Effects of Family Background on the Academic Performance of Private Secondary School Students (a Case Study of onitsha South Local Government Area, Nigeria)

Effects of Family Background on the Academic Performance of Private Secondary School Students (A case study of Onitsha South Local Government Area, Nigeria)

Introduction

The antecedents of success and failure in the school system have been the subjects of much concern in the process of educating children. Whatever is the case, the home background is one of the major sources of inspiration for preparation of children for school and for life. This means that the atmosphere at home helps or hinders the children’s total attitude to schoolwork. If a child is valued, appreciated, cared for and looked after as valuable asset right from home rather than as liability, such a child is likely to learn to appreciate and value schooling or regard school as a second home. Success in school requires a number of planning skills and organization on the part of the family.

Janov (2000), views that the emotional deprivation of object of love attachment takes its toll on the psychological, emotional and physical development of the child. Socio-cultural handicaps or deprivations as a result of parental ignorance, absence of mother or father, malnutrition, and family attitude and economic circumstance increase negligence of children for school. The home particularly is the first unit with which children have continuous contact and in the same context forms their educational patterns. For successful education, either in the formal setting of the school or in the informal setting of the home, a correct approach to the education of the child is quite essential. Education is considered a vital means of attaining freedom. Therefore, it is important that parents at home play a vital role in the education of the child.

The family provides the first education for a child. The training starts from infancy to a conscious level. The role of the family in the education of their offspring cannot therefore be relegated to the background only. It is from the home that children learn to talk, walk and relate with others. Learning and teaching at different stages of awareness go on all the time in and outside the school. Parents and teachers are teaching at different levels of awareness and children learn from both the parents and teachers. A child is quick to know what parents turn their attention to and thus learn what their values are, that is, what their parents believe and practice. It is from the home that a child gets a sense of security and belonging. A home that is characterized by disorganization and rigidity on the part of the parents will obviously have repercussion on the child’s performance at school. The family as a socializing agent occupies a privileged position in this task, since it is the first environment for the upbringing of the child.

Durojaiye (2002) noted that “the home of a traditional African is in its own way an education center”. He remarked that the young following his parents to the farm and is given the opportunity to practice well emerges into an effective farmer. Girls, especially, he noted follow their mothers to do domestic and economic chores well before they are sent out for marriage. The home setting, therefore acts as an effective education center for the orientation of the young towards rewarding skills for themselves and the society faced with the advent of schooling and ethnological challenges. The upbringing at home therefore needs to take new orientations that go a long way to meet the challenges of the times.