Effect of Poverty On Academic Achievement and Sociological Behavior

Name

Institution

Word Count: 4946

Table of Contents TOC o “1-3” h z u

Introduction PAGEREF _Toc37803817 h 2Statement of the problem PAGEREF _Toc37803818 h 5Review of literature PAGEREF _Toc37803819 h 5Methodology PAGEREF _Toc37803820 h 12Analysis and Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc37803821 h 15References PAGEREF _Toc37803822 h 18

Effects of Poverty on Academic Achievement and Sociological Behavior.

IntroductionPoverty is a broad term but can basically refer to one being unable to afford basic needs or rather they lack income that can be used in catering for their day to day activity. All countries have poor people what varies is the rate and level of poverty. The poverty levels in developing continents are quite high when compared to poetry level in a much more developed country. When one is poor, this means they are unable to cater for basic needs such as go to school or cater for their medical bill. Poverty may be brought about by a number of factors such as political, social as well as economic factors. Most people who are poor are not poor by choice but often is the circumstances that has resulted in such as a lack of unemployment, disasters such as losing everything during floods or fire or ending up spending all family saving on hospital bill if a close family member needs financial that cannot be catered for by insurance.

Poverty is a complicated issue that has inconsistent definitions and substantial disagreements in terms of the methodologies, framing, and measurements. Even though various approaches are employed to emphasize the varying aspects of poverty both at the collective and individual levels for instance quality of life, income, and capabilities, poverty is viewed as multidimensional. Political, economic, cultural, social, and institutional drivers usually influence poverty (Caldas, 2007:269-277). To reverse the situation, efforts from a number of domains that contribute to enhancing security, empowerment, and promoting opportunities ought to be employed. The multidimensional concept of poverty considers material deprivation, identity, and agency, socio-cultural heritage, the culturally constrained capacity to act as well as a sense of belonging (Nations, 2010:34). According to Confalonieri, the AR4 often view poverty as one of the most serious barriers towards effective adaptation (Leal, 2016:372)

In the United States, measure of poverty is through the poverty threshold which states that poverty is the lack of goods and services which are often taken for granted by the upper class or mainstream society. Such commodities include food, clothing, housing and even affording money to go to school. Poverty is also the distribution of facilities. Poverty is more prevalent in the rural areas than in the cities and this has often been said it is because of the distribution of resources. In a research conducted in 2015, 43.1 million Americans which 13.55% of the population were found to be living in poverty (Jargowsky, 1997:124). This meant that they were unable to meet their basic needs. Any people have often held myths that a developed country like United States may not have poor people like other countries, poverty exists in America. Most people who are often poor will leave in the rural farms or in the slum.

Poverty is a problem because of it has impacts that can affect the entire family including children for several generations. Poverty means that children will often be unable to attend the best of schools or study till they complete their education. Research has established that poverty correlates with poor performance. This could be attributed to other factors such as lack of basic needs such as food which may help the brain in growth. There may also be too much problems at home thus they are unable to perform well. In Africa for example, children from poor families will often lack electricity and will have to use paraffin lamp while studying, after school they may have to trek for long distances in order to get home or fetch water, most will engage in house chore: When a child goes through these then they are most likely to undergo difficulty in their academics. America may not be the same as Africa, but this kids may go through other things that may affect them academically. Children from low income household tend to begin re-school later than the children from rich backgrounds (Chall, 2009:126-7).

Statement of the problemWe often at times assume that a child may not be performing well simply because they are not bright. However, at times a child’s behavior as well as their sociological behavior is often determined by what they may be going through. Research has found out that poverty is among the largest contributors of academic performance among school going children. Children from poor background in same locality, tend to go or rather attend the same school and the lack of motivation may result in them achieving low I academic performance. For example, families living in slums are likely to have school where they attend school. It is highly likely that this school may also be less equipped with learning facilities when compared to those from affluent families. It is this kind of variances that also depicts the difference I the academic performance. This study is aimed at identifying pw poverty is closely linked with class performance as well as how it may result to various sociological behavior.

