Individual Learning

March 17, 2021

This week I got the opportunity to research something I was interested in reading. I chose low socioeconomic status(SES) in education. When researching, I felt like I was Alice from Alice in Wonderland going down an endless rabbit hole. When I first looked at SES, I was interested in how virtual education has affected low SES students. There were several articles to choose from, though some did not even pertain to virtual education. I knew I had to be specific, but researching challenged me to be very specific with my searches. I typed; low SES, COVID, low socioeconomic status in remote learning, and low socioeconomic status online education. However, I did not find what I was looking for until I typed in low socioeconomic status education.

When I searched for low socioeconomic status in education, I was enlightened to see what was online but felt that I was down deep in a rabbit hole as it led in many different directions. I learned about how students with low socioeconomic status usually have low achievement because of environmental factors, health and safety issues, stress, and learning disabilities (Ascd). That led me to a search about Covid and low socioeconomic status, where I learned that these students are suffering a learning loss because of wifi issues, no stable environment and that Covid has increased the risk of abuse in homes to be five times higher than average (Lakhani, 2021). Finally, I learned how low socioeconomic status positively impacts the position of students getting into college. Students with low SES usually take college preparatory classes and find financial aid and are more likely to have a better outcome when attending a four-year college.

This week I was particularly interested in looking at other predictors of low socioeconomic status students going to college. I wanted to see what interested these students in going to college. It turns out that their peers play an immense influence on going to college. According to Andrew Sokratch (2006, 141), a journalist who completed a study on peer influence on college-going decisions, "having most or all of one's friends plan on attending 4-year college is the single best predictor of 4-year college attendance, half-time, or all else. Sokratch mentions in his article that the probability of attending a four-year college is ten times more likely if most or all of their friends are going (2006, 142). This study shows a direct correlation to observational learning. Observational learning refers to, "the process of learning through watching others, retaining the information, and then replicating the behaviors observed (Cherry, 2019). Students of low socioeconomic status see others getting into college, which means they are more likely to apply for college and attend. No matter what race, culture, or economic level, students can do anything they set their minds they want to do.