School as a Young Child

¶ … School as a Young Child Might See it

School is commonly considered to be an institution where the child learns to read, write, and become aware of basic concepts of geography, history and science. In addition to this the school also provides the child enough room for learning to get on with people and to have a good start into the adult life. Schooling is considered as the first ever experience in the life of the child to go to a place outside their home. The child initiates to learn to become associated with a group of people external to his family. School plays a significant role in building the character of a child. There are wide and varied incidents that a child experiences in the school. The close contact with the children of different religion, beliefs and values that the child comes with in the school has a tremendous impact in his own psychology. Taking into consideration all such facts the schools are considered as the building blocks of the future of the child. (the child at school)

The starting school therefore is considered to be a place farther from home providing the child with some of his greatest challenges, successes, failures, and embarrassments. Since the school environment is out of the regulation of the parents it is considered to be embarrassing for both the parents and the child. The child learns at school about the functioning of the world, about suitable social interactions and about people beyond his family. The School provides him enough scope for learning about himself, his merits, weaknesses, interests and his social identity. The performance of the child is required to such a magnitude that he is capable of isolating himself from parents, confront social and academic challenges and make friends. The child finds the starting school to be both fun and tense. Most of the child demonstrates some anxiety about school. It is quite natural when the child first faces the initiation of each new session in the school every year or when he is admitted into a new school. The children seem to be less anxious during the initial days of the nursery, pre-school or kindergarten. Sometimes the mixed feelings of the parents like guilt, fear or anxiety in sending the child to school have tremendous impact on the hesitant, reluctant attitude of the child. The feelings of the parents their attitude have a tremendous impact on the experiences of the child in the starting school. (Starting School)

On the first day of school most of the children feel nervous as a result of the new teachers, new friends, and new campus. However, such nervousness is not of same magnitude in respect of all the children. The children those have the scope to play with more children finds no problem in going to school initially but those children who is playing only with his mother or do not have scope to play with more children there is strong protest against going to school. Sometimes even the older child is reluctant to go to school because of bullying and teasing by the friends in the school. The school days are also characterized by competitions. The child has to face the problem of succeeding in competitions and examinations. (the child at school)

Some children suffer from school phobia. The school phobia is considered to be a kind of anxiety disorder during the childhood days featured by an intense fear of going to school. As the concept indicates the school phobia is a psychological disorder resulted from anxiety. The children suffering from the school phobia is often reluctant to go to school. The reluctance of going to the school assumed to lie at home. It is assumed that the child has an inclination to stay at home where the well being of the parent is guaranteed. In turn the parents visualize the problem of intimidation of their children to prevalent in schools. The psychologists however find that the inclination towards avoidance of the schools is the consequence of various elements with their reaction to both home and school stressors. The contemporary thought on school phobia depicts that there are some children who denies attending school as a result of separation anxiety. (School Phobia)

Most of the children reluctant to go to school are between the ages 8-13 years. In case of some the reluctance is as an effort to avoid uncomfortable feelings associated with school. The phobia is associated with the fear of being criticized or evaluated. Sometimes the particular activities like boarding a school bus or attending an assembly creates intense fear to some children. Studies made at National Center for the Study of Corporal Punishment, as published in the Monitor, the newspaper of the American Psychological Association indicate that most of the children find the school events as stressful enough to generate characteristics of withdrawal tendencies, aggressive behavior, moodiness or anxiety. Such events according to the studies are associated with disciplinary methods those are punitive in nature and assault the self-esteem of the child. It is evident that some children are adaptive and capable of being adjustable to a considerable amount of challenge while in some other cases they are confined. (School Phobia)