Review of literatureThere are many causes of poverty but it has often been linked to economic factors. The most common is lack of employment and thus one does not have any way they can generate income. Money is an important factor in overcoming poverty because it is money that is used in purchasing products or accessing services. At times, one may also be employed, however, their income is too little and cannot meet all basic needs and thus continue living in poverty. Lack of education also translates to lack of employment. Without proper education, an individual lacks skill needed in order to get employment and many thus end up doing unskilled labor such as cleaning. Most unskilled laborers are often underpaid because their employers know quite well that these individuals have no other choice (Bradley, 2005:381-396). With the minimal income, they will often be unable to meet their basic needs such as catering for food for their families or taking their children to good school where they may be accorded education.

According to Glatzer (2009), family system is one of the major contributors of poverty levels in the United States. Family system has also contributed in poverty levels. You may find that four years, a certain familial generation has constantly been experiencing poverty levels. This s because they lack a way of escaping that s they cannot take the children to school. Divorce also contributes to poverty as you will often find single parents especially mothers left to raid the kids often have no source of employment and cannot be able to provide basic needs to their children. Lack of education as well as unplanned pregnancies compound the problems single mothers go through. Due to such factors an entire family is often dragged to poverty and unless one gets educated and lands a job or ones get employment where they earn a descent salary often poverty cannot be avoided. It is passed down from generation to generation like genetic traits (Somers, 2004:17). As I had mentioned earlier eliminating poverty is often difficult and one is often able to deliver their family from the bondage of poverty through education. When one gets educated lands a successful career such as being a doctor, then they often are the people the family look at. However, the educational attainment is iota difficult in pursuing education as they may end up dropping out especially in colleges and universities which is vital in helping one build their career.

Through inequality, important positions in the society were filed thus those who helps higher positions in the society were more important. Poverty had a role in the society and one included establishment of various career professions. Not everybody could become a surgeon or a lawyer as other position in a society such as shoe shinning and cleaning would probably lack people to work there. Another function of poverty would be that programs that help the poor provide jobs for people employed by the program. The poor also tend to purchase things such as used clothing or even day-old bread which other people in the society may not have any use for them thus extending economic values of the goods. Because poverty serves these functions, both the upper and middle class have vested interested I ensuring at poverty still remains in the society (Wacquant, 2008: 58).

Max Webber’s theory on sociological perspective may help explain why poverty and educational level correlates. According to Weber, class was not just about ownership or non-ownership but rather involved sort of market situation, and class was the market situation. He pointed out that at times person may have a market advantage by engaging in social processes that limit competition. A good example is that education credential is used to reduce competition for jobs. As poor people cannot often get access to quality education most do not have a shot at these competitive slots. He points out that in order for a person to have access to competitive slots, access to quality education was a must. However, there needed to be poor people who would offer support to the rich. The system thus therefore seems to propagate in ensuring that the poor people needed have to exist in the society. One may ask how they are able to propagate the system. It is through ensuring that the poor remain poor. Education is seen as a gateway out of poverty but often it is also expensive. When the poor re unable to finish school, they end up serving the rich for example providing unskilled labor such as plumbers and cleaners. According to weber this provides a balance in the society as we cannot all become doctors or lawyers. Weber pointed out that those who were poor lacked the economic and political advantage s that were enjoyed by particular individuals of certain class. According to weber, class was not just about ownership or non-ownership but rather involved sort of market situation, and class was the market situation ().

In the US, primary education is often affordable as public school can be said to be free as they are funded by property taxes thus even the poor are more likely to attend primary school. High school which are public school are also free but at times parents may have to meet basic needs including purchasing books or uniforms. This system was put in America as a way of introducing compulsory schooling which, however ends by around age 17 or 18 when the children finish high school. Most funding of school in America comes from the State government, for example, In Minnesota 80% of public education fund is obtained from state resources while 5%is given by the government. College is the most expensive academic level in the United States. Yet thesis the most important academic level in ensuring that one is able to build their career and achieve academic excellence.

According to UN education currently stand among the basic needs such as right to clothing, food and shelter. This is because when one has education they are likely to exceed and build a successful career. When one has education it boosts their chances of getting employed or landing a good job. It is a fact that skilled jobs will often be much more paying than unskilled jobs. Getting a college degree is associated with several advantages including landing a well-paying job in your field of expertise. It increases chances of getting employment with a huge gap. However, with the current cost of education especially in America, this does not seem as a dram that many can relate to due to the high cost of education. People from poor background often continue remaining poor because of lack of education.

