COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General Overview
This research investigated the extent to which divorceaffect academic performance of pupils in primary schools and Edo State was selected as a case. Although there is no data available on the rise of divorcein Nigeria, that the incidences of divorceare on the increase, as well as the failure of children in all levels of education and this study intends to explore and investigate the perceptions of teachers and community members on the effects that divorcehas on children’s academic performance and their role in minimizing those effects.
This chapter contains background to the problem, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objective of the study, significance of the study, research questions, conceptual framework of the study, delimitation, limitation of the study, ethical considerations and definition of the terms.
1.2 Background to the Problem
Most divorceend in divorce. Divorce, according to Havemann (1990) is a legal process through which a marriage is dissolved. Traditionally, divorce implied that one of the partners was guilty of some transgression in the marriage and that one was at fault. Historically, adultery and physical cruelty were the only basis for divorce, but later, a number of other transgressions were added such as abandonment, habitual drunkenness and mental cruelty. Divorce is considered as unmitigated evil. The experience of the human race, however, seems to prove that there may be a right or wrong use of it. Divorce has become, not only a legal action, but also a range of economic, psychological and social actions.
Steinzor (1969) sees divorce as an act of considered and willful choice which is inconsistent with human heritage. In human culture, love and personal choice in marriage are logical derivations of institutionally guaranteed freedoms, where there is freedom to choose divorce as means a freedom to change one’s mind.
The image of the heavy hand of death in the marital vow,” till death do us part,” it seems, contradicts tradition of liberty and the individual right ‘to change mind before death’ (Steinzer 1969). Thus, divorce has become contradictory to marriage vows: that one is committed to achieving harmony within the family but be ready to separate if family life becomes a prison.
According to McDonald (1978) – as cited earlier on, divorce is defined as the dissolution of a relationship, which is recognized as marital relationship. It is marked by formal court proceedings and its decree is divorce. Divorce is usually accompanied by formal arrangements for the owning of property, custody and support of children, if there are any. The property adjustment may also include a provision requiring alimony to be paid by one partner to the other although alimony is less frequently granted today.
Children from divorced families are nearly five times more likely to suffer damaging mental troubles than those who live with both parents. This shows that two parents are much better in bringing up healthy children than one. Children who come from broken families will most likely have difficult time in life. Children of divorced parents are roughly two times more likely to drop out from school than their peers who benefit from living with parents who are not divorced (Mclanahan 1994). Some children from divorceare more likely to turn to drug abuse or other negative behaviors. The truth is that every child needs and deserves the love and provision of a mother and a father. The loving two –married –parent family is the best environment for children. A strong family and home is a place where children gain the identity, discipline, and moral education that are essential for their full individual development.
America, once a nation with a strong marriage, had created the best route to achieving the American dream. It has now become a nation in which divorce is commonly seen as the path to personal liberation. In this case many experts argue that, because nothing can be done about it, all Americans should simply accept the culture of divorce without considering the future of the children. Studies in the early 1980s showed that children in repeat divorce earned lower grades and their peers rated them as less pleasant to be around with (Andrew Cherlin, 1981).
In 1990s, the divorce in India was as low as 7 failed marriages per 1000 marriages. As women increased in work places and earned a salary, the need to rely on a man to earn the daily bread for the family has nearly ceased to exist. With this new found freedom, women no longer had to spend time to think about the consequences of a broken marriage. Still, the divorce rates in India posed the beginning of the new millennium are as low as 11 failed marriages per 1000 marriages.
The effects of broken homes on children are traumatic. Broken homes can cause children to question their self-worth, to experience unnecessary grief, guilt, or confusion. Young children especially, have difficulty understanding the rationalities of their parents’ decision to divorce. In a divorceit is difficult for children to find a sense of security because experience shows them that what seemed stable and good fell to pieces and left them empty. Growing up in a broken home may also cause children to have difficult in future relationship.
Parental relationship plays a very important role in determining the academic performance of their children in school. Family harmony can easily be affected due to parental conflicts. The degree of parental conflicts varies from mild to serious. These conflicts affect the academic performance of their children hence lead to drop out from school. In their recent longitudinal study, (Harold A, and Shelton, 2007) revealed the roles of marital relations and children’s academic achievement. In accounting for the relationship between marital relations and children’s adjustment, researchers suggest that a relationship between spouses affects their children’s adjustment directly through the emotional stress level, role modeling and academic performance (Cummings & Davies, 1994)
Unhappy marriage of parents may be associated with low achievement, because witnessing conflicts between parents heightens a level of stress on children and keep them from focusing on schoolwork. These children also learn inappropriate social problem-solving skills through modeling parental behaviors. In Korea, Lee and Chung (2004) found that the marital relationship perceived by Korean adolescent students were positively related to their school adjustment. Parents in a dysfunctional marriage are likely to be distressed and distracted by conflicts with their spouses, and they cannot afford to invest their time and energy in children. In turn, inappropriate parenting style worsens parent-child relations. This process is consistent with interdependence between subsystems that family systems theorists maintain
(Whitchurch & Constantine, 1993).
The quality of parental relationship spills over into relationship with their children. Couples with satisfying marital relationships are warmer and more supportive towards their children. Amato and Keith (1991) speculated that the gap in well-being between children with divorced and non-divorced parents might have narrowed either because divorce became more easily socially accepted or parents were making greater efforts to reduce the potentially disruptive impact of divorce on their children. Children with divorced parents score lower than children with continuously married parents on measure of academic success (Astone & McLanahan, 1991).