How does school socialise children

Schools must provide ample time for students to socially interact. Boorman, G. June 16, Cervantes, C. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. Lynch, A. Merelman, R. Toward A Model of Early Learning. Pearson, Amy. Pearson, A. Critics such as Greig argue that single-sex settings reinforce traditional gender roles and stereotypes that encourage teachers to treat boys and girls differently.

Some explanations of this biological destiny are based on evolutionary theory Geary , hormonal differences Kimura and Hampson , and brain physiology Baron-Cohen , all suggesting that the basis of differential performance by sex was based on some feature of the brain that was unchangeable.

The narrowing of standardized test scores between males and females—and across countries—however, strongly points to the differences as being cultural constructions that are shifting as the result of changing norms of socialization Penner Gender stereotypes, however, do exist in perceived competence and ability in subjects, with girls consistently indicating less confidence in their ability in science and math see Simpkins, Davis-Deane, and Eccles for an overview.

This is particularly striking because these differences in self-concept about abilities in math and science exist in studies even when there is no difference between the grades of males and females. School sports are another area that can cultivate gender stereotypes. As discussed in Chapter 2, Millington, Vertinsky, Boyle, and Wilson studied physical education curriculum in a Vancouver high school. Other researchers have found that school sports coaches create conformity among their players by using misogynistic and homophobic comments to criticize players Schissel , further contributing to stereotypes about what is considered appropriate male behaviour.

As discussed above, the teacher becomes an important new figure of authority for young children when they first begin formal schooling. In many ways, the teacher serves as a parental replacement during school hours, although this figure must be shared with many other children and the relationship is more emotionally distant.

Especially in early grades, the relationship that a child has with his or her teacher has a very important impact on emotional, social, behavioural, and academic adjustment Pianta In addition to teaching student subject matter, teachers are often regarded as being responsible for managing the emotional lives of their students Jennings and Greenberg Many children arrive at school with behavioural problems and emotional needs that are not met in the family environment.

Students who have good relationships with their teacher are also likely to have better mental health, feel more connected to their school, and experience positive academic outcomes Jennings and Greenberg Because the school is such an important agent in the socialization of children, it can also have negative impacts on children who experience negative interactions with their teachers. Such negative relationships can put students at risk for social maladjustment as well as emotional and behavioural problems.

Children who have negative relationships with teachers are also more likely to view school as an unpleasant place and be at a disadvantage in terms of learning. Abuse of students by teachers is a rare occurrence, but when it does happen there are children who are at a greater risk of being victimized.

It can be difficult for teachers to be warm and supportive when behavioural disruptions from students make it challenging for the teacher to perform his or her instructional role Jennings and Greenberg Characteristics of children that may be perceived to threaten classroom management may attract negative attention from teachers. However, Brendgen, Wanner, and Vitaro found that teacher verbal abuse actually contributed to future adolescent delinquent behaviour in their year cohort study in Quebec, which tracked children from kindergarten to age The findings suggest that at-risk children may be socialized into a cycle of negative interactions with teachers, which may not only contribute to their future delinquency but also reduce their academic performance.

In contrast, teachers who had high-quality relationships with their students also reported significantly fewer behavioural problems in their classrooms Marzano et al. The Quebec researchers also found that the likelihood of a child experiencing verbal abuse from a teacher is also fairly consistent across grades, such that when students start a new year with a new teacher, they are likely to encounter the same kind of interactions.

Teachers who hold negative stereotypes about low-achieving or minority students may also expect such students to consistently perform poorly. If students believe that their teacher has lower expectations of them, this can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy of low achievement. Jussim and Harber found that the expectations that teachers have about their students influenced how they behaved toward them.

The self-fulfilling prop h ecy is a term coined by sociologist Robert Merton in and refers to situations in which preconceived ideas about how someone will act cause that person to act in such a way, even if the belief about that person was initially incorrect.

The disadvantages experienced by Aboriginal children in Canadian schools may be at least partially driven by the self-fulfilling prophecy. Canadian researchers have found that verbal abuse by teachers in early childhood can have impacts on children not only during childhood and adolescence, but also into adulthood. Even when accounting for numerous childhood risk factors such as social class of origin, gender, and antisocial behaviour, having been verbally abused by a teacher in early childhood was associated with behavioural problems in adulthood.

