The development of students is influenced by the environment in which they live, and the activities they engage in. Throughout our life we are formed by people’s expectations, we reflect others’ opinion of us as we grow up, so the following proverb rings especially true: Children are self-fulfilling prophecies, they become what people think of them. This is why a positive, helpful stance is required towards children. This is the positive effect of child raising.
Family is the primary environment that affects students. Parents mold the child partly by their own behaviour, partly by choosing the environmental factors that the child is exposed to,which constantly shape the child’s social and cognitive growth. The blooming of the child’s talents is defined by their upbringing and education, their spiritual growth heavily influenced by the parents. It is difficult to differentiate the effects of the family from other external factors, as they can overlap each other, e.g.: the economical situation of the family has a heavy influence on the child’s education as well.
A major impact on choosing a school is that the parents want their child to obtain a similar or better social status than they have. The main tool for this is choosing the right school. The other motivating factor is the child’s actual performance, as children with great talents can even achieve a diploma with parents who have lower expectations, and vice versa. Thus parents have a huge part in their child’s motivation for learning, as the family’s incentive work is a precursor to the teacher’s motivational activities.
A good emotional relationship with the parents can be very motivating. With a proper familial background a poor student can excel with proper attention, but with a bad background the students have little chance of improvement. At the same time the child wants to live up to their parents’ requirements.
The success of the school mainly depends on the families stance towards the school, their expectations of performance, and how the parents react to good or bad grades, failures and distress.
Enikő Alami