Towards Development with Young People 9789350243916

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TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT WITH

YOUNG PEOPLE Dr. H. L. KAlLA

*

Dr. K. B. KUSHAL

1m GJiimalaya GpublishingCiflouse MUMB~

• DELHI • NAGPUR • BANGALORE • HYDERABAD

©

No part of this book shall be reproduced, reprinted or translated for any purpose whatsoever without prior permission of the author and publisher in writing.

ISBN

: 978-93-5024-391-6

Revised Edition: 2010

Published by

Branch Offices Delhi

Nagpur

Bangalore

Hyderabad

Printed by

Mrs. Meena Pandey for IllMALAYA PUBLISHING HOUSE, "Ramdoot", Dr. Bhalerao Marg, Girgaon, Mumbai - 400 004. Phones: 2386 01 70/23863863, Fax: 022-2387 71 78 Email: [email protected] Website: www.himpub.com "Pooja Apartments", 4-B, Murari Lal Street, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi - 110002. Phone: 327 03 92, Fax: 011-325 62 86 Kundanlal Chandak Industrial Estate, Ghat Road, Nagpur - 440 018. Phone: 72 12 16, Telefax: 0712-72 12 15 No. 12, 6th Cross, Opp. Hotel Annapoorna, Gandhinagar, Bangalore - 560 009. Phone: 2281541, Fax: 080-2286611 No. 2-2-1167/2H, 1st Floor, Near Railway Bridge, Tilak Nagar, Main Road, Hyderabad - 500 044. Phone: 650 1745, Fax: 040-756 00 41 Bhave Pvt. Ltd., 242, Belasis Road, N&gpada, Mumbai .: 400 G08. .

CONTENTS l.

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm shift from Obedience to Negotiation with Children

1-13

2.

Leadership in School Context

14 -

25

3.

Impact of Computers on the Public Schools

26 -

37

4.

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

38 -

63

5.

Language Development

64 -

94

6.

Visual Handicap: Development and Education 95 -

114

7.

Redefining Quality in School Education

115 -

127

8.

Career Counselling

128 -

140

9.

Perceptions on Family Education

141- 147

10. Value Education Through Ancient Literature 148 -

153

1l. Curriculum for Life Skills

154 -

159

12. Holistic Counselling for Health and Wellbeing

160 -

177

13. Television Viewing and Aggression in Young Children

178 -

202

14. Understanding the Effect of HIV/AIDS on Children

203 -

218

15. Learning: An Elusive Process

219 -

236

"This page is Intentionally Left Blank"

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm Shift from Obedience to Negotiation with Children Usha S. Nayar

." SMS (Short Messaging Service), Cell phones, chatting on internet, KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati), e-commerce, Jazzy cars, Java, Orange sim card, Kittie Party, counter-strike, [email protected] ... you have reached the voice mail box of 9820 ... all this is the essence of environment of children in India of the 2pt century. This century children are having a lifestyle, far too different as compared to their parents and teachers. Parents, teachers and adults are put into a situation where reflection and review of their ways to relate and reconnect with the present generation of children in modern India is inevitable. The focus of this article is on the context in which new information technology has emerged as an important agent of socialization for children, and how it has posed a challenge to teachers and school systems for the education of children. Further, it highlights the diversified perceptions of adults

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Towards Development with Young People

towards children and childhood. These perceptions are linked with the relationships between children and adults - they may be teachers, parents and other adults in various roles in Indian society.

Context The basic functions of behavioral research are to increase our understanding of the mechanics and motives of how one reacts or acts. In the case of children, and the impact as well as the role of technology, behavioral research plays a very crucial and multiple role in the nexus formed between policy makers, scientists, technocrats, teachers, parents, other adults and children themselves. How do children react and act towards technology and its sudden spurt in varied forms? What is the influence - essential and other wise, in the context of their growth and development? Is it possible - for the adults, the elderly, the wise, the policy maker, the technocrat, the teachers - to pause for a while, look around and review the socialization process, the nature, the implications and the consequences of technology and its large scale induction into our lives? To day, for instance, 'nature' and 'reality' are terms not easy to comprehend (not that it ever was easy); we have Virtual reality, Virtual memory, Neural networks, and virtual(ly) everything! Is technology the monster that some make it out, or is technology the ultimate answer? Or, are adults, blinded by the pace and progress with which technological innovations keep appearing, believe, that since evolution and change is inevitable, these are good and appropriate. Will this illusion continue? The Chip has revolutionized the way we look at, and understand our world, and it is certain that the range of functions it performs would pervade all aspects of human existence. Education, Medicine, Communications, and Transport to name a few fields, have already experienced the impact of the Chip. And it must be added that some of these interventions have been positive and greatly reduced the margin of error and improved overall efficiency. Children are the inheritors of this planet and represent an investment for humankind. This is a universal fact. The world

