of our research proved that economic status, peer pressure, and quality schools are major factors in the importance of an education for the middle school student. Our findings were limited to a control group of thirty students at three economical based schools. We have strategically placed websites through our paper that have similar finding. Economic status is a factor in the importance of a quality education because students want to meet or exceed their parents’ present status. The standards of a schools ability to meet the needs of its students play a major role in their view on education. Peer Pressure is the most important underlying factor in a child’s perception of education.