Cultural Identifiers and Social Injustice

Identifiers of a particular culture have a big impact on society, both from an institutional and a personal one. Since different cultural identifiers, such as race, age, gender, and socioeconomic status, exist, academic research must take each into account separately. As a result, the socioeconomic class has a big impact on things like academics because it directly affects how involved the parent is in their child's schoolwork. High socioeconomic level parents have the time and the means to keep an eye on their child's academic progress and to provide guidance. On the contrary, parents who have considerably lesser economic or social affluence can incur substantial barriers to their efforts at involving themselves in their children’s schooling.

Historical Background

A historical evaluation of the K-12 educational system, reveals that there has perpetually existed the issue of poverty, particularly in the case of public schools (Malone 2017). As a result, there exist a large number of parents who have children in public school but are more often than not, invested to a lesser degree in their children’s academics than they ought to, as a result of their socioeconomic status. This can be evidenced by the high rate of absenteeism among students within the K-12 system, as their parents do not pay as much attention as needed in their children’s scholarly progression. The involvement of a parent or caregiver in the school life of any child will almost certainly ensure their academic excellence, or at the very least, increase their probability of attaining the same.

Arguments made For

Recent studies into the factors that influence children’s excellence in school indicate that such aspects as the presence or absence of parental control go a long way in the alleviation of the detrimental psychological state that results from living with a low socioeconomic status. This state arises from the confluence of a variant of stressors that can only be evident from the effect of low socioeconomic status. Children can become psychologically inhibited about cognition, attitudes, and behaviors, which in turn, may lead them to detest or disregard school (Harris & Robinson, 2016). Without the influence of a concerned caregiver, children often start losing their way in education and their overall academic trajectory.

Argument against

An alternative argument can be made that socioeconomic status does not affect the involvement of a parent in the education of their children in any significant way since it is the mandate of the teacher to mold the student’s mind into embracing the search for knowledge. As such, the parent only has to provide the child with the necessary resources and opportunities to gain said knowledge. Though this argument, on its surface, may seem to hold merit, it does not place into consideration the vast influence that a parent or caregiver has on their child. In this regard, where a parent offers little to no time in the monitoring of their child’s academic progression, so will the child place similar interest in pursuing the same.

Associated Injustices

The principal associated injustice that arises from the absenteeism of a parent in their child’s education is that this almost certainly leads to absenteeism of the child from school, the development of poor grades, and the consequent dropping out of school. Dropout rates in the K-12 system have continued to grow exponentially over the past decades, a fact which has become most troublesome for educators everywhere. Increased dropout rates will, in turn, result in a significant number of uneducated individuals who will not have any skills marketable in today’s increasingly competitive market. Furthermore, children who drop out as a result of the absence of vigilance on the part of their guardians. This constitutes a great social injustice which needs to be remedied in the most efficient means possible.

Stakeholder Groups Affected

First and foremost, the lack of or inadequate involvement of parents and guardians in the scholarly life of their young ones affects the children themselves. Children learn a great deal from their parents and caregivers growing up, arguably more than educators or the larger community (Cedeno Martinez-Arias & Bueno, 2016). As such, the lesser vested interest a parent gives to their education; the less important the child perceives it to be. The teachers are consequently affected by the non-involvement of parents into their children’s academics as a result of low socioeconomic status. This is because, with little attendance from the children, and no influence of the parent on the same, the teacher essentially fails as an educator. A third stakeholder is the larger community. Children who drop out often end up having blue collar jobs which pay very little, or none at all, and as such, cannot contribute effectively to national growth.

Future Implications and Proposed Solutions

If this social injustice is not addressed in the shortest time possible, then it will have dire implications for teachers everywhere as they will continue to experience ever rising numbers of absentee students, which in turn, might dissuade some of them from the entire educational system. In light of this, a possible remedy could be the scheduling of regular meetings between the teachers and the parents, to find a means of enhancing the latter’s influence on their children’s academic path.

References

Cedeno, L., Martinez-Arias, R., & Bueno, J. (2016). Implications of socioeconomic status on academic competence: A perspective for teachers. International Education Studies, 9, 257-267. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v9n4p257

Harris, A. L. & Robinson, K. (2016). A New Framework for Understanding Parental Involvement: Setting the Stage for Academic Success. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 2(5), 186-201. Russell Sage Foundation. Retrieved May 14, 2017, from Project MUSE database. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/633742

Malone, D. (2017). Socioeconomic Status: A potential challenge for parental involvement in school. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators, 83, 58-62. Retrieved from https://www.ebscohost.com