Hammerstein et al. (2021<\/a>).<\/p><\/blockquote>Take an imaginative leap with me: A fourth or fifth grader has a nascent knack for programming. But they don\u2019t have a computer at home, or they do, but share it with several family members and they can only afford a cheap, shaky internet connection. During the pandemic, this kid was out of school for 12, 18, 24 months, with minimal access to educators or learning materials.<\/p>
They are fortunate that their fascination with the logic of computer language applies to English too. They do <\/em>still have access to books and reading materials, and they\u2019re sharp enough to learn to craft a strong essay or article by imitation.<\/p>They get back to school and the language arts teacher notices their progress, encourages them, makes sure they have access to the school library, gives them extra feedback on their writing.<\/p>
Meanwhile, they\u2019ve dropped behind their well-to-do peers in IT, simply because they haven\u2019t had the tools or training. The IT teacher, like the language arts teacher, focuses their attention on the strongest students and fails to notice the lost potential of this particular kid.<\/p>
The skillset that gets the most care and attention is the one that flourishes. <\/p><\/div>
By the time university rolls around, this student is poised for success in the humanities, perhaps never to realize how financial circumstances subtly but ineluctably shaped their academic trajectory.<\/p>Self-fulfilling prophecies<\/h2> It takes courage and gusto to shore up one\u2019s weaknesses. In my head, I\u2019m terrible at maths and mediocre at science (until maths gets involved, then I\u2019m terrible at that too).<\/p>
This self-perception solidified to fact in my head after I changed from a pre-med chemistry major to English Literature in my second year at Penn. It was wrenching to give up a long-held ambition of being a doctor, but my English and History professors were cajoling me to switch majors, and I was barely scraping by in science.<\/p>
Telling myself I couldn\u2019t hack maths and science was a self-soothing mechanism. However, like many palliatives, it may not have been entirely benign.<\/p>
I took Algebra I and II, trigonometry and statistics, geometry, and calculus in high school: straight As (seasoned with tears of frustration); I also took earth science, chemistry, physics and biology: A, A, A and A. This rather complicates the couldn\u2019t narrative. I\u2019ve forgotten it now, but I did<\/em> learn \u2014 even excel \u2014 at STEM in high school.<\/p>What broke me was the leap to university level, where chemistry became calculus and physics became flat-out terrifying.<\/p>
If I\u2019d had access to more challenging high school courses, would I have stayed on the pre-med track?<\/p><\/li>
If I\u2019d had greater self-confidence\u2026?<\/p><\/li>
If I\u2019d been aware of the help available\u2026?<\/p><\/li><\/ul>
The right decision for the wrong reasons<\/h2> Am I happier as a writer and educator than I would have been as a cog in the moribund US healthcare system? No doubt.<\/p>
But it would have been better to make that decision from a position of self-confidence and clarity, not overwhelming fear of failure.<\/p>
When you grow up poor and see an escape, you will break a limb to leap. <\/p><\/li>
When you feel excluded because of how you dress, where you live, what you can\u2019t afford, you will do most anything to blend in.<\/p><\/li>
When your financial situation has always been precarious, you crave security.<\/p><\/li><\/ul>
Failing classes, tanking your GPA, needing more time to graduate are actions that have different consequences for well-to-do students and those scraping by on scholarships, loans and work study jobs.<\/p>Links in a chain<\/h2> Hard times are not merely socioeconomic. There are certainly young people from affluent backgrounds who have had adverse childhood experiences. But it would be wrong to discount the exacerbating effects of poverty on intimate partner violence, abuse, neglect, substance misuse, incarceration and mental health difficulties.<\/p>
There are many ways poverty shapes people\u2019s choices and chances, from birth onwards. Although it is illuminating to observe correlations between adversities and academic decisions, it is vital to interpret these studies with a view to how their insights can be used to better support learners (and educators). They are descriptions, not prescriptions; every person\u2019s narrative contains an infinity of possible stories.<\/p>
What are your experiences or observations regarding the relationship between study\/career choice, mental health and socioeconomics? Please share your reflections in the comments.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>
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