Harry Guerrilla
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2008
- Messages
- 28,951
- Reaction score
- 12,422
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
I'm surprised nobody mentioned time management issues.
A lot of poor families are single parent households and the older siblings often take on some of the parental duties, like cooking, babysitting their siblings, cleaning, running erands, etc. That cuts into focus on school, whether it's less time to do homework, or being too tired to focus in the classroom. It can't be helped really. Survival is a priority over studies sometimes.
I think that is a problem but not as wide spread.
A lot of single parent families aren't actually single parent.
They just aren't married, which can skew statistics.
I think deadbeat parenting is not the biggest factor. A lot of parents are poor but want their children to do better than they did in life. The problem is the practical survival needs that need to be met, and this can override even the well wishes of the parents. This also relates to parents being able to help their kids with homework.
The problem is wanting and doing.
You have to back up your wants with action otherwise it's wishful thinking.
Also, poor areas tend to have swelling populations, since, statistically, the poor tend to have more children due to lack of education and opportunity. This in of itself creates a vicious cycle. The demand on inner city schools increases, and the divided attention among students leads to less focus in the class, higher stress rates for teachers which means more qualified teachers will look elsewhere for jobs, and poorer quality education.
I don't disagree but quality issues can be overcome by action on the part of individuals.
That's why Asians and Immigrant Blacks do so well in poor areas.
I think though that it all begins with the home and family. Children who have stable households where the duties and roles are properly separated (i.e. parents focus on parental responsibilities, children focus on growing up and going to school) don't have as many problems in school, unless of course they have a developmental disability.
We probably disagree but allowing children to have some adult responsibilities isn't a bad thing, in my mind.
It teaches them early on that, there is no such thing as a free lunch and everyone must contribute.