Low academic success has often been blamed on poverty situations and this idea has become so pervasive that many educators have completely resigned themselves to the notion that hard work and effort fall short to meet the standards of education necessary to keep up in the modern world. However, there are numerous schools that thrive despite high poverty circumstances; these educational institutions have managed to decrease the intense effects of poverty with the assistance of careful planning, the combined hard work of the teachers, administration, students, staff and parents, and effective leadership skills and the will to succeed in life. Many key elements of leadership have been identified in students and these can be found both in good, high-achieving schools and these can even be observed in the course of action adopted by effective leaders of the school.
Choosing a Role Model
The presence of a quality role model has often been linked to the amazing performance of students despite their poverty-stricken situation and growing up without many of the basic comforts of life. Neighborhood conditions often play a major role in perpetuating the poverty situation across several generations. Every neighborhood experiences a distribution of a fixed income and they self-finance the study of the young ones in the family. Durlauf in 1996 used a model of overlapping generations to demonstrate the manner in which members living within a neighborhood with a favorable distribution of economic resources have a greater chance of getting a bigger productivity shock. This proves that the role model has a significant impact on the young school going children belonging to poverty situations. Durlauf’s model also clearly explains how the education provided to the role models is capable of affecting the individual outcomes. This concept echoes the statement made by Wilson in the year 1987 which considers young African-American children living in the poorer neighborhoods to lack proper role models who will be capable of showing them the viability of the education system as well as the stability present in the life of a person which could lead to their eventual rejection of a higher education as well as social stability. The model also reveals that partial enhancements applied to a neighborhood caught in the grip of poverty may prove to be incapable of bringing the entire neighborhood out of a poverty trap. In this case a role model may come in handy to elevate certain sections of society from poverty .
Role models act as a medium for improving the capital accumulation of humans via the quality of a neighborhood. However, it is true that the poorer section of the population have a harder time recovering from the depths of a negative shock and this may be due to poorer role models during their childhood. The poverty rates in a neighborhood are also capable of affecting the income level in a negative manner and this could indicate that negative role model effects. The education level as well as the rate of poverty in the neighborhood of children may have a significant impact on both the persistence of the income as well as its level. Individuals might grow up in a neighborhood that has a moderate poverty but still become successful in life if they remain surrounded by highly educated role models. It may also be possible that a person who grows up in a neighborhood with poor quality of education may not have the usual aspiration to earn more fame and riches since they do not have particular role models to look up to. Role models contribute significantly in determining the outcomes of real world problems. The role model effects may have a few long term impacts and thus, care should be taken to improve conditions of living and education in neighborhoods with growing children. Without the presence of more affluent and knowledgeable role models in neighborhoods with low income, the mission of the local public school becomes increasingly difficult. If the youth do not find any proper role models, they might not easily be able to find success in life and escape their poor circumstances .
A successful role model is always a great way to motivate poor students but this approach has some serious drawbacks. Students often tend to choose role models who appear “cool” and maintain a radical image in public. Imitating and following such a person can actually prove to be detrimental to the path of success for the student. Hence, it is very important that the correct role model be chosen.
Aiming High and Setting Goals
The education system needs to be modified in order to make the education system more inclusive and provide students belonging to lower income backgrounds. Clear and precise goals need to be established in order to motivate the students. Setting up goals that are too hard to accomplish can have adverse effects on children and they might lose their interest in education. The first goal involves the leaders of the school emphasizing instructional best practices as well as focusing on the power of collaboration to succeed in the field of education. The quality of the collaboration has a major role to play in the development of good teachers and improvement in the performance of the students. The second recommendation provided to the school leaders happens to be the utilization of an innovative leadership style with major expectations in terms of staff performance and student achievement. Unless their role model has high expectations for staff performance and student achievement, it becomes impossible to say for sure whether the teachers are going to gain a new enough level or not. In the presence of clear expectations, the role model is more likely to search for excellence and improvement.
