Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence in an Urban Context

Initially one might focus on shortcomings occurring in secondary school, but there are some that are prevalent in elementary school also. The shortcoming I am specifically talking about may not be readily seen. It involves the quality of knowledge in America compared to that of foreign countries. In countries other than the U.S., the standard for education are set very high for children beginning school at young ages. I believe that things like emergent literacy and emergent numeracy are established at a stage that lead children from foreign countries to become superior than those of the U.S. In addition to this, manners and respect for elders are stringent and foster their type of learning.

Because I feel that the bar is not set high enough or at least not as high as other cultures do, I also feel that it may cause students to be flawed in their learning potential and respect for knowledge itself in the future. Many students are denied the right to a good college education, not solely because of financial reasons but also because of the quality of learning received in secondary school. Sometimes even those that actually make it to college can’t grasp the intensity of work because they were not properly prepared for it. This starts with the fact that some students cannot engage in more complex tasks due to things like failure to recognize deficiencies. Some students do not receive the attention they need to get through bottom-up processing. Therefore their application of needed skills, or top-down processing, is at an inferior level, which is very important not only in college but in life.

To improve our education system I first recommend that all students are evaluated or given a lot of attention at early stages of their lives. The reason I say this is because that way parents and teachers can know if their children may need extra help or if they have specific learning disabilities. Finding out that a child is dyslexic, or whatever the case might be, should be known as soon as possible. A child’s learning potential can be maximized once they are aware of possible obstructions, especially if they stop or control them before they become a huge burden. The logic in this is that as we grow, we develop and learn how to deal with things as life goes on. Everyone posses an incremental model of intelligence. If a parent realizes that their child learns differently than others, then they can position them in a better direction.

My second recommendation is involves some utopianism because of our current state, but it really isn’t that outrageous. I believe that education needs to be incorporated in our culture. I noticed that in our society, education is just a regular way of living, as opposed to societies in foreign countries which I believe equate it to life itself. People live their lives according to beliefs, values, and norms that has been passed down to them for generations. It is safe to say that we follow our culture all our lives. If we can merge the need for education and the quality of education in the many different cultures in the U.S., then there will be a greater sense of priority with our education systems between parents, schools, and students.