Impact of Socialization on Academic Performance

Impact of acculturation on Academic Per mixed baganceCHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTIONThis chapter identifies and states the problem which this take apart seeks to probe. It overly presents the signifi green goddessce and objectives of the theatre. It is therefore important to note that although considerable efforts encounter been made to improve demean ordinal crop schoolchilds academician procedure and retention, schoolchilds success in the whole 1 CAPE interrogative continues to exchange. The softness to connect the interact effective do primary(prenominal)(prenominal) in student academic proceeding has resulted in poorly prepared students in society.Secondary discipline in Trinidad and Tobago has been significantly expanded in the Post-Independence era. This was articulated in the 1968-1983 training Plan. As a consequence, there was large-scale construction of junior, senior subsidiary and senior comprehensive schools. In addition, there are five- geezerhood, seven - historic period and private substitute(prenominal) schools. In the these five and seven historic period lower-ranking schools, measures of academic cognitive operation at the school and individual level founder always been calculate using grades in examinations much(prenominal) as CXC at Form louvre Level and CAPE at Sixth Form Level crossways the country.The CAPE examinations, which re keyd the Cambridge Advanced level examination, is today used as the main(prenominal) basis for judging a students ability and in like manner as a means of selection for t separatelyingal advancement and employment. Annually, hundreds of subsidiary school students write the Caribbean improvement scrutiny (CAPE). All students admitted to one- 6th digits sport on an average a good CXC certificate of five or more subjects which is an indication of their ability and per stimulateance. To be admitted into sixth form at all unoriginal schools, the Ministry of Education in Trinidad and To bago has stipulated the followingA student must not be become 20 years senile during the calendar year of entryA student must have discovered a minimum of Grade C in side of meat style O level or Grade I in C.X.C. universal attainment exam andA student must have obtained 4 different O level passes or Grade II in the C.X.C. General Proficiency pass on be accepted if there is at least one A in the grade profile.Lower sixth form students write an examination at the end of their first year. The results of this examination have revealed that some students are more successful than others at this level. Although students whitethorn have comparable abilities, been schooled in the alike environment and follow the same syllabus, there still exists rendering in their educational realizeance. A student who performs poorly will not be able to gain penetration into University, since matriculation policy stipulates higher grades.For the purpose of this lead, the word teenager will be used interchangeably with adolescent. A sixth form student is a teenager who is experiencing changes in their social and psycho uniform life. This period is adjoinred to as the adolescence period. Adolescence is a clipping of transformation in numerous areas of an individuals life. In the midst of these rapid physical, emotional, and social changes, the puppylike grown begins to oppugn adult standards and their need for enate guidance. It is likewise a time for individuals to curb important decisions about their commitment to education, family, and perhaps religion. Students begin to ask questions such(prenominal) as, Is school important to me? and How do I want to spend my time? According to Ryan (2000), the choices that adolescents make regarding their motivation, engagement, and exertion in school and the satisfaction they obtain from their choice depend, in part, on the context in which they make such choices.It is fair to say that school-aged children are assured of e quality of access to secondary school. In society the agents of socialization have had differential impacts on the lives of young children and teenagers. If this is the case, there is a need therefore to examine very tight the educational performance and life chances of individual students. The interest of this explore therefore, focuses on how socialization variables can be associated with the diversitys in the educational performance of Lower Six Form students who are 17- 20 years old. These students are put on to be self-motivated when it comes to pull aheading at the CAPE building block 1 examination. The stake is debateable and can have heartrending social arms for the society as a whole.1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDYThe variation in academic performance has its genesis in students early educational socialization. seek has shown that early years of video to Mathematics and English Language creates the foundation for later academic performance. If students participate kindergarten at a disadvantage, early gaps in understandings of literacy or mathematics take to the woods to be sustained or widened over time (Aunola et al 2004). Research further shows this phenomenon is oddly true for children from lower income households (McLoyd and Purtell 2008). What parents can do with their children at home has far greater significance than any other divisor open to educational influence (Tucker 2010). Similarly, Wood and Attfield (2005) argued that early years were particularly important for developing childrens ability and enthusiasm in mathematics.In Trinidad and Tobago, Mathematics