At-Risk Students - Assignment Example

Critical Thinking: At-Risk Students At-risk students are younger members of the population belonging to certain demographics that have high expectancies to either drop out from school or become unsuccessful in later years. The definition for at-risk students is based on several factors that were established to have a profound effect on the ability of these students to cope with the everyday demands of school. Students belonging to at-risk groups are labeled as such since these people experience much more domestic and other problems than the rest of the population. They either become resilient despite numerous setbacks or become disconnected with the educational system and remain stagnant or develop additional problems such as unemployment or addiction (Raywid, 2001). While many at-risk students are able to overcome such difficulties and become successful in adult years, those that are unable to do so not only lose their self-esteem and will to overcome obstacles, but they also fall into traps that prevent them from seeing their true capabilities. The cycle of perpetuating at-risk students continue if they become parents while still having the problems that have previously held them back from finishing school, and their children have higher chances of becoming like them in the future unless they are given an alternative form of education or intervention. How Students Become At-Risk Some factors are predetermined to be causes of risks for dropping out of high school among the youth. Most of these are but not limited to: having divorced parents or undergoing divorce; lack educational support at home; financial instability; lack ties to community, school, and peers; high rates of mobility; little or no extra-curricular activities; has a long history of being unsuccessful academically; being emotionally unstable; sufferers of physical, emotional or sexual abuse; have psychological and/or addiction problems; have no health care plans; juvenile law-offenders or gang-members; or have not finished the grieving process for the loss of important loved ones (McGee, 2001). The presence of one or a combination of any of these risk factors increases the stress levels of students, which makes them lose focus on studying and instead lets them dwell more on such problems. In addition, the lack of a proper support groups or guidance counselors would leave these youths unable to cope with the strains both in the home and in the self, which could prevent them from properly learning, and would ultimately lead them to self-pitying, hopelessness, and eventually dropping out from school or pursuing their chosen careers. Most students recognize the need to graduate in order to improve their lives, so it would be absurd to think that they chose to drop out for no sound reason (Pillow, 1997). They would even show signs to teachers or advisers that they want to finish school but they might not know how to do this effectively. These indicators would show up in behaviors such as showing up in class despite having low grades, submitting half-done homework, and taking or retaking exams despite previous scores. However, it they do not get enough support and encouragement from their teachers in being pushed forward to graduate, or if they feel that they do not receive any help, these students would feel discouraged and even think that it is not worth doing anymore since help is not available anyway. Unfortunately many teachers or counselors are unable to recognize indicators of at-risk students and immediately accept that these youths are uninterested and uninitiated to learn. It would immediately be assumed that the students quit school as an impulse, but this is not always the case. At-risk Students do not Decide Things Overnight Dropping out from school is not a choice that is decided on impulse. Rather, it is the steady accumulation of various problems that a student continually encounters every day, with the end result of not continuing schooling altogether. It is possible that during basic education a student might have encountered problems that cause distractions, such as major family events like divorce or death of parents, becoming pregnant, or suddenly having financial crisis. This leads to a compounding lack of focus which could affect the learning process among at-risk students and causes additional problems such as missed lessons or lagging behind in test results. Such setbacks further increase their likelihood of disconnecting with school activities and peers, and the educational curricula altogether not just due to missed lessons but also a degraded self-esteem (Pillow, 1997). It is hard to determine whether or not at-risk students would grow to be resilient adults or not since many factors are able mostly present among at-risk students such as poverty and health care problems, among others. Belonging among the at-risk groups does not necessarily mean that students would not become successful or finish high school, and some are even successful not just in graduating from college but also having a stable income in companies (Raywid, 2001). However, because there are more dropouts and problematic members of the population coming from the same demographic population of those which are considered to be both unsuccessful and deviant, a stereotyping of such populations has already occurred, making it difficult to address the individual reasons for each individual and provide them help according to their needs. These unheard pleas for help eventually pile up and too much pressure or selection of priorities other than schooling would eventually cause students to give up school eventually. Reasons might be different but the end results are similar: the accumulation of domestic, academic and other personal problems could affect the at-risk individual’s choice in choosing to remain in school or not. Possible Solutions and Drawbacks Interventions by counselors or teachers are important in assisting at-risk students in choosing what step to take when having doubts on whether to stay in school or not. If these students are having a hard time keeping up with traditional learning curricula, they could choose other ways to learn such as going to alternative learning centers (McGee, 2001; Raywid, 2001). For some teenaged females that either became pregnant or have already given birth, aside from getting counseling on keeping their selves and the infants healthy, other options regarding schooling are also advised (Pillows, 1997). However, despite the good intentions of such methods in intervening and preventing at-risk students from dropping out of school entirely, such alternative ways of learning have been viewed negatively and even pose stigma in comparison with sticking to traditional educational methods, which might discourage these individuals to take opportunities to learn. It is also difficult to assess the effectiveness and successes of such schools since the outputs are not easily measurable using standardized tests administered to traditional schools. Also, enrolling in alternative learning methods or being known to be members of at-risk groups could work against these students since these are factors mostly misunderstood by most people and could exclude them from equal work or study opportunities due to public misconception (McGee, 2001). It is suggested that further qualitative studies be done regarding the success and failure rates of at-risk groups to guide teachers and counselors for learning and intervention programs. There must be a combination of effective counseling and giving alternative options for learning to encourage at-risk students to finish school and help them resolve the issues that held them back from completing their education. This would also prevent them from becoming parents to at-risk children and perpetuating its cycle. Conclusions At-risk students are identified as members of demographic populations that experience additional stressors as compared to other populations and in turn affect their ability to cope with regular schooling or decision-making. Over time these problems affect not just the education of the students but also their self-esteem, which if not addressed early on could prevent them from becoming successful or lead them to perpetuate the at-risk cycle starting from their children. Stressors could affect the resilience and while some could overcome problems and graduate from school, most are unable to do so due to additional pressures and problems within the family, the community, or the self. While it is possible to intervene to prevent them from quitting school entirely through guidance counseling or offering alternative learning methods, these are not enough to assure that they would finish school since there are negative associations with both undergoing counseling and unconventional education. These include being excluded or discriminated upon by potential employers or school administrators. Thus there is a need to focus more on how to keep at-risk students in learning and intervention programs through additional qualitative researches, and changing public perception of these students from deviants to normal people to create better methods of counseling or educating them. References Read More