The Role of Teachers and Parents in Education

Modern societies are traditionally diverse and people vary based on their nationality, social status and gender, values, religion, and the education level. The discrepancies among citizens predetermine their attitudes to each other and patterns of behavior, which are usually shaped in childhood. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure emotional health of children through adequate upbringing in families and educational institutions. Even when the societies are essentially diversified, and these differences are rooted in social and cultural peculiarities of different nations, parents and educators should accept their responsibility for the emotional health of their children and students. Thus, India is the country that highly values an individual’s caste, which predetermines the person’s place in the social stratification, and corresponding attitudes to him/her on behalf of other citizens. Governmental protection such as constitution and legal regulations that ban discrimination do not provide sufficient support. Therefore, educators and parents assume liability for the emotional health of children who observe and experience unfair treatment in the society. Thereby, educators and parents play an outstanding role in teaching children and raising them emotionally healthy under the conditions where the surrounding people depreciate children from marginalized communities. 

Concepts of Marginalization and Emotional Health

Children can become marginalized in the educational setting for a number of reasons including social status, gender, religion, education, and language. UNESCO defines marginalization in the educational setting as “a form of acute and persistent disadvantage rooted in underlying social inequalities” (135). Thereby, the schoolchildren who come from marginalized communities tend to be persistently disadvantaged in the educational setting, which significantly affects their sense of wellbeing and degrades their emotional health.

Emotional health is maintained by numerous factors. Upbringing of emotionally healthy schoolchildren is essentially undermined by the atmosphere in the society that devalues some of its members through marginalization. The definition of emotional health implies the sense of wellbeing and resilience, which is linked with academic success, healthy lifestyle, and lower risk of negative socioeconomic outcomes for schoolchildren (Kidger et al. 926). Moreover, a healthy sense of identity is an indicator of overall emotional health. The issue of identity is rather controversial when talking about children from marginalized communities since they struggle to find their place in the society that usually opposes them because of their origin. Additionally, Kidger et al. indicate that the support from educators and social connectedness with the school environment determine the improved emotional health of students (925). The two groups of people that can essentially influence the outcomes of the students’ academic performance, social development and emotional health are parents and teachers.

Significance of Parents and Educators for Emotional Health of Schoolchildren

While parents naturally have significant influence on their children’s upbringing, their role in the educational setting is shared with teachers. Thus, the fact that some children come from poorer communities, or speak another language usually negatively affects their adaptation in the educational environment due to the attitudes of their peers or educators (Adair 1). According to survey, teachers are in a position either to motivate children and overcome the disadvantaged situation, or reinforce the low self-esteem of a student from a marginalized community that persists throughout the life of the given child (UNESCO 135). Therefore, the role of educators is essential for emotional health of schoolchildren.

Teachers can negatively affect emotional health of children when the latter enter public schools with the set schedules and curricula. Children from marginalized communities are considered to be lagging behind either because of insufficient language skills or lack of quality background knowledge (Adair 7). This makes teachers divert children’s attention to the preparation to standardized tests with simple general questions at the expense of creative tasks. Moreover, in some situations teachers are regarded as inadequately trained to teach children from marginalized communities. For instance, teachers may be undertrained to work with children from immigrant families who have poor or insufficient language skills (Adair 14). Bilingual teachers are rare in the United States, and this makes schoolchildren with insufficient knowledge of English get admitted to classrooms where English language acquisition becomes their major aim at the first stages of the learning process. As a rule, teachers in these classrooms lack the necessary qualification, and this essentially narrows the learning opportunities for schoolchildren from immigrant families (Adair 1). Their learning experience begins with the basic knowledge that is required in the educational environment they have entered. In this situation, lack of bilingual professionals can be regarded as the central problem of education at the primary stages of learning.

These shifts in the educational process harm emotional, social, intellectual, and cultural development of schoolchildren (Adair 7). The children are not involved in explorative tasks that promote higher-level thinking, autonomous decision-making and problem-solving (Adair 7). Such an approach of limited skills and knowledge of marginalized children, even for the seemingly justified reason of helping them to adapt, essentially narrows their opportunities in the future (Adair 8). Due to all that, it should be remembered that the quality of education is crucial for children who need to escape the marginalized environment (UNESCO 139). Simple presence at school does not allow accomplishing that task. Learning skills, school environment, and family circumstances directly affect the outcomes of academic performance of children. 