and English Language are considered to be the two main prerequisite subjects that are common to all schools and to all students from various ethnical backgrounds. Table 1 shows a CSEC Mathematics grade distribution of the cardinal schools in the study composition Table 2 shows a CSEC English grade distribution. CSEC Mathematics and English Language are subjects, which all secondary students must pass in order to secure a place in the A-level air division. These subjects covered the whole curriculum at the secondary schools. elude 1 VARIATIONS IN CSEC MATH rowS FROM all(prenominal) take aim 2011.SCHOOLGRADE 1GRADE 2GRADE 3GRADE 4GRADE 5TOTALSCHOOL D5290%610% postcode nought nothing58SCHOOL C2563%1025%512%NILNIL40SCHOOL B1550%930%413%27%NIL30SCHOOL ANIL0%314%941%627%418%22TOTAL92281884 one hundred fifty SOURCE CARIBBEAN examS COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 2011TABLE 2 VARIATIONS IN CSCE ENGLISH GRADES FROM EACH SCHOOL. 2011SCHOOLGRADE 1GRADE 2GRADE 3GRADE 4GRADE 5TOTALSCHOOL D5798%12%NIL0%NIL0%NIL0%58SCHOOL C3690%410%NIL0%NIL0%NIL0%40SCHOOL B2170%827%13%NIL0%NIL0%30SCHOOL A523%941%732%14%NIL0%22TOTAL1192281NILclSOURCE CARIBBEAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 2011The results of the CAPE unit 1 examinations (see Figure 1) can therefore be assumed to be indicators of early childhood socialization to the above subject matter. It can therefore be further hy pothesized that students who did easy at CSEC examinations would do well at the CAPE Unit 1 examinations base on their early socialization which will include the participation of the independent variables of the study.FIGURE 1 SOURCE CARIBBEAN EXAMINATION COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 2012The data in Figure (1) revealed that the type of secondary school that students attend has a significant part to play in their academic performance. In other words, the home is the primary socializing agent where the desire for an education is internalized while the school, as the the secondary socializing agent (Parsons 1951) is where the students fulfilled that internalized desire with the economic aid of the family and teachers. This dissertation will argue that the variation in Lower sixth form students academic performance is dependent on their individual socialization.1.2. argument OF THE PROBLEMEducational data in Trinidad and Tobago has revealed that some students are performing better than ot hers at the Lower sixth form CAPE Unit 1 examination (See Figure 2, which represents a distribution of grades one, two and lead from 2005 to 2011). The percentage pass rates for Unit 1 ranged from surrounded by 57% and 63.5%. The pass rates for these same students at Caribbean Examination Council level (CXC) Examination was higher. This paradox reveals a disparity in academic performance of these students betwixt the CAPE Unit I level and the CXC level. This results in a variation in the grades distribution within and among these secondary schools. The existence of a variation in educational performance for this examination has become a serious social phenomenon which can later create adverse educational imbalances among and among the different groups within the society. If, left unchecked, one can imagine the ramification this problem can have for the social stability of the society. This examines how specific socializing variables can be implicated in the socialization of lower sixth form students. Psychology has shown that everyone is born with some potential, or abilities which could be utilise to the optimum for the development of their personal life. Therefore, all lower sixth form students may be exposed to the same teachers and the same conditions in the school, yet, there are remarkable differences in their academic performance at the Unit 1 examination of CAPE.Lower sixth form students, because of their age (17-20 years old) are older adolescents who are assumed to be more trusty and more independent than the younger students. What, therefore, are some of the reasons that are amenable for the variations in educational performance? As noted by the tec before, the interconnectedness of many variables maybe the cause. Some of these variables have been identified as major(ip) contributors for the variations in academic performance. The researcher has identified the most seeming socializing variables that will guide the thesis statement. They are a s followed the socio-economic term (SES), melt down/ethnicity, sex/gender, confederate group and parental date. The aim, therefore of the study is to investigate socialization with its inherent social, cultural, and psychological learning processes as the main contributing factor for the existing variation in academic performance of lower sixth form students at the Unit 1 of the Caribbean Proficiency Examination (CAPE) examination. FIGURE 2. Units I and II Grades I-III ranged between 52.1% and 65.5% SOURCE CARIBBEAN EXAMINATION COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS 20111.3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDYThis research is significant for both virtual(a) and scientific reasons. From the practical significant point of view, the study will service explain the behaviour associated with the variation in academic performance at the Lower sixth form Unit 1 level Caribbean Proficiency Examination (CAPE) in terms of the socializing variables in the form of parents socioeconomic status, bunk/ethnicity, sex/ge nder, peer groups influence and parental involvement in students academic performance. Each is believed to play a major role in the socialization of Lower