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm Shift

3

is in the midst of a technological era, and the impact of technology has been felt by all, be they, the developing, or the industralised world and would certainly continue. Researchers looking into modern childhood socialization processes in industralised countries have been pointing out for several years that these are no longer almost exclusively governed by the traditional agents, since a third and important agent has entered the equation. The resulting basic socialization tripod is made up of the family, school and new screens that is, the set of new audiovisual information and communication technologies that can be accessed easily by children (Cases et.al., 2001). Children are very comfortable with technology, since many of them have been exposed to the Chip and its many forms, right from their birth (and even before) and have grown up with the same. For children and young people, who have grown up with these technologies, a life without computers is difficult even to imagine (Hagen, 2002). Witness the ease with which children handle the various games, and operate various gadgets, like the T.V., Video games, and Computers with minimal instructions. Most people's reaction to technology depends on the level of use or the lack of it in their lives. Today technology is the buzzword. For users of technology and the purveyors of technology related material, it is the ultimate panacea to any problem. However, like other developments and movements initiated and fostered by humankind, technology also has its share of myths and bugs (Nayar, 1997). To most parents who are worried about the inordinate time . spent by their children in front of the screen, either TV, cable network showing several seria!s and sequels or the computers with its never ending games, they feel that the root of all problems lies in these new fanged innovations. To many others, it is quite intimidating and, either they shrug off any attempt at knowing, or they are in such awe that they would not even attempt trying to figure out, or they criticize, and become cynical. At best they romanticize and urge the return to the rural idyllic, or the past that is mostly imagined.

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Neil Postman (1983) voiced as early as in eighties, rather with deep concern, that the media and specifically television are effectively· destroying childhood as we know children and childhood. He documented his arguments in his book 'The disappearance of childhood'. Another argument to support the thesis was forwarded by Joshua Meyrowitz (1985) that the boundaries between childhood and adulthood are blurring. Such arguments display a kind of technological determination, whereas, the question is definitely of our changing or not changing the conceptions of childhood in modern society and also of 'critical pedagogy' in media education. It is an approach that implicitly regards media teaching as a form of counter-indoctrination (Buckingham, 1996). Information communication technologies (leT) are appropriated into particular social contexts, subject to specific national policies, and valued within certain cultural frameworks. Although, in simple terms, most or all children and young people are now, in some way or another, new media users, suggest that countries are following diverse paths in the adoption of leT. As a result, for a variety of social and cultural reasons, children and young people in different countries come to use leT in somewhat different ways (Lingingstone, 1999). This discussion also raises the fundamental issue: how children and childhood are being viewed in our time by Indian society? Since, school-teachers themselves are part of a larger social environment, it is important to examine various conceptualizations.

The Competent vs. Incompetent Child Historically, the notion of "competent child" can be traced back to what has been called a 'shift in research paradigm' in psychology and other social sciences dealing with childhood and child development. There are many different and context based studies concerning the social competence of children, all of them concluding that in earlier research the social and communicative competence of children have been underestimated. These studies, though, never produced an overall and universalistic image of 'the competent child', as such. In discourses of children's rights,

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm Shift

5

competence is used as a legal concept related to a psychological conceptualization. The attribution of incompetence or low competence in children, both legally and psychologically, is often used to deny children's participation rights (Flekkoy, 1993; Mortier, 1997). This concept being researched and experimented more in the industrialized world than in a country like India. Although children's parliament, children's participation in city life, programmes related to realization of children's rights are being supported and fostered by some voluntary organizations viz, Community Aid Sponsorship Programme (CASP), Child Line, Institute of Psychological and Educational Research (IPER), Technology and Social Health (TASH) Foundation, Youth For Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) etc. Their efforts though commendable, are few and far from broad social realities. Nevertheless, there seems to be some transformation and some illustrations of considering 'competent child'. Competence is described as a kind of individual and immanent quality all children have by virtue of their natural beings. The essential competent child has both the capacity and the responsibility to choose freely and decide what is best for herlhimself (Kjorholt, 2001). Children as Playing Citizens vs. Adults as Non-playing Citizens Children constitute a common culture, with common interests. In this concept, the child is presented as a natural being, creative, emotional, spontaneous and embodied - the tribal child, as James, Prout and Jenks (1998) put it. Play is seen as the central core in this culture of children. In traditional Indian society, the notion of childhood and play are interwoven. Childhood means play and innocence. The fact that often school children accuse each other of 'being childish' when they play, emphasizes the deprecatory meaning of both the term 'play' and the concept of 'child' (Kjorholt, 2001). To some the word 'play' coupled with 'child' connotes triviality (Thorne, 1993). What is striking is that play functions as a symbolic strong fence between the notions of childhood and

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adulthood. Adults having a different culture and for them the core of life and living is not centered to play. Thus, childhood and adulthood become two distinct social aI!d political categories.