Although children from marginalized communities should be treated equally to other children, and their learning skills should be regarded as identical, in the majority of cases the stigma of marginalization restricts the children’s learning experience (Adair 1). Moreover, teachers frequently have low expectations regarding the academic performance of marginalized children. If a child comes from an immigrant community, his/her native language can be depreciated in the educational environment by the teacher. Acculturation at the expense of native culture deprives a child of the identity, and this also negatively influences his/her emotional health (Adair 1). With this in mind, teachers can be regarded as the ones, who play the pivotal role in children’s upbringing in the educational environment in terms of shaping their perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. This role is twofold: firstly, teachers’ behavior affects the behavior of marginalized children, and virtually to the same extent their behavior influences other categories of children who participate in this unfavorable context, where marginalized children are depreciated. 

The role of parents should not be underestimated even in the educational environment. Although parents exert their greatest influence beyond the school boundaries, their impact also penetrates the educational setting. Thus, parents from marginalized societies often tend to have complex life situations that prevent them from active participation in the parental school-related activities. The basic problem that such families may encounter includes poverty among other reasons. Under any circumstances, parents from marginalized communities have little influence on the attitudes to their children, teaching methods, and teacher’s appreciation (Adair 11). Even when parents control the social and academic events in the life of their children, they are unlikely to take part in the school activities (Adair 11). In addition, as opposed to parents from households with higher income, parents from low-income families often face the challenges that prevent them from active participation in school life. These challenges may include long working hours or child care (Adair 11). Another example could be parents from indigenous tribes in India or immigrant parents in the United States who may have language issues, and this may prevent them from approaching the teacher (Adair 2). Such parents are less connected to schools, provide less support to their children in terms of academic performance, and cannot effectively protect their children if any issues arise (Adair 2). Therefore, parents from marginalized societies have fewer opportunities to contribute to the emotional health of their children by participating in school life. Lack of language skills, unawareness of their rights, prejudiced attitudes to teachers, the wrong perception of being unwelcomed, and other negative feelings may prevent parents from active engagement in the school affairs. Thus, parents may also feel devalued, and this can negatively influence their children’s perceptions.

Families provide the most crucial and influential context in terms of their child’s development and learning. While schools represent the first connection of children with the life beyond their families and communities (Adair 4), families ensure the background against which all other events in the child’s life occur. All young children, disregarding their social status, are claimed to benefit from being raised and educated in the favorable environments, where they are valued by the key figures such as parents or teachers (Adair 4). Parents should realize that children can excel them and achieve greater goals in life if they observe a positive attitude and receive encouraging messages from their teachers (Adair 4). The opposite situation, when children suffer from unjust attitudes, reduces their chances for academic success and further success in the adult life (Adair 4). Thereby, parental engagement in the school affairs is essential for protecting the children who may suffer from any kind of discrimination. Even if the parents are aware that their child is not discriminated, but there are other children who suffer from prejudiced attitudes from their peers or educators, they should intrude in the situation. The presence of biases and negative messages in the educational setting adversely affects all the participants, whether they are involved directly, or act as bystanders (American Psychological Association). Consequently, unfavorable environments shape unhealthy attitudes and behaviors, and, eventually, negatively affect the emotional state of children in these settings, whether they are from marginalized societies or not.

