Canadian children in the 1990s

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Article: Canadian children in the 1990s (PDF)

Method

1. List the four parenting styles traced in this study.
2. List the possible risk factors influencing children. Which seems the most crucial?
3. Why do the children in lone-mother families seem to have more problems than children from two-parent families (emotional, behavioural, academic, social)?
4. With this article in mind, and illustrating with statistics, create guidelines to help parents raise their children.

Using E-STAT to get to know your students

Professor John E. Lundy of the Education Faculty at Nipissing University reports that his student teachers have used E-STAT to look at the demographic, cultural and economic backgrounds of students and their families. Novice teachers often have set ideas about schools, students and families that are based on their own backgrounds. Using E-STAT, student teachers questioned these preconceived notions while learning to use an electronic data source designed for classroom use. To explore the social context of practicum settings, they generated tables, charts and thematic maps.

One student teacher from the Ottawa Valley investigated teaching in both the city of Pembroke (population about 14,000 in 1991) and the town of Deep River (population about 4,600 in 1991). The teacher started the study by comparing income and education levels and found some real differences in both. According to the 1991 Census, 19% of the population aged 15 and over in Pembroke had less than grade nine schooling compared to Deep River's 6%. Adults in Pembroke (48%) were twice as likely as those in Deep River (24%) not to have finished high school. Deep River also had almost four times (29%) the proportion of university degree holders than Pembroke (8%). In fact, Deep River's population was much better educated than Ontario adults overall: 13% of Ontario adults had a degree in 1991, while 12% had less than grade 9.

The differences in family income levels were also large. While 31% of families in Pembroke had an income above $50,000 in 1990, the percentage in Deep River (59%) was almost double. Four in ten (39%) families in Pembroke had incomes under $30,000, while Deep River had a relatively small proportion of families (15%) at this end of the income scale. In comparison, 50% of Ontario families made over $50,000 and 24% made under $30,000 in 1990.

As teachers started to plan their curriculum, an awareness of the particular economic needs of their students grew. While some families could easily afford computer equipment, others had to rely on the school and local library for these resources. Similarly, differences in parents' education levels may mean some students could expect more help with their school work than others. Because of the local information and ease of using E-STAT, these new teachers were able to study their communities more deeply, obtaining a "reality check" that could benefit their students.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.