Girls who were verbally abused by teachers during childhood were also less likely to finish high school Brendgen et al. While the characteristics of teachers in the process of socialization have been discussed above, another related feature that has been found to be associated with behavioural outcomes in children is school climate. School climate refers to the sense of belonging to a school community.

As noted by Reinke and Herman , schools tend to have personalities of their own. Effective school climates can positively influence students, despite their home conditions, race, gender, or social class McEvoy and Welker Schools with the most severe discipline problems usually have the worst social climates as well. Schools which have vague and inconsistently enforced rules and ambiguous responses to rule-breaking, teachers and administration who do not agree on rules, and students who do not believe that the rules are legitimate are typically associated with higher discipline problems and have a poor school climate Welsh et al.

Such school environments have been found to breed delinquent behaviour and academic failure. Favourable school climates are characterized by non-arbitrary rule enforcement, rewarding of appropriate behaviour, and positive interactions between students and teachers Reinke and Herman In Canada, research using data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth has found that the social climate within schools and classrooms has important effects on children who display early signs of behavioural problems.

Specifically, Sprott found that emotional support in the classroom when children were between 10 and 13 years of age reduced violent behaviour in children two years later. Therefore, social features of the school can serve to reverse delinquent behaviours. The delinquent behaviours are thought to merge a complex interaction of individual personal characteristics with properties of their environment and situations.

At-risk children who display early aggression and signs of early offending can have these risks reduced if the school environment is a supportive one. Often such students have difficult home lives and such supports may be lacking in the home environment.

As noted by the authors of these studies, such findings also suggest that zero tolerance policies that result in the suspension of problem students may be doing additional damage as they serve to severely weaken the bond that a child has with his or her school Sprott, Jenkins, and Doob The peer group consists of individuals of a similar age and social identity. When peer group relationships are positive, it is reasonable to assume that the school environment is a supportive and potentially enjoyable one.

Children who are accepted by their peers tend to have a more safe school environment, while those who have been rejected by their peers are at a greater risk of targeted harassment and bullying Wentzel and Looney The peer group becomes more important in adolescence as a source of emotional security and identity.

Positive peer group support has been found to be associated with academic success and prosocial behaviours. Peer groups can also be thought of as a form of social capital see Chapter 2.

Social ties that students have among each other have been found to have effects on academic achievement Broh , such that positive social interactions in the school environment spill over into how well they do in their schoolwork. The influence of social capital, however, does not always work in a manner than enhances academic achievement and prosocial behaviours.

Being the member of a peer group that engages in deviant or rebellious behaviour, for example, may increase the bond of students within those groups but also serve to reinforce related attitudes and behaviours that result in poor school performance.

This phenomenon of a network of disadvantageous social ties has been called negative s o cial capital Portes Smaller groups of friends exist within the school setting, and these peer groups often have names that suggest the lifestyle characteristics of the members Sussman et al.

The names given to peer groups usually correspond greatly to their style of dress particularly in the case of girls and tastes in leisure activities. Goths, skaters, punks, headbangers, and emos are all names given to groups that have been found within adolescent peer groups in schools, all of which are oriented around particular tastes in music and fashion. Sussman et al. While these groupings are very broad, they do point to the consistency of general groups over time and across English-speaking countries.

In an overview of studies Sussman et al. Deviants, elites, and to some extent jocks were more likely to drink, while deviants were the group most likely to use marijuana. The styles were adopted by girls largely based on race, with White girls sporting the Britney look and the Asian and Hispanic girls wearing JLo styles. The Britney look consisted of tight jeans and midriff-baring tops, while the JLo look was characterized by figure-hugging velour track suits. Within these two generalizations, however, much differentiation existed regarding the amount of money spent on the clothing.

Of course, popularity is a factor in social identity. The popular girls self-described their sense of fashion and interest in their appearance and popular culture. Popular girls and boys also tended to be part of high-status school-sponsored school activities, namely cheerleading for girls and team sports for boys. Peer victimization refers to physical and emotional abuse experienced by children from other children—otherwise known as bullying.

Researchers have determined that bully victims are weak in temperament Hodges and Perry ; Smith and Myron-Wilson , lack physical strength Bernstein and Watson ; Hodges and Perry ; Smith and Myron-Wilson , and are somehow different in terms of looks including race , dress, or physical ability Bernstein and Watson ; Fried Girls are bullied for being unattractive, not being dressed fashionably, and being physically overdeveloped Shakeshaft and Barber Peer rejection refers to the failure of children to be socially accepted by their peers.