The third goal established to help poverty students grow up properly and break the chain is to form a culture of pride and caring within the framework of the school system. Thus, the goals strive for continuous improvement and establishing a culture of collaboration. School pride has positive effects on determining the success of students irrespective of which school they attended in the past. It is also necessary for schools to establish an effective means of school leadership for the purpose of identifying and offering suitable academic support to the students. Kitchen et al, in 2004 made an important statement regarding the importance of setting up goals .
The goals need to be achievable in nature. They should be practical and a step-by-step approach needs to be adopted if the students are to reach their full potential for growth and overcome their lifestyle. However, if impossible goals are set, which overlook the hardships faced by the student, it is likely that the student may get depressed and his performance in studies may actually worsen.
Avoiding Drugs and Crime
Drugs and crime are potentially damaging to students who wish to pursue education despite them having a poverty-stricken background. The link between crime and drugs is not that direct and drug use may often leader to crime. It is the duty of the role model to ensure that students steer away from a life of crime and eventual misery. The trend of using drugs to cope with studies began initially in the post-war period when a generation of students left the school with no hope of a life or job. They had no chance to get any real employment. Instead of tackling the issue of deindustrialization head-on, the New Right model places the blame on the victim. This tactic may be used to portray underage heroin users from poorer backgrounds as social outcasts who posed a threat to the society at large as well as cohesion of communities .
The students may have the tendency to commit crime in order to overcome this poverty situation but they may end up being unsuccessful instead of studying diligently, following instructions and resort to hard work and efforts to get fine marks. It is a well-known issue that problem drug users are sure to have experienced unhappy childhoods and they have often experienced being excluded from any group in the school environment. It is necessary to take this advice to prevent a life of crime and drugs for the students. There are limited options and the students require social reintegration and integration. They must even depend on habitation rather than rehabilitation. If the immediate environment of the student is enriched with a proper role model, definite and practical targets and quality social interaction, it may limit the usage of drugs among the students. It is important to note that cutting child poverty and continuing to enhance the provisions for poor children is bound to prevent problem use and crime in future among poor students .
The pressures of living in poverty are often blamed for being the reason why so many young kids turn to a life of crime and drugs. Many people believe that poverty and crime is interrelated but even rich children commit crimes and some of them happen to be under the influence of drugs at the time. The problem may stem from peer pressure or mixing with groups of people who are violent and indulge in crime. Improper adult supervision may also be a reason but they cannot be pegged to the poor sections of society.
Single vs. Married Parents
Family structure plays a major role in the success of children in school and their career even amidst poverty settings. Children in poorer sections tend to grow up with a single mother instead of a traditional family with two parents. Studies show that children who did not reside with both their biological parents were almost twice as poor as their counterparts. They would have a hard time graduating from high school and would face problems coping with the various issues in life . The study showed that the risk of dropping out of college or school for the average child in America was relatively lower if the family had both parents present. However, if the child lived with a single mother, there was only a 28% chance that he/she would complete school and achieve success in life in the near future .
Race and class also influence the results of such a distinction. While poor white children are less prone to drop out of school when they are cared for by a single parent, there is a 30% chance that the average African American kid would leave the school midway without completing their educational course if they lived with single parents instead of both. Hispanics, on the other hand, record 49% dropout rate from educational institutions if they only live with their mother . One of the reasons why poor students fare well if they belong to families with two parents is they are better off financially than a poor child with a single mother. Statistics show that when two poor, unmarried individuals marry, the intensity of their poverty level decreases to some extent. So, if a child has both parents, he/she will automatically fare well in school since both parents are involved to some extent if their education and school life . In the end, however, it all boils down to the perseverance and determination of the child to succeed in life. No matter how dire the situation is, if the child works hard enough there is no way that he/she can be blocked from acquiring great success.
Parents are responsible for shaping the career of their children to some extent and in most cases it is seen that children from poor families with both parents present perform better in studies than students with a single mother. However, if the parents bicker and fight all the time, the environment actually is not conducive to learning and knowledge for the child. On the contrary, despite her shortcomings, if a single mother treats her kid with utmost love and care and pays attention to how his/her studies are progressing, the student has a better chance of exhibiting great results.
Works Cited
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Parrett, William H. and Kathleen M. Budge. "Chapter 1: Any High-Poverty School can become High performing." Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools. ASCD, 2012.
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