Exam 10: Schools and Delinquency

Correct Answer:

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• School size. Schools are getting larger because smaller school districts have been consolidated into multijurisdictional district schools. In 1900, there were 150,000 school districts; today there are approximately 16,000. Larger schools are often impersonal, and relatively few students can find avenues for meaningful participation. Teachers and other school personnel do not have the opportunity to deal with early indications of academic or behavior problems and thus act to prevent delinquency.
• Irrelevant curriculum. Some students may be unable to see the relevance or significance of what they are taught in school. The gap between their education and the real world leads them to feel that the school experience is little more than a waste of time.
• Lack of payoff. Many students, particularly those from low-income families, believe that school has no payoff in terms of their future. Because the legitimate channel of education appears to be meaningless, illegitimate alternatives become increasingly more attractive for students who do not plan to attend college or to use their high school educations directly in their careers.
• Middle- and upper-class bias. The preeminent role of the college preparatory curriculum and the second-class position of vocational and technical programs in many school systems alienates some lower-class students. Furthermore, methods of instruction as well as curriculum materials reflect middle-class mores, language, and customs and have little meaning for the disadvantaged child.
• Student views will vary.