Peer-rejected children often display social skills that make them undesirable playmates and friends to other children. Children that act in an aggressive or disruptive manner account for about one-third of children rejected by their peers Crick and Dodge Peer-rejected children, however, are not only aggressive children. Children who withdraw from peer interactions also limit their ability to fit into their peer group Coie and Kupersmidt ; Dodge Their inability to behave in ways that are socially acceptable can have many causes, such as parenting styles and disciplinary techniques in the home Putallaz and Heflin As well, children who cannot engage themselves with the material being taught in the classroom may turn to disruption of peers due to boredom and frustration.

Similar to peer victimized children, peer rejection may occur simply because a child is perceived as being different in some way from other members of the peer group. This difference may be due to ethnic group membership, disability, physical attractiveness, or being a newcomer to the classroom Asher et al.

It has been found that peer abuse results in low self-esteem and depression Boulton and Underwood ; Rigby and Slee ; Salmon and James ; Slee ; Smith and Myron-Wilson , feelings of insecurity Slee , anxiety Slee , and social withdrawal McCarthy Victims also tend to experience irritability Sharp , anxiety Olweus ; Salmon and James ; Sharp ; Slee , and anger and self-pity Borg Child victims also report having recurring memories of the abuse Sharp and being afraid to seek help Slee ; Smith and Myron- Wilson As well, previous research has shown that, like bully victims, rejected children report being lonely Asher, Hymel, and Renshaw and are more likely to be depressed Vosk, Forehand, Parker, and Rickard than integrated peers.

Peer victimization and rejection have been found to be associated with psychological distress that carries over into adulthood Ambert ; Bagwell, Newcomb, and Bukowski ; Roff ; Roth, Coles, and Heimberg Recognizing that such negative peer interactions can have a profound impact on childhood socialization and later-life well-being Canadian Council on Learning , many schools have adopted strict anti-bullying policies that are incorporated into their school rules.

Not all school violence is overt. Peer aggression can also take the form of r e lational aggression , which has been identified as behaviour specific to girls Artz ; Simmons Rather than committing acts of physical violence toward each other, girls are much more likely to participate in covert acts of aggression such as spreading rumours and excluding individuals from their social group. This type of aggression is often simply referred to as meanness.

Conflicts within relationships are dealt with in ways such that the relationship itself becomes the weapon. Canadian researchers have examined the meanness of girls in relation to their popularity Currie and Kelly ; Currie, Kelly, and Pomerantz Meanness, on the one hand, is a trait that is spurned by girls, yet, on the other hand, is associated with popularity Currie and Kelly Resistance by youth to the socialization forces of the school and its inherent power relationships can be expressed in a variety of ways.

Willis ; see Chapter 2 argued that working-class boys resisted the values and behaviours promoted in the school environment by acting in deviant ways: by fighting and skipping class. These behaviours, however, served only to reproduce their working-class membership.

As noted by Sussman et al. Both male and female skaters also widely rejected the values associated with the popular crowd. Raby identifies several ways that youth express resistance to what they perceive as dominant forces of socialization.

So far, this chapter has described the various ways that teachers and school practices contribute to the socialization of children. There are, however, a significant number of children, not only in Canada but in the United States and beyond, that do not attend school in the way that has been described here.

The number of children who are home schooled is on the rise in Canada. Children who are home schooled do not attend formal school and are taught usually by a parent in the home environment. Home schooled children typically follow the curriculum of their province of residence. The home schooled comprise about one percent of student population in Canada Hepburn Many critics of home schooling have argued that because school is such an important basis for socialization, this can only mean that children who are home schooled are going to be missing out on some very key aspects of socialization.

If they do not go to school, how do they learn many of the basic skills that are engrained in the early years of the school experience? How will they learn to work in groups and socialize with other students in a learning environment and form co-operative relationships with their peers?

Apple argues that home schoolers not only remove children from school, but also have gone so far as to isolate themselves into separate factions. There are various reasons that parents choose to home school their children. Arai found in a study of Canadian parents who home schooled their children that most indicated that they objected to specific parts of public education rather than the institution as a whole. Research in Quebec has similarly found that when parents were asked why they home schooled, very rarely did they give reasons associated with religious or political beliefs Brabant, Bourdon, and Jutras The most frequently mentioned motivations were the desire to bond the family through a common educational pursuit, objections to the organization of schools, and a desire to personally enrich the curriculum.