America being among the most developed country, college and universities were quite expensive and thus community colleges were established. These colleges were formed in order to try and provide affordable ways that people from poor background could access affordable education. Around the year 2000, the average community college for four years was 12900 but in 2016 this number had doubled to 25000. The fees seem to be rising day by day and although people may argue on the basis of inflation and economic change, as the fees keep increasing, the people from poor background are often unable to cater for this bills. This has often resulted in most of them having to take up jobs and they have to try and create a balance between school work and working either full time or part time. This not easy to do and leads to other problems including not getting time to complete assignments or even attend classes. Schedules also tend to collide and hen the pressure builds up it becomes too much that they are unable to withstand. (Tinto, 2005:89-125). These students are still really young individuals and they may be unable to cope with the stress they are subjected to eventually leading to other situations including depression and anxiety.

Children from poor backgrounds are often the ones subjected to the excess pressure of having to work multiple shifts in order to get money they can send back home and money that they can use to cater for their needs. The pressure is often too much and staying in school may be difficult as they eventually drop out. In a report by the Congressional Reach Service, 34.7 percent of people who have dropped out of either high school or college was attributed to the high poverty levels. Many of these children are often people of color. 34.4 percent were from African American background while 30.3 were from Hispanic background while only 10 percent were white (Lacor, 2005). This statistic also shows a correlation of race, poverty and academic level. The whites were more likely to attend private school, eventually attend college and land a great career. On the other hand, people of color were more likely to attend public school which will often be congested, may not be accorded the best education and may eventually drop out from school because of lack of financial support (Saporito, 2008:1227-1253).

In a study “Poverty and Achievement” by Gerald Bracey (1999), children from low income families were given a supplementary reading program. The study question asked: “What is the effect of the intervention on children’s reading skills? The study hypothesized that the intervention resulted in higher levels of reading skills. Children from that came from lower socioeconomic status had lower levels of achievement in core curricula than their peers from higher socioeconomic status and, from this lower starting point, post fewer gains in learning over the following three years. Thus, they 8 enter school at a disadvantage that widened over time, a vivid example of cumulative disadvantage. For the most part, the cumulative risks to early learning posed by family poverty are a function of concomitant family characteristics, especially the tendency for poor parents to be less educated than other parents. Poverty-related family processes tend to reduce the flow of school-specific information and instrumental support to poor children, school environments that actively engage 9 children in their education and that tap them into valuable information channels (e.g., parental outreach) will likely make more of a difference for poor children’s learning than their peers.

According to Sirin et al poverty and academic achievement is also interrelated because children from poor background are highly less likely to have the materials as well as resources that they may need in excelling (Sirin, 2005:417-453). The tool is important in order to protect their readiness such as the learning tools, information technology as well as healthcare. Consequently, classes and schools that have more services and materials (e.g., health services, classroom computers) will fill a void in poor children’s lives that allows them to make up ground. Family poverty also predicted math and reading achievement in third grade, net of first grade achievement (as well as the control variables). Again, these associations were attenuated but not eliminated by the inclusion of the other family socioeconomic characteristics. To examine the degree to which these poverty risks were channeled through family dynamics, he full set of family were added to the process variables. Of these, parent depression, parental divorce, reading activities, and parental involvement in education predicted math and reading achievement in first grade, net of the socio-demographic characteristics, school structural characteristics, family socioeconomic characteristics, and family poverty.

Significance of study

This research paper will broaden the understanding on how academic achievement is heavily influenced by poverty levels. The paper examines if most drop outs do so because of the poverty back at home as well as the performance of children who come from moderate background when compared to those from more affluent backgrounds. This paper will demonstrate heavily how completion level is closely related with one’s ability to complete school. By establishing this relationship, various stakeholders may utilize the information in trying to ensure that they come up with solutions to these problems. The study will be an important addition to the already existing literature that explains the correlation between the academic achievement as well as poverty level as well as certain sociological behavior portrayed. Education play an important role in the society today and thus the findings will help in coming up with solutions on how education and achievement gap may be bridged in order to ensure that everyone gets access to quality education. The government may use this information to try ensure children from poor background also get access to quality education and this may be a great way of trying to ensure that poverty is eliminated through academic achievement.

MethodologyIn conducting a successful research, it is important to have important guiding questions which answers the research objective. Below are the guiding questions that will be used in the research

What factors contribute to academic achievement and excellence?

To what extent do parental income have on children achievement and their academic performance?

Are children from poor backgrounds likely to drop out or perform poorly when compared to children from affluent background?

