Failure Models

Today in class we finished up the course by talking about different failure models. The first I'm going to discuss is the psychological deprivation model. This model says that students failure is caused by poor home environment which includes not enough or lack of nourishment, poor role models if any, no books or literacy exposure, etc. I think that yes some of these things might have an effect on a student. For example if a student is hungry they aren't going to have much energy and will be constantly thinking about food and probably not feel well. This is what breakfast programs were created for, to give these students a boost in the morning. But I mean, just because a kid has a bad role model at home or doesn't have books to read at home, doesn't mean he or she is doomed to be a failure in school. That is where the teacher comes in. It is the teachers job to help these students and all students to achieve in school, become literate, and do the best that they can do. Perhaps students can take books out from the library and bring them home. The teacher can have meetings with the parents or guardians and figure out what they can do in order to give the best chance of success to their child. It definitely isn't impossible and failure should not by any means be based on what home life is like, even though it might pose a challenge.

We also talked about the need for achievement which I believe was in the same model. We talked about the example of kids in the class shooting a basketball into a garbage can, and those who went right up to it, or those who had a need for achievement and would continually move backwards and try and get it in. I don't think those with a lack of need for achievement are doomed to fail. All students should want to achieve because with no motivation they will find it harder to be successful and achieve. But again this is something as teachers that we can help our students to overcome. Sometimes the easy route is the best way, like the students who stood right by the basket.

When we looked at the cultural deprivation model, we talked about "black language" as well as stereotyping. Saying that certain cultures are destined to fail I think is absolutely ridiculous. If you go by stereotypes and think that that is what all people of that culture are like, that is what you are going to look for and what you will expect of those students. There is nothing wrong with having one's own culture and having certain believes and perhaps speaking in a different dialect than others or having a different language. Like we talked about with Italians in Toronto, they were set up to fail because their first language was italian, they didn't know much english, and were taught in english. So what do you expect? When changed to half and half the students did much better. We as teachers need to try and accomodate and incorporate our students' cultures and backgrounds as much as possible to make them feel comfortable, a part of the classroom community, and to allow them to succeed in the best way possible.

We then looked at the reproduction model which says that class society reproduces itself. Therefore the values of your parents will be passed on to you, and you are destined to do the work that your parents do. Therefore if your parents work at a grocery store, no need for you to try in school to be anything better than that because you are going to work in the grocery store too. I don't think this is true at all especially in todays society. I think that everyone is becoming more independent and seeing what success they can achieve. School really is the gateway to the future therefore we need to open up as many doors as possible for our students and let them know the world is theirs if they want it. You don't have to do what your parents do because that's the way things have been for the past 50 years.

Finally, the administrative model talks about money and government funding. It is unfortunate that some people can't afford school therefore settle for less. There is a lot of money out there if you go looking for it. The road doesn't stop if at one moment in time you don't have enough money.

All in all I don't like these models and I don't think any one person is doomed to fail for any set out reason. Teachers can do a million things to overcome any difficulties children have, and allow them to achieve and succeed in school. A challenging student is another learning opportunity that we should embrace to allow us to become better educators for the people of the future. Even though some students might be seen as "doomed to fail", this is NOT the case!