Deviant Behaviours And Student’s Academic Performance In Economics In Secondary School

Deviant Behaviours And Student’s Academic Performance In Economics In Secondary School

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

                      1.1              Background to the Study

Every individual grows towards becoming functioning members of the society. In the process of growth he gains empowerment through school learning. Stakeholders in education industry such as government, parent, missionaries, and proprietors of schools had invested a huge sum of money and materials to ensure high performance of a student under their care (Bola, 2003).

There has always been diversity in the performance of the student in secondary schools. While some student performs very well, others do the opposite and in some cases, the student is withdrawn from school for low performance. Various reasons have been attributed to this failure. Among them include the different levels of intelligence, some socio-economic factors, the school environment, students’ attitudes, and student deviant behaviors. Deviant behavior simply means behaviour that students do that goes against the standard of the society, regardless of whether the action is legal or illegal. Michael, (2004) defines deviant behavior as that type of behavior that is contrary to norms and the rules of the society. Such behavior or activities include crime, drunkenness, indiscipline, drug abuse, examination dishonesty, truancy, and many others. It is revealed that students fail massively internal and externally administered examination in Akwa Ibom State and Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area in particular. Stakeholders in the education industries such as a parent, school authorities, teachers, officials of the ministry of education and the student themselves are restive and concerned at the high casualty rate of Economics students in public examination. Nigeria society today is developing; therefore, it should stimulate the spirit of patriotism and lay the solid foundation for national and international understanding and corporation in students. Due to this fact, the education of the youth is very important in other to ensure the citizens to the social and economic development of the country as well as raising the standard of living generally.

According to Ehigie (2001), the family as an agent of socialization could have a significant impact on the child. This is evident from the fact that it is the first place where the child learns about leadership and what it takes, also basic skills and behavior pattern taught by parents in the home. The school as an organization should be able to deliver civilization services which geared towards the betterment of the society, such as the ability to teach morals, honesty, regularity, loyalty, and dedication. This implies that the school should be able to provide disciplined students who will later become good citizens who are free from any deviant act or behavior of any kind.

1.2              Statement of the Problem

Senior secondary certificate examination has not been encouraging (Ekanem 2007). The rate of failure and poor academic performance in Economics of the senior secondary school system is a serious problem that requires the attention of all the stakeholders in education from the ministry of education to the students in Economics. This has, therefore, become a source of concern to educators and planners, parents, teachers, government and the public.

The persistence low performance in economics by students has been tackled in various ways by parents, schools, educationist and the government in a bid to solve the problem of poor academic performance in economics in schools. Parents teachers association (P.T.A) in schools have been bridging the gap between parents and teachers with the view of overcoming the root of this problem as such they have provided buildings, desks, laboratories equipment, etc. in some of the schools on the basis of uplifting the problem of student poor performance, agencies like non-governmental organization and government have done their best in improving the educational performance in Nigeria. Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), Education Trust Fund (ETF), etc, have been building and supplying materials but the problem seems to be magnified. The government has averred teachers re-training but the root of the problem are yet to be resolved. Since all the efforts made so far have not been able to solve the problem of poor academic performance of a student in Economics, the researcher is therefore motivated to find out if deviant behavior does influence student’s performance in Economics.

1.3              Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to examine whether deviant behavior influences student’s academic performance in economics in secondary schools.

Specifically, the study sought to:

1.      Determine the relationship between narcotic use and student’s academic performance in economic in secondary schools

2.      Determine the relationship between truancy and student’s academic performance in economic in secondary schools

3.      Determine the relationship between poor attitude towards schooling and student’s academic performance in economic in secondary school.

1.4              Significances of the Study

The study will be of benefit to students, parents, teachers, and the curriculum developers and society at large.

To student, it is hoped that the result will them to uncover hidden potentials in them. By seeing the influence of certain behaviors like aggressiveness, altruistic tendencies, truancy and their interactional effects on fellow students, teachers, parents and on their learning potentials. The students will equally be in a better position to understand them in confined face of performance.

The results of this study will help teachers to understand more and will find it easy to deal with different categories of learners from different homes.

The curriculum planners would benefits since it will provide a basis for them to design the curriculum, bearing in mind various behaviour of individuals and possibly plan a realistic strategy for achieving the objective and goals of education. Thus, society stands to benefit from this study, as there will be farewell to some of the unwanted behaviours that will tend to hinder them performance of the students.

The knowledge gained from this study will assist the government to design policies and programs which will help enhance family cohesion so the parent will be able to relate better with their children, this will help the development of well-behaved individuals by modifying their behavior properly.

The result will be of help to parents as it would improve their relationship with their children, since the parent is in a better position to understand their children with consideration. It will also act as an eye opener to parents for them to know that a close relationship with their children should be developed to check deviant behavior that affects their wards performance in school.

1.5              Research Questions

In other to achieve the derived objective the following research questions were raised to guide the study:

1.      What is the relationship between narcotic use and student’s academic performance in economic?

2.      To what extent does truancy relate to student’s academic performance in economics?

3.      How do poor attitudes towards schooling relate to student’s academic performance in economics?

1.6              Research Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were postulated to guide the study:

1.      There is a significant relationship between narcotic use and student’s academic performance in economics.

2.      There is a significant relationship between truancy and student’s academic performance in economics.

3.      There is a significant relationship between poor attitudes towards schooling and student’s academic performance in economics.

1.7              Limitation of the Study

Financial the constraint was another major limitation which hampers the effective movement of the researcher during data acquisition.

1.8              Delimitation of the Study

There are many factors affecting the academic performance of the student, but this study only investigates deviant behavior. Besides, this study investigates the secondary schools.

1.9              Definition of Terms

Deviant behavior: deviant behavior refers to students’ behavior which is against societies accepted norms. This includes violence, use of drugs (narcotic), truancy, examination dishonesty and so on.

Narcotic: narcotic refers to a particular kind of drugs  affect the brain and nervous system.

Truancy: truancy refers to any intentional, unjustified or unauthorized absence from a school without a legitimate reason.

Attitudes: An attitude is "a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols" 

Academic performance: this is a term often used in an educational institution to describe the extent of achievement of educational objectives.