the school Climate
In is not just inner –city and minority children who have problems in school There are a multitude of reasons middle –class students drop out get pregnant fail or underachieve in school Some of the reasons are the same as for the inner-city students Remember also that not all minorities live in the inner city Those in the suburbs need to be tapped for research as well (Milburn ,Gary ,Booth 1991) A student need not be an underachiever to experience school problems Gifted children often become bored with or disinterested in school too (Feldheusen 1989;Meade 1991)
Earlier discussion alluded to the construct of alienation from school According to Bronfenbrenner (1986) alienation means lacking a sense of belonging feeling cut off School alienation means lacking a sense of belonging in school This phenomenon has received much attention in the community psychology literature
It would be easy to blame students for being alienated for having some personality flaw that makes them young and restless However developmental and educational specialists have also focused on the circumstances in which the alienated child finds himself or herself In 1983 Seymour Sarason authored Schooling in America: Scapegoat and Salvation in which he suggested that schools are relatively uninteresting places for both children and teachers Sarason contended that children often exhibit more intellectual curiosity and learn faster outside of school (Sarason 1983 Weinstein,1990) Bronfenbrenner ( 1986) suggested that children under stress at home can easily feel distracted and alienated at school
My own (Duffy) research with students in two community psychology classes reveals another interesting feature of schools I asked two different classes of students six years apart (1985 and 1991) to record their most memorable experience from school Out of 40 students only I reported a positive academic experience 4 reported positive nonacademic experiences and 34 reported negative nonacademic experiences the students mostly remembered sad or frightening incidents involving fights between students or students and teachers fires bombs child abuse and other unfortunate events the 4 positive nonacademic experiences all pertained to championship sports teams In other words at least retrospectively the salient features of schools seem to be negative and unrelated to learning Some of the students experiences are revealed in are revealed in case in point 8.2
There is little doubt that the school environment itself serves as a risk factor to children (Branson 1998;Weinstein et al..,1991) Understanding the school and its environment is therefore important Several scales are available to measure school climate one well-known one is the classroom Environment scale by moos (1979) The scale measures dimensions such as task orientation order organization and relationships There are discernible individual differences in student perception and behavior based on different climates (Harpin&Sandler,1985) For example in classes where relationships are emphasized students report higher levels of satisfaction and friendship in an atmosphere of order and organization student achievement is higher (Moos 1979)
Educational planners in the united states have turned to alternative education as the answer to poor school climate Alternative education or alternate schools have components that differ from traditional schools from traditional schools for example in traditional schools the curriculum and requirements are designed by teachers and administrators In alternative settings the students and perhaps their parents in consultation with teachers design the curriculum or select classes in which the student will enroll In alternative education the classes might be smaller