Does sociological behavior have to do anything with poverty?

Research methodology that was used for this research was non-experimental and longitudinal. The research wanted to establish relationship that existed between poverty and academic excellence as well as sociological behavior. The variables used in conducting of this research were poverty level, if children came from good socioeconomic class or a poor background while behavior as well as children’s academic excellence were seen as depedent variables.

The main form used in collection of data was documentary analysis where there was extensive research on material to be used for the research from reliable database including Google Scholar, JSTOR, EBCOhost, PsycINFO, ProQuest, Pub Med, and Medlime. Several keywords were used in obtaining of the research articles including poverty and academic performance, poverty and sociological behavior, economic status and children performance. A qualitative review was done in order to establish that the articles selected were accurate and current.

From the research on various literature documents, there was extensive link between the student’s performance and their academic achievement. Certain behavior was also likely to be contributed by poverty levels. Children from poor background performed extremely poor in their academics. They were likely to fail especially in technical subjects such as mathematics and science. They were also less likely to finish their homework or assignments they were given to go and do them at home. Their concentration level in class was also so minimal and some would not keep awake during class time.

The children from poor background were also likely to attend schools that lacked enough amenities such as books, libraries or even teachers which is vital in their academic excellence. Certain behavior was also attributed to poverty including truancy. Most of these children failed to attend school and engaged in substance abuse such as use of cocaine. This substance abuse contributed to their aggression such as running away from school during school hours. Most of them will often lack the emotional support needed to establish a positive behavior and when they luck this support, then they are more likely to exhibit behaviors such as aggression, truancy and at times violence (Claro, 2016:8664-68).

The children from poor background were also likely to start their school late when compared to those from the affluent background. This factor discouraged their participation in class as they deemed themselves on realizing that they may be older than the other children. Creating such a negative mentality was likely to also tamper with their academic performance and excellence. Being older, they were also more likely to bully the other kids because of the feeling of being alienated or felling different from the rest of the people (Ingram, 2006:72-79).

Availability of learning materials was also a great problem among children from poor academic background. Although school may be free, at times children may be asked to buy certain learning material they may use in their academics as revision material. Children from extremely poor background may be able to afford this considering that even affording of food is a luxury. This may make them lag behind in their academic achievement including completing given assignment. This may eventually lead to deterioration of their performance. They were less likely to excel in their academics and thus less likely to also qualify for a scholarship either in high school or scholarship that may help them join university.

Due to high college fees, children from poor background were less likely to join campus or college for higher studies because they cannot afford unless they land a scholarship. Those who were able to join were less likely to complete their college education. This is because they will often be required to take up part time jobs in order to cater for their bills. These jobs may at times collide with their classes and since getting the money seems more important than going on with their studies, they may decide to quit. Taking up jobs and working may also be stressful as one may not have the strength to do so since both require energy. Most eventually decide to forfeit academics (Nikulina, 2011:309-321).

It was also evident that the male from poor background were less likely to complete or succeeded academically when compared to the female. The male was likely to drop out and engage in criminal activities this may be because men are seen to be bread winners and are more likely to be under pressure of providing for their family (Ensminger, 2002:95-113). More of them were likely to join gangs, traffic drugs or engage in any activity that would help generate a source of income enough to cater for their family. Although the ladies were likely to drop out or rather their completion rate are high, they may also drop out and engage in activities they may consider to be income generating activities including prostitution. These is because they may also feel pressured to look for ways they may provide for their families.

Another significant finding was that people of color who were poor were less likely to achieve academically and would portray negative sociological behavior when compared to the poor but who were white. This may have close association with the mentality that eventually even if they finish their education they eventually fail to secure same employment just as the whites. To most people of color, poverty is usually linked with economic vulnerability, job insecurity, and social inequalities (Goddard, :2009:292-311).

Analysis and ConclusionMost children from poor background will often decide to drop out because of the current employment market and employment opportunities. With the current economy unemployment rates are often quite late. This leads them into dropping out of school as taking a long is not a viable option as they are not sure if they may land a job that will help them in repaying the loan. When most are unable to lead the scholarship opportunities, they feel as if the education is really not a must and may decide to look for other ways they may use in order to get income that will help them cater for their family. With most having no skills, they eventually become unskilled workers such as cleaners. These jobs will often pay them less and they may eventually not be able to move from their poverty. This is exactly how cycle of poverty seems to pass from one generation to the next.

