CRM/LAW C109 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: African Americans, Dysfunctional Family, School Prayer
16 Jun 2018
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Chapter 10: school and delinquency
I. The school in modern society
A. Socialization and status
1. Children spend school hours with their peers and activities after schools
take place with friends
2. Norms of peer culture are at odds with those of adult society
3. School is primary determinant of economic and social status
B. Educational problems and issues
1. Not much improvement in educational achievement, in fact it is lower than
before
C. Economic disadvantage and educational achievement
1. Economically disadvantaged children enter school lagging behind other
advantaged peers
2. Substantial gaps in reading and math proficiency, prosocial behaviors,
and behavior problems, lack of readiness to learn, not knowing basic
rules of writing
3. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds fail to meet grade level
requirements
4. Minority students
a) African american students lag behind in reading and math
achievement
b) Little improvement in scores for all races
c) Minority students lag behind because they face student
disciplinary actions more than european americans
D. Dropping out
1. Truancy can lead to school failure and dropping out
2. Leads to severe long term financial and personal consequences
a) Less likely to find jobs and high unemployment rates
b) Wrose in health, high percentage of those in prison and death row
inmates
3. Exposed to same socioeconomic forces that linked to crime
4. Why do they drop out?
a) Do not like school or want to get a job
b) Kids who involved in substance abuse or risky behaviors
c) Low academic achievement, low self esteem, difficulty in getting
along with teachers
d) Poverty and family dysfunction increases chance of drop outs
e) Some are force due to lack of attention or poor attendance record
5. Do dropouts commit more crime?
a) Mixed results
(1) Can enhanced likelihood of delinquency or not
b) Dropping out influences subsequent behaviors
II. Academic performance and delinquency
A. The direction of school failure and delinquency
1. Four views on association between school failure and delinquency
a) Delinquency causes school failure
b) School failure is direct cause of delinquency behavior
c) School failure leads to emotional and psychological problems that
are actual causes of antisocial behavior
d) School failure and delinquency share a common causes (outside
factors such as poverty or family life)
B. Correlates of school failure
1. Personal problems
a) Due to deprive background and ragged socialization they lack
verbal skills that are needed for educational success
b) Dysfunctional family leads to underachievement
c) Psychological abnormality (depression)
2. Social class
a) Delinquency phenomenon of working class students who were
poorly equipped to function in middle class schools
3. Tracking
a) Dividing students into groups according to achievement level
leads to school failure
4. Alienation
a) Students report they neither like school nor care about their
teachers opinions are likely to exhibit delinquent behaviors
b) On the other hand, those with strong bond to school see it as a
way to resist delinquent behaviors
III. Delinquent in the school
A. Extent of school crime
1. School crime rates have declined significantly in the past two decades,
thus reflects decrease in juvenile crime
2. Teacher attacks
a) Teachers subject to threats and physical attacks
B. Who are the victims of school crime
1. School crime is not a random event and kids are target because of
personal status and behavior
2. Those who take risk themselves an associate with risk taking peers are
likely to be victim
a) Are impulsive and lack self control are good targets
3. Involve in after school activities increase victimization risk (viewed as
weak and vulnerable)
C. School shooting
1. Percentage of students who carry weapon to school has declined
2. Yet, public has convinced that mass killing sin schools is quite common
when they are not frequent
