Low Socioeconomic Status Essay

Children in families of a low Socioeconomic status (SES) are disadvantaged in school. These children are often less interested, have a higher dropout rate, and often feel like they don’t belong (American Psychological Association, n.d.). Children from a low SES family are twice as likely to display learning-related behavior problems then children from a high SES family (American Psychological Association, n.d.). It has been shown in the United States coloured people receive a lower standard of education; this difference in standard is a result of funding differences (Darling-Hammond, 1998). Schools typically attended by coloured children receive less money because they are seen as less valuable despite evidence to the contrary. This lower standard of education then translates into a greater frequency of health problems and a decreased life span (“The Effects of Education on Health,” n.d.).
Teachers often stereotypically gender their students which results in the students stereotyping each other (Bigler, Hayes, & Hamilton, 2013). This then changes the students behaviour negatively because it makes them more likely to only play with the students of their “gender,” reducing their social interactions. Research has shown that when children are gender stereotyped and play with children of only their own “gender” they develop behaviours stereotypical of that “gender,” (Bigler, Hayes, & Hamilton, 2013). These stereotypes then become ingrained in these children making them more likely to verbally or physically abuse those not conforming to gender stereotypes (Bigler, Hayes, & Hamilton,