Socioeconomic Status

Socioeconomic Status (SES) is defined as an individual's or group's position within a hierarchical social structure. It depends on a combination of variables, including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence. We believe that this section will help teachers understand that socioeconomic status is vital to interpreting the different influences on an individual in the classroom.

  

• Poverty: Poverty is defined as a substandard existence that just meets or fails to meet the basic needs of the individual/s involved. “One out of every five children is poor during the first three years of life the time of greatest brain development.”(Aldridge) This fact creates an environment in which the future student has to play catch up in the early years of education into secondary education. The parents of these students may hold several jobs or be unemployed, meaning that these parents may or may not be home on a regular basis. This could lead to a lack of family support, which causes the student to look for alternate means of support. This could include relying on school and the teachers for support, after school programs, or even in the worst case scenario illegal means.According to Aldridge, “the number of Americans living below the poverty level in the United States has continued to increase during the past three decades.” The cycle of poverty is not isolated to a single household. Poverty can be found on the neighborhood or even city level.

 

• Place of Residence:Students who live in financially underprivileged homes find it very difficult to afford adequate necessities required to receive a proper education. In fact, the ability to go to college is severely restricted by the fact that college is very expensive. Even with the available grants, loans and scholarships there is a large portion of able bodied and sound minded individuals who cannot afford to attend higher education tracks. 

Now, The creation of new buildings and businesses are always a great lift to a locations economy; bringing in new jobs and growth that can increase tax revenue that will in the end increase revenue to the schools. This in turn can cause the schools to supply the students with better means to educate themselves, and have access to new and better technology. This influx in revenue can also cause the schools to lose sight of the primary goal of a school by spending poorly, and then having to either dip into reserve funds or asking for more revenue through higher taxes or levies. This effect can put a strain on the region by causing those living within the region to pay higher taxes or levies to said schools. 

As the urban and suburban areas are beginning to see issues with funding and maintaining the schools, the rural areas have to deal with issues that are of a different nature. To take an example that is happening in a school district just north of Cincinnati, The Little Miami School District has had to cut large amounts of money out of the budget due to a lack of revenue from property taxes along with revenue from state funds. In other words, due to the school’s location, the issue has arrived that the school can no longer afford to operate at its given capacity. These topics tended to focus on the effects on the school, but this all boils down to the fact that if we are going to allow our students to have a free and equal education, then we must understand that it is not cheap. The reallocation of priorities both at home and school will take us a long way. the finding finding of a better way to fund schools that takes into account each districts needs will alleviate funding issues. Furthermore, the need for investment in the infrastructure of our schools will guarantee more time for those buildings to continue to create the next leaders of our country. 

 

• Social Class: The psychological toll of living in impoverished conditions is also very important to mention. Many of us find ourselves comparing ourselves to one another. This behavior is equally true of students, and this comparison can lead to some very damaging and incorrect conclusions. A student may find that their family’s financial situation uncomfortable and embarrassing leading them to feel insecure, inferior, or even isolated from their peers. This lack of a sufficient home environment could lead to a lack of interest in school, and, “In fact, many student from lower socioeconomic areas have not stayed in school long enough to graduate” (Aldridge).

•  Crime: Crime is the breach of rules and laws ultimately leading to a conviction. Crime rates are closely correlated to gang activity. In fact, the total number of gangs in the US has risen from 270 to about 3000 in the last past 30 years.Gang activities include, but are not limited to defending neighborhood turf, extortion, armed robbery, alien smuggling, and drugs and arms trafficking. As gangs form, recruiters look for disadvantage children, pulling these kids out of the classrooms away from their school life to be affiliated with the gangs.

  

- Here's some tips when dealing with potential crime-associated children in your classroom:

          * If you believe one of your students is involved in gang activity, tell someone, such as administration.

          *  Try to talk to the child after class to understand the child better.

          * Recommend a crime prevention seminar for the students to administration.

•  Disabilities: A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, or developmental or some combination of these. As an educator we have to prepare ourselves to teach these children who may enter our classrooms with some sort of disability, whether it is mental or physical. In the classroom we have to decide whether the child should be included in a classroom or if it would be beneficial for them to have extra help in the classroom or to be in a special education classroom.

- Tips when dealing with children with disabilities can be viewed at the following site:

http://dsp.berkeley.edu/TeachStudentsWithDisab.html 

 

• Religion: Religion holds many different meanings to many different people. In addition to this, there are over twenty religions in the world. Some of these religious backgrounds may find their way into your classroom and it is important to be conscious of them when dealing with students from a religious minority.

- Some possible scenarios where religion may be a factor are as follows:

     *  Some children may be required to dress in a different way because their religion requires it.

     *  These children are susceptible to bullying from other students who do not understand the religion.

     *  Certain behaviors are taboo in some religious sects and not in others.

     *  It is important to be mindful of these behaviors and act in a way as to not offend any child.

     *  More information on this can be found in this PDF file: You'll Need a PDF reader to see this.

Here's a video on the importance of all of these factors at work and a very good way to help these factors be minor in a child's life: