Influence of Socioeconomic Status of Students in the Classroom

 

Influence of Socioeconomic Status of Students in the Classroom

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Various factors influence the learning and development of the students. It includes student engagement in the classroom during the learning process, the type of learning environment they experience, meeting their motor skills competency, meeting their thinking competency, and demotivation due to gender bias and other factors (Human Kinetics, 2022). Schunk (2012. p. 465) posits that “some of the key influences on development and learning are socioeconomic status, home environment, parental involvement, and electronic media” pointed out that the learning and development of students are influenced by socioeconomic status, home environment, parental involvement, and electronic media, which are integral to the learning process of students. Thus, understanding the learning and development of students is the most important aspect for all teachers for quality lessons and issues to best meet their needs. This write-up discusses socioeconomic status as one of the key primary influences that every teacher should take as an important influence on the learning and development of the students.

Socioeconomic Status of Students

Dewey (1916/1980) states that the ultimate aim of education should be the creation of complete human beings through capacity building and mindful growth. But, the socioeconomic status of students in the school often intervenes to meet the educational goals. Schunk states socioeconomic status as parental status in society in terms of their rank and position, their financial income and assets, educational position, and the type of work they do (p. 465). According to the survey data put forward by Fang and Feng, they found that parents’ socioeconomic status has adverse effects on the student’s academic learning and development (Li and Qui, 2018).    

How it is Characterized in the Classroom and Why it is Crucial for Teachers

I believe that when parents are not able to provide the required financial support to their children such as computers, books, games, travel, and cultural experiences (Schunk, 2012), it emotionally affects them which brings down their academic achievement in the classroom. Their presence in the classroom would be with them lower self-esteem to learn because a classroom consists of varied students with varied family backgrounds whereby, they tend to compare and contrast with each other. Moreover, they learn at a slower pace with slower academic skills than those students with strong status (APA, 2022). On the other hand, they will face socioeconomic barriers while in the classroom in different forms that have a direct impact on the development of their cognitive skills (Li and Qui, 2018) and their language development (Baron, 2022). Schunk (2012) agrees with the developmental theorist's view that the experience students get of being rich is the pivotal point of cognitive development. Quite often, in the classroom, students from such backgrounds are seen as quiet and do not participate in any form of activities because they are mostly demotivated due to many factors that hinder them. Thus, socioeconomic status is primarily for teachers and should be seriously addressed so that students do not become the victim of cognitive development, and physical and mental health across their life span (APA, 2022). Aikens and Barbarin (2008) stated that it negatively affects students to attain their academic performance with increased dropout rates. APA (2022) suggested that early intervention programs and research from the school’s side are essential, as they would enable the school to reduce the possible risks. At the same time, the teacher should be proactive in handling such problems by creating a positive learning environment in the classroom (Coban, 2020) and should involve parents in mending the issues appropriately (APA, 2022).

Personal Experiences

Most students in my classroom come from the family with socioeconomic status. About 60% of the students in each classroom are from poor families who cannot afford to even buy their notebooks. For instance, as per my experience, a boy who was found lost during the lessons and was hesitant to participate in any activities most of the time in the classroom was called by me for the teacher-student conference. During the conference, I learned from him that his friends do not get along with him simply because he is from a poor family background and belongs to a low-caste family. Due to such behavior of his friends, he said that he gets demotivated to attend class and even cannot concentrate because he cannot buy what others can buy; he needs money to print notes but doesn’t have it, and he is always treated low by most students. I also learned that he was on the verge of dropping out of school because he wanted to take a small job to help his parents and did not want to burden them. Because I was able to intervene on time, I was able to solve the problem on time. He was given an important role in the classroom so that get remain engaged and focused in his studies, and develop his social skills, knowing the fact that students usually with a low family background are ill-prepared to attend their schooling, and are also exposed to violence, anxiety, etc. and cannot come up with good performance in the school (UNESCO IIEP, 2021).

After understanding his problems, I learned that he became the victim of financial income and assets, as Schunk (2012) stated, and racial discrimination. Racial minorities usually from low caste are often victimized during the learning process for equal education and it brings adverse effects on their educational outcomes (Pham, 2019). Such victims cannot concentrate well on their studies because the policies themselves favor students from higher societies. I believe that from the beginning of the year itself; we need to have a system of conducting advocacy programs for all students where we can make them aware of all those things. Luckily, we have a student support service in our school, whereby we contributed some amount of money to help him meet his expenses and forwarded his status to the Royal Relief Grants. In Bhutan, students from economically challenged families get the Royal Relief Grants from His Majesty’s office to complete their studies including school fees, dress expenses, and pocket money upon referral from the school.

 

References

APA. (2022). Education and Socioeconomic Status. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education

Baron, A. (2022). How Socioeconomic Status Impacts Early Childhood Development. https://study.com/academy/lesson/how-socioeconomic-status-impacts-early-childhood-development.html

Dewey, J. (1916/1980). Democracy and education: An introduction to philosophy of education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The middle works: 1899–1924, volume 9, 1916 (pp. 1–370). Carbondale/Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Human Kinetics. (2022). Factors that Influence Student Learning. https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/factors-that-influence-student-learning#:~:text=Many%20factors%20influence%20student%20learning,(SHAPE%20America%2C%202014).

Li, Z., and Qui, Z. (2018). How does family background affect children’s educational achievement? Evidence from Contemporary China. https://journalofchinesesociology.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40711-018-0083-8#:~:text=In%20terms%20of%20children's%20learning,than%20that%20among%20rural%20children.

Pham, L. (2019). How socioeconomic background makes a difference in education outcomes. https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=4354

Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Pearson.  https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader.html?id=53ad2847cf57d75c068b45c5&assetKey=AS%3A273549456019456%401442230680395

 

UNESCO IIEP. (2021). Socioeconomic Inequalities and Learning. https://learningportal.iiep.unesco.org