A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EDUCATED AND UNEDUCATED PARENTS ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens especially the youths. This is because education is very important in the development of any nation or community. Education is the process of transmitting what is worthwhile to members of the society. According to Okafor (1981). Education embraces all those experiences of the individual through which knowledge is acquired and intellect enlightened. For Nwabachili and Egbue (1993) education is what goes on from one generation to another generation. In this context, education is the process of socializing the child to grow up as a fulfilled member of the society through informal, formal and non-formal process. Informal education is the process of acquiring knowledge about the environment and beyond through living with one another. According to Nwabachili and Egbue (1993) formal education is a consciously planned form of socialization in a formal setting such as school. They stressed that non-formal education involve all those systematic programmes and processes of education and training that is done outside formal education setting. All these forms of education cannot be achieved without the influence of the family. Education of a child needs multidimensional efforts. Students, teachers, institute and parents all have their importance in their process of learning. Parents education is such a motivating force for a child which paves the way for his/her future. It is an admitted fact that the children of educated parents are more confident, resourceful and experienced than the children whose parents lack education. Jencks (1972) says that the family plays an important role in formal and informal education. Family characteristics represent a number of variables like education, income, beliefs, occupation, size of family also have implication on the performance of children. Significant reliable research studies have told that socio-economic status of parent is the best predictor of student academic achievement (Coleman et al.,1966). And parental education is considered the most stable (permanent) aspect of socio-economic status. It has been well defined that family plays a vital role in a child’s academic achievement and development (Cornell & Gross, 1987). And Thompson et al (1988) says mother’s level of education influences adolescents educational outcomes expectancy beliefs. A study by (Campbell, et al., 1999) using NAEP data indicated that students who reported higher parental education levels tended to have higher average score.