Thursday, October 28, 2010

Harlem Zone & Emotional Struggles

In chapter 7 of Whatever It Takes, Paul Tough discusses experiences of students, tutors, and a director at the Promise Academy's after-school program. The director of the after-school program comes to realize that "many of the students had problems that seemed more emotional or psychological than they were academic or intellectual."

Beyond the "cognitive training," Tough notes, the development of "a personal connection" between tutors and students was a vital "magic ingredient" that could assist the young people succeed.

The issues raised by Tough in this chapter relate to a developing topic that we've been considering: how might we diversify our approaches to measuring intellectual or cognitive skills, since the conventional approaches seem inadequate? In this case, the tradition approaches to measuring "excellence" overlook the fact that some students, at least, could face various emotional challenges and lack the "personal connections" necessary to excel.

What d you think? How does the acknowledgment of emotional struggles or lack of personal connections in the lives of some of your fellow collegiate peers lead you to rethink approaches to measuring academic success?

20 comments:

Ian Caveny said...

Enjoying what you do is fundamental way to do it better. So, if a person is in a bad mental or emotional state, they naturally will not be as good at learning (and learning is more important than scores or problems).

So, an important portion of academic success is enjoying what you do -- and, extremely important, enjoying life. Good advising can help with this by getting people into the fields in which they are interested. Teachers who are interested in what they teach are also vital to this.

Amy Crabtree said...

I am so glad that we get to discuss this because I think it's so important for people to realize that outside of school, people have very different lives. Kids, especially low income kids, go home sometimes to very bad conditions. Then they come to school where they have no personal connections with their teachers and they have no reason to want to learn. By making kids comfortable and giving them connections and people to trust; you are giving them an environment to go to where they feel safe. If they feel safe, they will be more apt to learn and want to succeed for those people who care about them.

If we could find some way to take into account the emotional issues some of these kids go through every day, and combine that with grade succes then we would get ultimate academic success. I think if we could actually assign kids with a mentor when theyre young, and those mentors kept track of the home life compared to their grades then we could help accordingly. And somehow take that into account when talking about academic success.

Ashley Jeffers said...

I definitely think lack of "personal connections" is a factor is failure to excel in education. In one of my classes, I have a professor who I feel is very distant and not eager to help on a one-on-one basis. In this class, I have to study in a completely different way and find other measures of seeking assistance. On the contrary, I have a professor who is great: helps everyone personally, is very personable, and goes above and beyond to help her students. I feel like my chances for excelling in that class are much greater than for the class with the teacher I have little personal connection with. Just by experience, I can definitely see exactly what is meant in this chapter.

Anonymous said...

Christian Bias said,In regards to this chapter's concept and in my academic enviornment, I agree with this statement of disconnection and emotional issues because it is real. I have some friends that I met freshman year that are acedemically smarter than I am, however they didn't have right disipline and acceptance that I experinced. Their friends and family didn't encourage or contribute to the goals they had, so this made it extremely difficult for them to deal with education and successful, and the end result ended up being that they droupted out because they were not mentally motivated. So yes success needs to be redefined as reaching physical(school) spirtual(faith) and psychological(belonging) goals in life.

Denita Campbell said...

I believe that the personal connection is important for students. I am a special education major,this is an issue we see everyday among students. Students have plenty of other environmental issues that affect their learning capabilities. Being an educator you're responsible to not only teach academics but life skills to students because they're coming to school with alot more problems. That is why it's important to build relationships among your students so that they feel comfortable enough to approach you. If your students are able to approach you, you can work out some emotional/social issues that they might have.

Tyann Senaldi said...

I completely and totally agree that personal connection can make or break anyone academically. For example, my first semester here at SIUE, I had a professor who did not make any type of effort to get to know us on a personal level, I would have to reintroduce myself to him EVERY time I went to his office hours, and some of the time, he wasn't there at all. I feel as if all my classes that first semester would have been that way, I would not have wanted to stay here at SIU, but luckily a professor like that is very few and far between.

Rohan Genge said...

I belive academic success is dependent on inspiring student to make an effort in their studies. Teachers have to motivate students to learn, even the bad ones. This is essential in education yet it can often be overlooked. Schools can also make changes to improve the quality of education by offering a wide range of curriculum to accommodate everyones interests. If students have the option to study what interests them they will be more likely to succeed.
Students with emotional problems can also be a difficult problem for educators. I think it is important for schools to address these issues instead of allowing them to escalate. Students with emotional problems should have additional help from counselors and educators. Schools should have special programs to accommodate their needs.

Robin Caffey said...

I don't feel there is an adequate way to measure someones emotional struggles and lack of personal in order to apply the results to academic success. There are plenty of students that excel at academics but are socially awkward.

But to ensure complete success beyond school some sort of coping and interpersonal communication skills should definately be instilled in the students.

Kimber Barrett said...

I believe in academics, society needs to incorporate “personal connections” to their programs. This can be done by having teacher that care about their jobs – having passionate professors is the key. I believe we have all had that professor that just doesn’t care and it shows in their presentation. They (unintentionally or intentionally) talk down to students and don’t appreciate our ideas. In less severe situation professors will do things such as become inaccessible to student (such as not posting office hours). However, when your professor is passionate they want students to learn and become involved. They want to learn about the students to help them. Being able to help kids more than just academically, through a mentor (peers and teachers) will help learning environment. Students will have people that care for them and thus they will want to impress academically.

