Low Income Families

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When looking at today’s school system, there is an evident gravitation towards a “for the masses” curriculum. This forces students of all ages and learning styles to conform to a system that may not work best for them. This problem is seen nation wide, especially in schools with a wide range of income levels. In general, students coming from a high income family will be successful in this impersonalized system with little to no outside help. However, students coming from a low-income family, usually classified as at-risk, tend to struggle because of outside factors, including but not limited to lack of after school care and parental support, learning disabilities, and language barriers. Because of these factors, the current school system, especially …show more content…
Department of Education) This can be seen through circumstances such as a single-parent family, a large family and a family that is constantly moving. It is found that the students in the previous circumstances “were more likely than other students to have low basic skills in mathematics and reading and were more likely to drop out regardless of their sex, race-ethnicity, or SES.” (U.S. Department of Education) Overall, it is found that if the student is in a situation where their family characteristics do not allow for them to get enough attention at home or at school, they will likely continue down the expected path of an at-risk …show more content…
One reason is that “At-risk students tend to feel more alienated from school, evidenced by low levels of participation in school as early as the third grade. In their analysis of the High School & Beyond data, Ekstrom and her colleagues found that at-risk students were less satisfied with their educational progress, were less interested in school, were less likely to enjoy working in school, were less likely to feel popular with other students, and were less likely to believe that other students thought they were good students, good athletes, or important.” (U.S. Department of Education) Because they no longer believe in themselves, punishing the student based on their academic success has little to no effect. For example,“One of the most frequently used strategies to deal with at-risk students is also the least effective: flunking them.” (Slavin, Madden) Flunking at-risk students proves to be ineffective because they don’t care, despite if they have a passing or failing grade. These are just a few reasons that the current school system doesn’t work for at-risk students. But, “Before change can occur in our school systems, it is important to understand the lives of
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