The identity of an underachiever student as an outcome of social relations

Abstract

The paper deals with various performance factors in underachiever students primarily juvenile delinquents who reported declining levels of achievement throughout the duration of corrective out-of-institution measures. This raises the question: Why is there a decline in school achievement of juvenile delinquents during the treatment which is essentially aimed at improving school performance. What causes this? In the search for an answer we considered various approaches for the determination of the identity of a juvenile delinquent, underaching at school. The author takes issue with traditional views on identity and changes the focus from an individual over to the interaction between an individual and society. It is argued that poor school performance should be placed in the context of social relations; the author suggests that problems faced by underachievers at school only accidentally stem from what they can or cannot do, rather, the root of the problem lies in the manner other people relate to them. It is necessary that a teacher should realize that students are social beings in behavioral experiments who have individualities and that their personal characteristics stem from their relations with other people. A teacher is expected to attempt to construct the manner in which a student views himself and the world around himself, that is, to enter a "role relationship" with him.

U radu se ukazuje na različite činioce postignuća neuspešnih učenika, pre svega, maloletnih delinkvenata kod kojih je konstatovano pogoršanje postignuća tokom trajanja neke od vaspitnih mera vaninstitucionalnog karaktera. Ključno pitanje koje se postavlja jeste: zašto dolazi do pogoršanja u školskom postignuću maloletnih delinkvenata tokom realizacije tretmana koji je suštinski usmeren ka unapređivanju školskog postignuća. Šta je uzrok toj pojavi? U potrazi za odgovorom na postavljeno pitanje razmatraju se različiti pristupi određenju identiteta maloletnog delinkventa koji je neuspešan u školi. Autor dovodi u pitanje ustaljeno shvatanje identiteta i premešta raspravu sa pojedinca na interakciju između pojedinca i društva. Izvorište lošeg školskog postignuća pozicionira u kontekst društvenih odnosa i ukazuje da problemi koje neuspešni učenici imaju u školi proizlaze samo uzgred iz onog što oni mogu ili ne mogu da urade, a mnogo više iz načina na koji se drugi odnose prema njima. Potrebno je da nastavnik shvati da učenici jesu društvena bića u ponašajnim eksperimentima koji imaju individualna značenja i da njihove osobne karakteristike proizlaze iz njihovog odnosa s drugim ljudima. Od nastavnika se očekuje da pokuša da konstruiše učenikov način opažanja sebe i sveta oko sebe, odnosno da uđe u "odnos uloga" sa učenikom.