Emotional Health of Marginalized Children in India

India can serve as an extreme example of the society where marginalized children are devalued and discriminated. Human Rights Watch informs about the cases of discrimination against children from marginalized communities in India (Abidi). The discrimination occurs on the part of school leadership who are expected to teach other children to be tolerant, sensitive and sympathetic to their peers. UNESCO refers to discrimination against certain groups of schoolchildren as a result of social stigmatization and exclusion as “group-based marginalization” (169). Discrimination in the school setting in India stems from historical circumstances, and marginalization in school environment is often only the first stage of social exclusion that these children face later in life (UNESCO 169). Despite the clearly defined law that ensures free school education to be provided to all children from 6 to 14, approximately half of these children drop out of school without obtaining at least elementary education (Abidi). Researchers indicate the existence of discrimination against Muslim, tribal and Dalit children in India, and children from poor and marginalized communities also fall into the category of discriminated individuals (Abidi). Such attitudes create the unfavorable environment for learning, so that students often become truant or drop out of school learning. Moreover, even prior to leaving school, children from marginalized societies tend to enter school not to obtain education but rather receive food and shelter (Abidi). In this context, this category of children is highly unlikely to have high rates of emotional health. The situation is complicated by the existence of castes and strict social stratification in India, which presumes that parents cannot even protect their children. Therefore, discrimination against schoolchildren based on their ethnicity, gender, or religion, with the primary criterion of belonging to a particular caste, shapes unhealthy attitudes and relations in the group (Adair 1). Moreover, such behavioral patterns negatively affect the emotional health of children who are not marginalized.

Despite the existing legal regulations, the law does not suggest any punishment for the violators, and discrimination remains untrammeled. The reason for that are the potential considerable changes that may take place as a result of punishing citizens for discriminatory behavior in relation to particular castes (Abidi). Moreover, the issue that has to be addressed at the governmental level is the definition of schoolchildren who dropped out. Since there is currently no definition of leaving school that would be common for all states and union territories in India, the identification of such children poses certain challenges and often comes unnoticed (Abidi). With this in mind, firstly, a common definition of the time period out of school after which children are considered as school-leavers should be provided. Secondly, the government should not only prohibit discrimination against children from marginalized societies, but also punish the violators. Parents and educators can only initiate these changes, and inform the authorities about the existing issues. The introduction and implementation of these changes in the legal and social environments should be performed by the government. However, parents and teachers can make a difference by demonstrating their personal example and executing strict discipline aimed at equal attitude to all schoolchildren in terms of their social status. Only skills, knowledge, and overall academic performance should differentiate children from each other in the educational environment. Any discrimination in the school setting should thus be considered unallowable.

The solution to the problem of marginalized children’s dropouts in India could be addressed by conscious teachers who realize the importance of favorable learning environment for their students. Educators could target the learning experience of marginalized children who eventually quit school by providing additional courses that will “bridge the gap” between truants and current students. Human Rights Watch refers to this educational initiative as “bridge courses” (Abidi). Such courses are likely to help marginalized children expand their opportunities firstly at school, and then later in life. While in Indian society the involvement of parents can be a difficult task due to strict social differentiation (Abidi), they should still support their children and demonstrate a high level of support to the environment. However, the most crucial transformation would happen as a result of governmental involvement in the issue of discrimination against marginalized children. The establishment of the new social order that would eliminate discrimination at schools is likely to benefit the emotional health of all Indian schoolchildren, whether they are from marginalized communities or not.

Conclusion

Parents and educators share the role of the major powers that influence the upbringing and education of emotionally healthy children, especially if the environment poses challenges such as devaluation of marginalized children. Emotional health of schoolchildren essentially depends on the messages obtained from the key adult figures in their lives. Thereby, both parents and teachers can make a great difference in terms of the children’s sense of wellbeing and resilience which are likely to lead to successful academic performance and further success in adult life. Discrimination against children from marginalized societies can be based on social status, religion, education level, nationality, and other characteristics. The treatment of this category of schoolchildren is to a great extent shaped by the educators. Thus, on the one hand, teachers should realize the outstanding role they play in the lives of their students. On the other hand, parents of children from marginalized societies do not always have an opportunity to protect the rights of their children, as it is common in India, for instance. However, the role of parents and parental engagement in school affairs for the emotional health of schoolchildren should not be overlooked. The support that children feel from their parents can essentially contribute to their emotional health and sense of wellbeing. Consequently, parents and educators exert essential influence on the emotional health of schoolchildren, including children from marginalized communities, in the process of their upbringing and learning experience, especially when the marginalized children suffer from discrimination in the educational setting.