Tuesday 19 July 2011

Mesosystem influences / Equal opportunity


Mesosystem influences
A close study of the school system, it is quite evident that beyond the traditional role of educating, schools have a far much greater role to play in the development of the children. However, they cannot do without interactions with the children, parents, family, community and even the media. The successful interaction of all these Microsystems makes a child’s Mesosystem in essence complete (Berk 2000). The influence of the Mesosystem on schools connections may be categorized as shown below.
In school and child, in order to determine the optimal learning environment for the child, the types of individual learning styles may come into play (Roberta 2010). To achieve the best results out of the child, interesting yet dynamic techniques should be adopted in the teaching process. Boring methods usually have a negative effect on the concentration spun of the child and thus the results.
The family is the closest and most influential unit of the Mesosystem and as such greatly determines how the child performs in school. It therefore requires that the school and the family interact to yield the best results. The family plays it role by creating an encouraging environment, getting involved in the children’s achievements and by having expectations (Addison 1992). This moulds the child to be better and even perform better.
A mesosystemic connection does exist between the school and the media. The relationship relates to the link in the classroom material that is in use in the schools (Roberta 2010). In addition, what children watch, here or even read from media related materials may influence their learning process as a whole. For the best results, the material being broadcast should be in harmony with the school curriculum.
Finally, there is a link between the school and the community. This relationship or interaction exists because it is the community that does allocate all resources to the school. The community also to an extent does determine the material and curriculum in use in the school. On the other hand, the school does produce people that essentially make up the community.
Equal opportunity
Children do not generally have the same opportunities to succeed in school. One of the main differences comes in the form of socio-economic status that each child finds themselves in. a study by Bronfenbrenner (1990), reveals that children from well off families have a better chance of succeeding than their counterparts from low income families generally because they have all that they need at their disposal. In addition, they will get the chance to attend better schools with better services on offer.
However, research has shown that children from low-income families. where the parents have to struggle fare comparatively better than children if and only the following conditions are met; there is an environment at home that encourages the child to learn, the family sets relatively high expectations for their children and if the family unit is involved in celebrating, congratulating and encouraging the child’s achievements (Roberta 2010). The study derived from Bronfenbrenner’s study of child psychology and development shows that it is not all doom and gloom for children who come from poor backgrounds.
In addition, Berk (2000) states that coming from an underprivileged background, is in itself a motivation. Children from poor backgrounds will strive to achieve so that they can escape the problems that they have undergone. On the other hand, because children with better off parents are basically spoon fed, they see no urge to work hard. In this case, opportunity has no role to play in how well a child performs in school. Necessity is what drives children to grab the opportunities that come their way.











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