What are the outcomes of home schooling in terms of the socialization of children? American research has found that the home schooled tend to succeed when they attend university Ray and were more likely to have at least some college education compared to the general American population. The same study of over American adults who had been home schooled also found a much greater rate of civic participation among the home schooled than in the general population.

Canadian studies of the outcomes associated with home schooling are much less plentiful than in the United States, where the home schooling movement has been growing rapidly.

Medlin has noted that research on whether or not home schooled children experience adequate socialization is sparse and that which does exist often has hallmarks of poor research design and biased samples. They have good self-esteem and are likely to display fewer behavior problems than do other children. They may be more socially mature and have better leadership skills than other children as well.

Social groups often provide the first experiences of socialization. Families, and later peer groups, communicate expectations and reinforce norms.

People first learn to use the tangible objects of material culture in these settings, as well as being introduced to the beliefs and values of society. Family is the first agent of socialization. Mothers and fathers, siblings and grandparents, plus members of an extended family, all teach a child what he or she needs to know. As you are aware, either from your own experience as a child or from your role in helping to raise one, socialization includes teaching and learning about an unending array of objects and ideas.

Keep in mind, however, that families do not socialize children in a vacuum. Many social factors affect the way a family raises its children. For example, we can use sociological imagination to recognize that individual behaviors are affected by the historical period in which they take place. Sixty years ago, it would not have been considered especially strict for a father to hit his son with a wooden spoon or a belt if he misbehaved, but today that same action might be considered child abuse.

Sociologists recognize that race, social class, religion, and other societal factors play an important role in socialization. For example, poor families usually emphasize obedience and conformity when raising their children, while wealthy families emphasize judgment and creativity National Opinion Research Center This may occur because working-class parents have less education and more repetitive-task jobs for which it is helpful to be able to follow rules and conform.

Wealthy parents tend to have better educations and often work in managerial positions or careers that require creative problem solving, so they teach their children behaviors that are beneficial in these positions. This means children are effectively socialized and raised to take the types of jobs their parents already have, thus reproducing the class system Kohn Likewise, children are socialized to abide by gender norms, perceptions of race, and class-related behaviors.

In Sweden, for instance, stay-at-home fathers are an accepted part of the social landscape. A government policy provides subsidized time off work— days for families with newborns—with the option of the paid leave being shared between mothers and fathers. Close to 90 percent of Swedish fathers use their paternity leave about , dads ; on average they take seven weeks per birth The Economist, How do U.

How will Swedish children raised this way be socialized to parental gender norms? How might that be different from parental gender norms in the United States? The socialized roles of dads and moms vary by society. A peer group is made up of people who are similar in age and social status and who share interests. Peer group socialization begins in the earliest years, such as when kids on a playground teach younger children the norms about taking turns, the rules of a game, or how to shoot a basket.

As children grow into teenagers, this process continues. Peer groups are important to adolescents in a new way, as they begin to develop an identity separate from their parents and exert independence. Additionally, peer groups provide their own opportunities for socialization since kids usually engage in different types of activities with their peers than they do with their families. The social institutions of our culture also inform our socialization.

Formal institutions—like schools, workplaces, and the government—teach people how to behave in and navigate these systems.

Other institutions, like the media, contribute to socialization by inundating us with messages about norms and expectations. For all of these reasons, we advise home educators to ensure that their children make friends and interact with a variety of children, and not just with other children who are homeschooled or who are similar to them. When home educators socialize their children with different children in a variety of contexts, they can help ensure that their children will have the skills they need to succeed as adults.

For all the research on homeschooling and socialization, there has been little to no research on the question that might prove most useful to parents who homeschool: What factors contribute to a homeschooled child being more or less well socialized?

Homeschooling is not a monolith. One homeschooled child may be involved in a soccer club, a homeschool music co-op, and a writing class, and have their friends over regularly besides, while another homeschooled child may have no outside activities and little interaction with friends.

Whether the homeschooled children examined in a particular study are more or less well socialized than children who attend public school does not give a conscientious homeschooling parent any helpful information on what practical actions they can take to ensure that their child receives the socialization they need.