Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

Students’ Views
Although students may lack the broader social perspective of parents and edu-
cators, students also believed that family support was central in explaining individ-
ual differences among students. One student at Uptown High School located in
Metro City gave the following explanation—one that was astute for a teenager—
for why some students do poorly in school:
It may be that the poor-performing students have family problems and when
they come to school, their minds are more on those problems than on school.
I mean a lot of students have parents who are divorced or are troubled, and
if their parents don’t help them to see a bright future then I guess they don’t
see any reason to study.
Low achievement in these poor communities was also attributed by one student
to a lack of individual effort, but again family support entered into her expla-
nation. This seventh-grade girl responded in the following way when asked about
the origins of individual differences.
I don’t know. I think sometimes it’s because some kids, they just don’t feel
like learning it or something, or I know some of my friends they’re just not
very good at it, so they don’t try real hard to get good at it. And, also, some
kids have their parents to help them, like with math, if their parents are good
at math. So that helps, but some kids don’t want to ask their parents for help.
When asked to give a reason why someone might not do well in math, this stu-
dent responded:
Cause they don’t try hard. They don’t listen. They don’t do their work and
don’t turn in the work. They don’t ask questions when they don’t understand.
All in all, family support was given great emphasis as the central source of dif-
ferences in ability among students by parents, teachers, administrators, and stu-
dents. The quality of teachers or other factors related to the school were seldom
cited spontaneously as important sources of variation in individual differences in
ability or achievement. Innate ability and effort were also referred to as factors,
but these were exceptions to the general pattern of suggesting family support as
the most important source of individual differences in achievement among all
types of families.

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