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What are the effects of education on children raised by single parents in todays' society in America?

Claypole, Richard

It is sometimes hard to believe that almost one in three children in America today come from a single parent home. A single parent home has been defined as both mother and child living on their own or mother, father, and child cohabitating together but not married. While other children live with their mother and there is still a romantic involvement with the father of the child. An astonishing 40% of all children born in the United States in 2007 were born to unwed parents. (Waldfogel, Carigie & Brooks-Gunn, 2010) This number has increased from a mere 5% in 1960. I come from a single parent home. This paper is a way for me to reach out and share the importance of ensuring children like me are provided the same education opportunities. America as majority has become a society of what our parents consider non-traditional families. What is a non-traditional family? A non-traditional family can be a single mother living on her own, a mother and father living together out of wedlock, or even two mothers or two fathers raising a child. Whatever the circumstances it is not the father, mother, and child with the ranch house and picket fence like the 1940's and 1950's our parents grew up in. The social and educational challenges of the single parent child increase from birth when a single parent home is one of the mitigating factors. A child can express themselves in several different ways socially. From a lack of confidence to other forms of inadequate social behavior, children sometimes find it hard to grasp the concept of new ideas presented in the classroom and in turn can produce lower grades than their classmates who come from a traditional family environment. If the social enigma of being a single parent child is not addressed at a young age and before the child starts attending a regular classroom setting, the child could display some of these social pitfalls. If not identified and addressed properly studies show single parent children can become more susceptible to negative influences such as smoking, alcohol, drugs, sexual activity, and abuse. These are paramount reasons to ensure awareness is at the forefront of our society as a whole on the hurdles children of single parents may face on a daily basis. By no means should we automatically assume that just because a child is from a single parent home they will exhibit some or all of the symptoms of social inadaptability. Many single parent children socially adjust and some even excel. But, due to the sheer number of children that fall into the statistics of single parent children, we owe it to every one of them to be as informed as possible and through awareness attempt to elevate any social shortcomings that would keep our children from being successful. I will review what has been presented in the conclusion of my paper and sum up what I believe to be some of the most missed sections within our educational system that does not take into account those children who come from a single parent home.