Social background of child education

Ajith Perera

The extent of the relative influence of heredity and environment on growth and development of a child has become a debatable issue throughout the history of psychology. Although it is stated that ‘man is equal by birth’, from our own observations of children in the classroom and outside the classroom, it is very much clear that the above statement is not true in respect of the nature of individuals. Further, the environment with which the child interacts invariably influences every child.

It is accepted that the pre-natal environment influences the child at the time the child is in the womb. The impact upon the growth and development of a child should be discussed separately; the interactive impact of heredity and environment determines the nature of a child’s growth and development.

Heredity and environment

Heredity begins to impact upon the human organism from the time of conception. When observing certain behaviour patterns in children, we should be careful not to assign certain behaviour to heredity factors alone. In many instances when we could see the influence of heredity, it is important that we remind ourselves of the fact that sometimes certain conditions might have changed due to environmental factors.

However, the innate potential of an individual could be developed only up to the level determined genetically. Further, the extent to which the innate potential could be developed will be determined according to the support received from the environment.

Although, a child who is mentally retarded at birth receives much support for development from the environment, the development of the child’s abilities will be subject to the limitations placed by heredity. It is quite clear that environment factors have a strong influence in determining the extent to which hereditary factors influence the growth and development of an individual. All forms of stimulation that have an influence on an individual belong to the environment that influences the growth and development of the individual. The pre-natal and post-natal environment of the child influences his growth and development.

Pre-natal and post-natal environment

Let’s focus our attention on how the pre-natal environment influences a child’s growth and development. From the time of conception the mother’s health condition, the nourishment she gets, her emotional state and her movements influence the growth of the embryo. It is normal that a healthy mother gives birth to a healthy baby. Very often a baby born to parents free of serious and fatal illnesses lives a healthy life.

A pregnant mother living in an impoverished environment very often may not get the opportunity to have nutritious well-balanced diet. Hence, the growth of the child will be impaired as a result of the mother not getting adequate nourishment.

The child may suffer from malnutrition and this in turn may have an adverse impact on mental development. The condition of the mother’s mental health during pregnancy also affects the baby. Burns (1991) has stated that the probability of experiencing behaviourable disorders is higher among children of mothers who have had unfavourable emotional states than among children of mothers who have had favourable emotional states during pregnancy.

The extent to which heredity factors influence growth and development of a child is determined according to the relative importance of the contribution of the environment on varying aspects of growth and development. We should not forget that the pre-natal environment as well as the post natal environment a child experiences impacts upon his growth and development. The pre-natal and post-natal environment of a child to a great extent is determined by the nutritional status and health and emotional condition of the mother which is supported by the socio-economic background the mother belongs to.

If the baby to be born belongs to a poor working class family where the parents are not educated and socially unstable, the nourishment the mother and the baby would get should be lacks sufficient nutrition and energy. The socio-economic conditions and their lifestyles would not nourish them adequately. If their income is not enough to meet their ends of the budget, they tend to suffer from malnutrition. Usually this process of malnutrition is continual and it bears a huge impact upon the children throughout their lives. Unless the children are well nourished, they cannot concentrate on anything important, because they are not physically stable. ‘Healthy mind is in a healthy body.’ Frequent complaints of ill-health conditions such as faintish and gastritis are a part of their daily routine. This usually never happens among upper class children because they are well fed. Even if a child is born to a healthy mother and brought up by or in a working class or a lower class family or a society, the child could be deprived of many privileges.

‘Child’s environment’

The environment in which a child is brought up becomes ‘the child’s environment’ depending on the extent to which changes are brought about in the behaviour of the child through stimulants in the environment.

The hereditary factors can be changed or highly influenced by the environment where the child is brought up. This can be proven from children’s fairy tale about the two birds that were born together and accidentally fell from the tall tree where their nest was and how one was found by a priest and the other by a thief, teaches us how the two birds were influenced positively and negatively. The bird adopted by the priest learnt to talk good words and greet people whereas the bird with the thieves learnt how to use filthy words and steal from others. Same applies to children as well because they too imitate their elders. Following and imitation others, especially elders have a massive bearing in child development. Following elders is encouraged but not the imitation because imitation may enslave and corrupt the child whereas observing and following the elders could be a good experience.

John Dewey, the American philosopher says “education is a process of living and not preparing for life.” He further says, “Education is the organization and reconstruction of experience.” While meaningful experience leads to meaningful education, it brings about the growth of the individual. According to him, in the traditional school the passive learning experiences the child encountered were not meaningful. On the other hand, when the child interacts with the environment and the active experiences gathered through problem-solving, discovery learning, exploration, observation and activity, learning is considered meaningful education.

Here the environment does not simply mean the classroom or the school but the environment the child comes from and the environment he interacts after school. His leaning and positive interaction entirely depend on the environment the child is born to. If the parents and the family backgrounds are constructive and highly connected the nurturing of the children will also be fruitful and successful. For example: if the parents are educated and if the relatives and neighbours are also educated and stable in society the interaction of the children with them is invariably healthy. In other words if the environment is healthy and learner-friendly, the amount the child acquires and learns would be immeasurable.

National issue

Similarly on the contrary if the environment the child belongs to is not healthy and not learner-friendly, if the parents are not educated and the neighbours the child encounters are corrupted and not morally strong and stable the opportunities the child gets negatively are influential. For example: if the child hears filthy words quite frequently and sees malpractices and foul play in the environment he is brought up, the possibility of the child’s corruption through imitation is quite high. If the father comes home drunk and batters the mother and the children, if the parents are separate, if both parents are employed and the children become isolated (latch key children) the urge for the children to be corrupt is very drastic. When such children come with the ugly and unacceptable experiences to school the problems faced by the teachers and the fellow students are very complex and sometimes they are unsolved. These are grave social problems that ultimately turn out to be national issues. Children with dark backgrounds and dark experiences such as drugs, sex, looting etc. would influence others in the school and the school society will be spoilt. This is mainly because of the impact of the environment where the children are brought up.

Socialization

When considering the social background which influences the children for success or failure in their education, socialization cannot be ignored.

‘Socialization is the process whereby the helpless infant becomes a self-aware, knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of the culture into which he or she is born.’ (Giddens, 1989). To be knowledgeable and skilful, children should be socialized. In the process of socialization the culture and the society the children belong to would be quite important. If a child is born to a well established socialized culture, the progress and the horizons or the scopes the child inherit would be high.

Class and caste system in South Asian countries and cultures discriminate and obstruct people. Though education broadens people’s vision, there are still certain sectors of people in India and Sri Lanka especially, who judge humanity by their class and caste, opposing a hindrance to their own progress. Even though people say that they don’t care about colour, caste or creed but when it comes for marriages or if the superior is from a minority community, others don’t like him at all. Further, unfortunately the constitution of Sri Lanka doesn’t allow a civilian of minority community to be the President or the Prime Minister. If there are discriminations in the constitution, we are convinced that the social back ground a person, would subject him to injustice.

The privileges enjoyed by the children of an upper class family or a middle class family could be quite different from the children of a family of estate workers. When children belong to the estate families are deprived of the basic facilities such as health facilities, education, housing etc. the children of the upper class may have facilities in excess of their basic requirements.

The moral support and guidance received by these children from their parents would also be varied due to their parents’ different levels of education and social backgrounds. When the upper class and middle class parents back their children in climbing the ladder in education the working class and estate workers do the opposite as they are suppressed by the economic pressure.