From the results, more people who were likely to drop out were people of color especially African Americans and Hispanics when compared to the whites. This correlates with the studies of how poverty levels among people of color relates with poverty level. When you go to a free public school which tends to lack basic social amenities, one may eventually realize that the people of color are high in number when compared to the whites they are also less likely to complete school and when they drop out they are likely to engage in deviance that may land them in jail. This may explain the reason as to why there is high number of people of color in the jails. The male population were less likely to complete school because of peer pressure or influence to join gangs. In areas with population who are poor there are gangs that may end up inciting children especially the men to join them. The men will often feel as if they need to do this for their family and because paying school fees has proved you be a challenge for them (Fry, 2003:2-56).

Parent’s poverty portrayed that the children were less likely to pass in math and reading achievement in third grade even when first grade achievement was controlled. Furthermore, the inclusion of these family process variables attenuated the family poverty coefficients in all models by as much as 50% (Herbes, 2012:66-374). Overall, the school factors were less predictive of achievement than the family process variables, and did not attenuate the poverty-achievement associations in any model 10 by more than 10%. Of the school factors, teaching strategies and student body composition provided the most additive value to the achievement models and did the I most to account for the achievement risks of family poverty. Poverty has adverse effect on the holistic development of the child. Poor children suffer higher incidences of developmental as well as adverse effects as well as other outcomes when they were compared to children from affluent families.

In conclusion, poverty adversely affects how the children eventually perform in school. This is why the government has been among the front runners in trying to come up with programs that may help children from poor academic background to excel and thus reduce the poverty levels in America. This includes trying to provide free college especially community college as this is the level of education that is the most expensive in America. Education is an important need in helping one escape the jaws of poverty as well as to be able to establish a successful career. Poverty leads them into engaging in activities that may affect their general academic performance, cause them to portray certain biological behavior and in worst cases they eventually drop out of school. It is from poverty that children do not go to school, engage in criminal activity or deviance and are arrested and incarcerated. This cycle can be minimized or be solved by ensuring that everyone no matter the race or ethnicity are able to access quality education.

ReferencesCaldas, Stephen J., and Carl Bankston. (2007). “Effect of school population socioeconomic status on individual academic achievement.” The Journal of Educational Research 90.5: 269-277.

Chall, Jeanne Sternlicht, et al. (2009). The reading crisis: Why poor children fall behind. Harvard University Press.

Claro, Susana, David Paunesku, and Carol S. Dweck. (2016). “Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113.31: 8664-8668.

Ensminger, Margaret E., and Anita L. Slusarcick. (2002). “Paths to high school graduation or dropout: A longitudinal study of a first-grade cohort.” Sociology of education : 95-113.

Fry, Richard. (2003) “Hispanic youth dropping out of US schools: Measuring the challenge”.

Goddard, Roger D., Serena J. Salloum, and Dan Berebitsky. (2009). “Trust as a mediator of the relationships between poverty, racial composition, and academic achievement: Evidence from Michigan’s public elementary schools.” Educational administration quarterly 45.2: 292-311.

Herbers, Janette E., et al. (2012). “Early reading skills and academic achievement trajectories of students facing poverty, homelessness, and high residential mobility.” Educational Researcher 41.9: 366-374.

Ingrum, Adrienne. (2006). “High school dropout determinants: The effect of poverty and learning disabilities.” The Park Place Economist 14.1: 72-79.

Jargowsky, Paul A. (1997) Poverty and place: Ghettos, barrios, and the American city. Russell Sage Foundation.

Lacour, Misty, and Laura D. Tissington. (2011). “The effects of poverty on academic achievement.” Educational Research and Reviews 6.7: 522-527.

Nikulina, Valentina, Cathy Spatz Widom, and Sally Czaja. (2011). “The role of childhood neglect and childhood poverty in predicting mental health, academic achievement and crime in adulthood.” American journal of community psychology 48.3-4: 309-321.

Sirin, Selcuk R. (2005) “Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research.” Review of educational research 75.3: 417-453.

Somers, Cheryl L., and Monte Piliawsky. (2004). “Drop-out prevention among urban, African American adolescents: Program evaluation and practical implications.” Preventing school failure 48.3: 17.

Tinto, Vincent. (2005). “Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research.” Review of educational research 45.1: 89-125.