A study in environmentally deprived areas of the city of Winnipeg of the relationship between the school performance of selected elementary school children and the educational experience of their parents

Abstract

This study was of a descriptive nature and was designed to examine if there was a relationship between some aspects of family life style of families living in an environmentally deprived area of Winnipeg and the school performances of their children. Our area of study was concerned with variations of the parental educational level, the parental aspirations towards education as basically significant factors in examining the relationship between the parents' educational experience and the children's school performance. The proportions of parents whose children were performing satisfactorily were compared and contrasted with those parents whose children were performing unsatisfactorily. The data was obtained from face-to-face interviews with forty-seven families that met the requirements of the study, and covered the time period from September, 1965 to April, 1966. The findings revealed that the parents' educational experience had an influence on their children's current school performance, and that there were variations in parental school experiences between children who perform satisfactorily and children who perform unsatisfactorily. Our findings showed that a greater proportion of parents whose children were performing satisfactorily had a high educational level, had a high aspiration level, and had a predominantly positive attitude towards their educational experience than those parents whose children were performing unsatisfactorily.