Functional Vs Structural Support
Kids cant leave their problems at home these days. After they step out those doors, one would think that a new world awaits them and their mind is totally oblivious to what the situation is at home. This is untrue.
For my first official blog posting I have decided to do the news article labelled "Low marks Keeping Canadian Boys Out of University: Study."
When I first started to read this I re-read it like three times because I had no clue what this had to do with media or how I could even incorporate it into a point we learned in class or even the text book. I decided to do a little bit of research on perhaps why they were not getting into the universities and then see if I could relate it to a issue we talked about in class.
The first little bit of knowledge that I went out and looked for was a little bit more information about low grades and how it correlates with boys. I found that while in school boys do learn differently than girls. I also found that 84 percent of teachers stated that boys are more likely to had in homework late, where as only four percent of teachers said that girls are more likely to (Coates and Draves 1).
The next step I looked at was, What could be causing these students to be handing their homework in later than their counterparts? Canadian studies have shown that children whose parents are married to each other are typically better adjusted, and have fewer problems growing up to those of single parents. I found out that 71 percent of all high school dropouts come out of a fatherless home, and if you come from a fatherless home you are nine times more likely to do poorly in school (Effects of Fatherlessness 1).In Canada there are more than 2.1 million families that are lone parent families and only 20 percent of them are when the dad is present (Statistics Canada 2006)
Everything that I have talked about above I have decided to interlink it with the concept of "Functions of Communication" but more specifically the physical needs aspect. There are two types of physical needs, the structural support and the functional support. The structural support is just the basic friend, and family network, where as the functional support is the quality of network and how quick they will be there for you (Adler,Rodman and Sevigny 10).
I personally believe in this situation related to the news article that male high school students that are coming out of a one parent home where their dad is not present could be affecting their grades and ability to get in to university. Male high school students will not have as strong as functional support to their married counterparts because the quality of that family relationship would not be as strong. He could either not have a male role model in his life at all, or one that does not care about him at all, thus having more problems growing up.
The grades are related to perhaps the single parent homes, which are related to the lack of male role model, which then are consequently related to the poor functional support network.
Work Cited:
Adler.B, Ronald, George Rodman, and Alexandre Sevigny. Understanding Human Communication. Ontario: Oxford University Press,2008.
Canada. Statistics Canada 2006. 2006 Census: Family portrait: Continuity and Change in Canadian Families and Households 2006. Canada. 2006. Web. 21 Sept. 2009
Coates,Julie, and William A. Draves. "Smart Boys Bad Grades Summary." The Evidence Homework Grading is Gender Biased.
"Effects of Fatherlessness" childernsjustice.org. Center for Children's Justice Inc. n.d. Web. 21 Sept 2009
Image Retrieved From:
Scott, Jerry, and Jim Borgman. Teenage Tales. Cincinnati: Andrews and McMeel,2004. Retrieved from "Google Images." http://www.sneswhiz.com/gallery/d/573-3/zits_airhug.gif. 21. September 2009.
Scott, Jerry, and Jim Borgman. Busted! Cincinnati: Andrews and McMeel,2002. Retrieved from "Google Images." http://visibletime.ararchive.com/_Zits7_.jpg
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