What Prevents Children from learning

New technologies and media may expand minds and encourage virtual learning, but they do little to help children with schoolwork. That wouldn't be so bad, parents and educators say, but the new distractions may actually be adding to the traditional obstacles to learning causes such as poor home environment, "bad" company, incompetent teachers, drugs and, yes, for some, even hunger in the classroom.

Advancements in communications technologies have brought graphic excitement in video and computer games that stimulate adolescents in helpful ways sometimes. But they also take important study time away. When they compete furiously for the attention of adolescents, traditional learning is hard to market. Kids intuitively see Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat as more exciting than teacher.

Today television and computers have replaced story telling, reading and communication among family members. It's not uncommon for siblings to each have their own entertainment centre, the shrine of modern society. So values and mores no longer come from parents, but from these ubiquitous monitors and their imported influences. Pressure to look, act, and dress "cool", in a global sense, take time away from school age children who badly need the concentration for studying.

"Ideally, the media can have a positive influence," says Eileen Richards, a Corville Gardens parent, "but too few programmes promote wholesome values." Richards says more often teens want to watch music videos and movies that promote luxury flaunted by those who don't seem to have worked hard for it.

Teens find their role models from television, which often has little to do with their own reality. So they weigh what is required of them, say in the classroom, against what they believe it takes for them to emulate these role models. Guess what? It doesn't compute, so to speak. That sets up distrust of everything else they hear from authorities.

Very few teens who are doing poorly in the classroom have what would be technically considered a learning disability, says Dr. Ruth Doorbar, consultant clinical psychologist at Oxford Medical and the Ministry of Health. Dr. Doorbar says that her caseloads would suggest that emotional problems contribute more to learning disabilities than anything else.

These "emotional" problems mostly stem from events taking place at home. Teens are extremely sensitive to problems their parents have with each other. Dr. Doorbar and others agree that teens in such situations would handle domestic upheavals such as divorce much better if parents would communicate with them. The parents, of course, are emotionally distraught themselves so they're not in the best position to recognise the child needs.

Most psychologists and educators believe it is easier for parents to be helpful when adolescents are going through their changes. Teens should be given some latitude to find and develop themselves, say these experts, and parents need to be supportive. Glengoffe Secondary Principal George Price says parents who have teens with learning problems should try to find the reason for their low performance. "Don't just brush them off as "lazy" and "good for nothings," says Price. "Speak to them and communicate that you care."

Experts also say that parents can help adolescents manage their time. Setting study schedules aren't that easy for a teen constantly distracted by friends, phone calls, television and video games. Parents need to ensure their children have good study habits at an early age so that the discipline is there to weather the many crises that emerge in adolescence. That discipline also help them to withstand peer pressure to conform to values that may differ from what they get at home.

Drug use in teen age years will certainly affect learning. Dr Audrey Pottinger, Clinical psychologist at the University of the West Indies, Child Health Department says studies have shown that smoking marijuana, the drug most commonly available to Jamaican teens, results in inattentiveness and lack of motivation. Drug using teens are also likely to exhibit other anti-social behaviour-such as staying out late-causing further disruption in their school work.

Specific problems stemming from a teen's socioeconomic background are often obstacles to learning. Children from very poor socioeconomic backgrounds may experience learning disorders because they are malnourished,underfed, and in poor health. Minor sight and hearing impairments that could easily be corrected with proper treatment are left unattended. Children in working class homes often must skip school to either baby sit smaller siblings or to hustle to add to the household income. Many parents in such homes are themselves uneducated so they cannot assist their children with homework.

Teens placed in "inappropriate"schools may also experience learning problems. One extreme may be the child with high aptitude who is not being challenged who is distracted from school work. Another is the student who is good in practical lessons but slow with the books being forced to stay in schools beyond their pace, instead of being placed in technical institutions.

Self esteem or lack of it is a major contributor to poor classroom performance. Unfortunately, some parents insist on telling their children that they are dunce and that they will never amount to anything in life. Such teens begin at to believe the propaganda and make less of an effort. "Low self esteem must affect your learning skills," says 18-year-old Sean Dale of EXCED. "If I didn't consider my self important I wouldn't have the drive that makes me want to work hard."

Jamaica College sixth former Kelvin Thompson believes that teacher attitudes cause many students grief. "If teachers related differently to some teens they would not have so-called learning problems," says Thompson. He believes many teachers simply accept other teachers' estimation of a student and bring a prejudice to their encounter. "Often a student's reaction to one teacher or subject may not be the same for the other," says Thompson.

Richards, and other parents interviewed, says that while most of the learning problems experienced by teens are brought on themselves, the school system itself is a contributor. These days there are few career teachers in the classroom. Lack of commitment to the profession brings an attitude of "don't care." Overcrowding also detracts from the lessons being taught. And an inadequate number of guidance counselors means students have to fend for themselves and solve their own problems.