sixth form students and ultimately, the education process. Each of us proceeds through with(predicate) life in a manner we often believe is under our immediate control and influence. It seems logical that the actions we take and the impact of those actions is based upon a series of logical, rational, and emotionally pixilated decisions influenced by choice and chance. Although this seems a reasonable manner in which to pass judgment ones lot in life, it is far from reality, particularly in the area of education. Children have equal opportunities to do the same subjects and extra-curricular activities. They have in addition qualified teachers and they study these subjects for the same length of time (i.e. five years for CXC). The idea that each child enters school with the same opportunities that foster success is not a valid a ssumption. This is particularly true of the formative years from preschool through secondary school where the impact of these socializing forces can vary dramatically from person to person, depending on their life circumstances and social flesh status.1.4. Objective of the StudyAs indicated in the introduction, there are many factors which can influence the academic performance of Lower sixth form students at the CAPE Unit I examination. notwithstanding the researcher has hold this study within certain limits, concentrating on the examination of variables which have as well as been highlighted as important by other studies. These variables are socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, peer group, and parental involvement. The objectives are as followedTo investigate the socializing relationships, between academic performance of Lower sixth form students and socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, peer group, and parental involvement?To what extent are these re search variables academic performance, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sex/gender, peer group, and parental involvement are mutally influential in the socializing of Lower sixth form students.1.5. Definition of Important TermsAcademic performance refers to the overall uprightness in all academic disciplines represented in this study as an average of 50% pass mark in each subject.Academics refer to student dispositions on school and grades and can be influenced by adult expectationsAdolescence refers to the period that begins with the onset of puberty and ends somewhere around age 18 or 20. In this research, adolescent is used interchangeabley with teenager and young adult. The studys main focus will be on adolescents between 17 and 20 years of age.Achievement motivation refers to the striving to amplification or to keep as high as possible, ones own capabilities in all activities in which a standard of rightness is thought to apply and where the execution of such activities can, therefore either succeed or fail (Heckhausen 1967). Parental involvement is very crucial for achievement motivation.Race/Ethnicity in this study will be used interchangeably. However ethnicity which is assumed to share common cultural practices and history will also include religion.Extreme cases In this study refer to those lower sixth form students who have acquired grade four and under in the Unit 1 CAPE examination.Gender the significance a society attaches to biological categories of female and male. In this study it will be used interchangeably with sex.Mass media impersonal communication directed toward a vast audience. In this case, the internet and the games associated with it.Parental involvement in this research refers to the things that parents do to form behaviours that are directed toward childrens academic performance.Peer group a social group whose members have interests, social positions and ages in common. In this study, peer group will include all individual s with similar demographic characteristics. righteousness a social institution involving beliefs and practices based upon the conception of the sacred. It will also be included in the definition for ethnicity.Sex refers to the biological billet between females and males. In this study it will be used interchangeably with gender.Socialization refers to the lifelong social experience by which individuals develop human beings potential and learn patterns of their culture.Socio-economic status refers to a composite ranking based on education, and occupationSocial class In Trinidad and Tobago, the upper class refers to the highest socioeconomic bracket in the social hierarchy and is defined by its members great wealth and power. Members of the upper class accumulate wealth through investments and capital gains, rather than through annual salaries. Households with net worths of $1 one million million or more may be identified as members of the upper-most socioeconomic demographic. The position class is divided into the upper meat class and the middle middle class. The upper middle class consists of highly educated compensated professionals whose occupations are held in high esteem, such as attorneys, engineers, and professors. The middle middle class is generally thought to include people in the mid-level managerial positions or relatively low status professional positions, such as school teachers, nurses, policemen, and small business owners. The working class generally refers to those without university degrees, who perform low income service work, such as sales clerk, domestic doer and include most people whose income falls below the poverty line. form the extent to which the Unit 1 examination results vary as it relates to each students academic performance.