Many Youngsters Are terrified of school?

Question

I'm doing a Cause & Effect essay. I have a few causes I just would like to see other people opinions or causes.

Answer 1

You don't state the location (inner city? rural?), age range (5 year olds? teens? college?), etc, etc, etc, of your presumed hypothesis, nor do you give adequate reasons for being "terrified of school" (you put this in the "preschool" forum, but, quite frankly, I doubt that many preschoolers know their parents' names, much less whether they should be afraid of school or not; thus, the only people who are terrified are the respondents, who, presumably, are adults, who, inundated by the media, may give tainted answers to your generic question).

You didn't even say what subject this was for: Psych? Soc? Poli Sci? English? Gym?  ;)

Without such boundaries and limits, your "essay" (presumably, you meant "thesis") is too broad, and has no meaning; even if the only thing you're writing about is how people respond to such questions (i.e., as opposed to the question, itself), you will have skewed your research by using specific words and phrasing to "slant" the results as you want them.

Presumably, you are in high school or college; as such, I strongly suggest that you discuss this with your teacher before you start writing it, or you may end up with a bad grade.

Good luck!

Answer 2

i think that preschoolers are afraid to go to school the first time because they don't want to separate from their parents. or, they could just be shy of meeting new people.

Answer 3

I like picking apart bad answers.  Then I'll answer yours.

"You don't state the location (inner city? rural?), age range (5 year olds? teens? college?), etc, etc, etc, of your presumed hypothesis, nor do you give adequate reasons for being "terrified of school""

Location is actually an answer to her question, not the question itself.  We're not studying a specific student as far as why that particular child is afraid to go to school.  We're not studying even a school itself.  We're studying the general fear of school found in many young children when they first start off.

"Nor do you give adequate reasons for being terrified of school..."  Huh?  What's she is asking for is for us to brainstorm reasons why a child might be terrified of school.  This requires you to then look at developmental needs of children and draw some conclusions to its validity and develop solutions.  That's the first step..she's in the stage for forming the hypothesis - not testing it.

"(you put this in the "preschool" forum, but, quite frankly, I doubt that many preschoolers know their parents' names, much less whether they should be afraid of school or not;"

Which is why you know NOTHING about the subject.

" thus, the only people who are terrified are the respondents, who, presumably, are adults, who, inundated by the media, may give tainted answers to your generic question)."

Or...experience...perhaps?  Anyone who has worked in any preschool for the first few weeks knows there are those students that are scared.  I think your answer is more a case of not knowing anything about the subject and trying to sound academic on it.  All the while, you look like an idiot.

"You didn't even say what subject this was for: Psych? Soc? Poli Sci? English? Gym? ;)"

Doesn't matter.  Right now, we're not developing the thesis to a specific group.  We're looking for a hypothesis (or, in this case, several).

"Without such boundaries and limits, your "essay" (presumably, you meant "thesis") is too broad, and has no meaning;"

No it's not.  See above.  It has to do with looking at early childhood development and deciding what is age appropriate.

" even if the only thing you're writing about is how people respond to such questions (i.e., as opposed to the question, itself), you will have skewed your research by using specific words and phrasing to "slant" the results as you want them."

Nope.  That's not the intent.  The intent is to develop ideas of why children are afraid to start school then see if those ideas match up against what we know about Early Childhood development.  Amazed someone as "smart" as you can't see something so basic.

"Presumably, you are in high school or college; as such, I strongly suggest that you discuss this with your teacher before you start writing it, or you may end up with a bad grade."

Not necessarily.  To be honest, I'd fail you in a heartbeat because you're not equipped to deal with children.  What you write in pseudo-academic terms boils down to one thing : "I don't know what I'm talking about with the subject."  Nice try though.

Now, to answer your question, take a look at how the following ideas directly effect children at this age:

--Fear of seperation from their parents.

--Fear of not knowing what to expect.

--Stranger anxiety.

--Medical reasons.  (Bi Polar?  Anxiety disorder?  Many of these cannot be identfied early in life, but it is a reason to take note of)

As time goes on, other things may develop:

--Problems with peers or teachers.  

--Difficulty mastering a certain work or concept.

--Actual serious problems with the school (or any of the above) that you're not aware of.  (i.e. bullying, an abusive teacher, etc.)

From a teacher's perspective, this is a very important essay.  It's not, as the answerer above tried to change it to, a case study about a specific group or a specific child.  It's about children in general and  trying to get you to see some of the causes for this anxiety in many young children to begin attending school.  I am sure diving deeper into the paper (and, as a result, getting a better grade) would include some sort of method to pinpoint the example and make the child feel better about coming to school.

Ignore what the person above said.  If you follow his advice, you'll miss the point of the essay and get a poor grade.

Matt