Tamika Glover said...

I think since everyone is so very different in their lifestyles as well as life struggles, acknowledging and addressing their emotional backgrounds would be extremely beneficial. For most people that have experienced troubles in their lifetime, they probably find it easier to focus on their academics because it keeps their mind off their other problems.


Some other approaches to measure academic success could be to require students to take more interpersonal types of classes. Since very few jobs/careers allow for isolation, it is a vital role of education to learn how to interact and work well with other people. For those students that do lack in the area of interpersonal communication, they would benefit greatly by building neceassary skills for later in life as well as possibly making new friends.

Jasmine Coleman said...

Emotional connection is crucial to academic success. If a student is unhappy or going through something that is bothering them, they are destined to have a hard time focusing on school. We have to understand that if kids don't have emotional support, they will have a hard time achieving. If a student's mind is not stable and focused, it is not possible for them to make proper connections with the people around them. Educators need to work hard to support students and identify their emotional issues in advance.

Jaimie Belen said...

I believe that a personal connection with students and teachers is not really necessary. I don't have any personal connections with my teachers and I do just fine in school. I just think that some people don't have the necessary study skills in order to do well in school so their attitude towards their teachers and fellow peers is different. They probably feel inferior to others so they don't try their hardest because they don't want to show others how they feel 'stupid'.

I mean, having a great teacher who you can talk to is good. But having a great teacher with no personal connection is good too.

Tia Baptist said...

I feel we dont know what other people go through until we live their lives. And there is no way to really do that. So, we can't judge a person really at all based on what we view through our eyes. We have to rethink are approach to make sure we undestand what that person is going through before we judge. Then once we figure that out we can find a way to measure the academic success. Cause everyone can't be measured the same way.

Katie D. said...

I believe that it is easier to achieve success in a college classroom when you are able to interact with your peers firsthand and when you join study groups with thme. I found college hard at times because of the fact that I didn't have anyone to discuss class work with.

justin church said...

It is a known fact that if one enjoys what they are doing they will be more efficient at it and progress much faster than if they do not like whatever it is they may be doing. One must also realize that children have completely different home situations compared to their classroom life. If a child is brought up in a poor family situation and no one at school (administrator or otherwise) cares enough to reach out for them, then they won't be inclined to strive to learn and grow. If they think no one cares about them why should they care about their own future.
If no one ever takes the time out to expand these kids' horizons then how will they ever find a field of particular study at which they truly enjoy and strive to be perfect in it. After this problem is resolved will the true problem of learning be resolved with it.

Anonymous said...

I think it's definitely hard hard for students at young ages to succeed when they have their own personal issues going on at home or in the past.
On the flip side as we get older those who can hide their problems on the inside when they are preforming in the work place or at school will do much better than those who let their emotions get the best of them. But at the same time if your work place is the reason you are not preforming well it's because you do not like what you do. No one can do their best working at a place they do not enjoy working.
-Dino Anagbogu

Mitchell Martineau said...

Emotion plays tremendously when it comes to academia. Many forget that studying hard isn't the only factor when it comes to performing well in school. The idea of self-defeat causes many student each year to deviate and drop-out of school. When a student get a bad grade on a test or paper, if he or she doesn't get the proper criticism, good or bad, then how do they grow? By themselves? So much of our own growth depends on ourselves, but I think we all forget to look towards others for advice and pointers on how we can do better. So without the that advice, we usually emotionally defeat ourselves, possibly robbing ourselves of our true potential. So in schools when the professor is never available for questions or advice on material, it hurts student emotionally when the try to reach out for help.

Tiffany Johnson said...

As the previous bloggers have stated, personal connections is the key to a student's desire to learn. You have educators out here that are so big on being the adult; being the teacher; the one in charge; mostly what students see as the "know it alls". These are the same educators who act as though they don't know the pressures of simply being a kid. Educators have to take a look back and remember how it's like being a kid. Understand that every child doesnt have the opportunity to go home or even surround themselves with responsible adult figures. Some of our students leave school and resume responsibilities of parent roles. Students are maturing faster these days. They are not looking to come to school and get yelled at or looked down upon. They are coming for leadership and a controlled environment where they feel safe.
I believe educators need to start resuming the role of mother or father figures; aunt or uncles,etc. They need to control thier classrooms in a respectful manner; set high attainable standards that the children are able to see.

Lawandria said...

Having a connection, not necessarily personal, amongst students and educators is an important factor in increasing the success of students. One problem that my colleagues and I have run into in college is having professors that have no interest in the subject they are teaching nor the students they are teaching. This results in students being uncomfortable reaching out for help which leads to failure. If educators genuinely fulfilled their duties (which extend far beyond handing out assignments and grades) and became positive role models and mentors to their students, academic succes would increase.

Aurelia Daniels said...

I think that it is very important to take students outside lives into the way that they learn. For years it has been that those who have stressful and crazy lives at home it's very hard for them to concentrate in their classes.

For those students who have everything that they need and even some things they want, it is easy for those children to come to school and learn each lesson that is taught to them; however, for students who havent had a decent breakfast, worried about if the heat will be on in their homes when they get there and other things that low income houses lack then it will be harder for them to put their full attention into the lesson being taught in class.