Children as Powerless vs. Powerful Adults 'Power' is described as the main singular dimension constituting the relations between adults and children. There is a dualistic nature in these descriptions dividing children and adults into the different life worlds. The emphasis on the differences between children and adults obscure the continuity between the child and adult world. Although the pre-eminent model in family life in some of the societies, like, Norwegian has changed from the one based on obedience and 'being of use' to one based on negotiation and 'being oneself (Gullestad, 1996). In a recent study at Mumbai (Nayar, 2002) in the narratives given by children on use of computers both at home and school, it was found that children very clearly see the 'power' is with teachers and parents in terms of "control" on their lives. "Mom wanted the computer so that I don't sit idle and get addicted to the TV", said 11 year old Rahul fron: Mumbai. "I use the computer maximum in my family. Two hours on school days and 5-6 hours on holidays", confidently expressed by 14-year old Sumedha. "The schools are far behind in teaching children the applications of computers - how to use the computer practically", says Priyanka's mother. "Initially I thought that computers is a wonderful thing but really it contributes a lot in our way of living, it could help children to understand the world better especially with the 'Net'. Subsequently, I found that unless the children have back-up knowledge from their school, it is being used as a toy and for chatting on the net. Even now, they play games, it is not being used for educational purposes and I am uncomfortable with it". "1 thought that after I get the computer my kids will get good marks in computers at least but they are not getting. It is a different thing having a computer at home and a different thing teaching people how to use it", said mother of 12 year old Sashank and 10 year old daughter Seema.

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm Shift

7

" ...... to-day's children when you see, they feel that they know everything because they have computer knowledge. But, any father and mother, they have seen many rains, seen many monsoons, you know it better than that person, at that moment you will always argue I am right but it is always the parent who knows it best ..... ", said father of 15 year old Aditya. " .... Computer is not so important for the members in the family, it is good for moving ahead in life and gaining knowledge", ... felt mother of 16 year old Mitali. " .... When I read in newspapers that people are very much into pornography that irritates me because I feel children are also very accessible to this ..... everything has a time frame, ... . children are getting access to information much earlier", ... a concerned father of 15 year old daughter Smita.

Children as a Resource vs. Liability Children as a resource, a frequently recurring phrase in media, texts and newspapers is an illustration of how the notion of the 'competent child' is being transformed and mixed with a consumer discourse using concepts from economy and marketsphere. The concept of competent and creative children as a resource for the society for the present and future is a positive note. But, on the contrary, the consumerist view of child influencing the decision of buying "branded" garments, food items, furniture, car - any commodity, is the distortion and way of exploitation of the 'child' by adults in society. The participating child, the competent child, the child with herlhis own rights as a citizen in a society raises a vital issue of mixture of democracy and traditionalism in Indian culture. The mixture can be understood in terms of contemporary global processes in general and evolution of information technology. It has profound implications for the social construction of 'childhood' in modern India. Today, children are being drawn increasingly into economic markets - as both consumers and workers; not only due to poverty but also from the middle and affluent classes in advertising, modeling and other fields (Nayar, 2001). The notion of childhood as a domain outside the market and market driven

8

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politics is increasingly under threat in late modern society (Stephens, 1995). Kjorholt (2001) emphasizes the narrative of children as a "endangered people" is at the same time both traditional and revolutionary. On the one hand, it reconstructs earlier romantic, natural and playing child different from the rational adult and in need to care and protection from civil life and the public sphere and rights to citizenship. On the other hand, it stresses the need to integrate the 'playing child' into public life, emphasizing the children's rights on par with adults to participate in public life 'on their own premises'. On the other side, the new emphasis on children's social participation can also be interpreted as part of more general processes in late modernity, processes whereby children and nature are increasingly drawn into the public sphere as 'human capital' and 'productive resources' than seeing them as dependent, powerless, vulnerable and liability on adults. We may also question if this human capital - the child is constructed according to desirable traits in economy and politics, demanding flexible organizations, 'flexible bodies' and 'flexible souls' (Martin, 1994, Feudler, 2001). The construction of "competent child" has much in common with contemporary thinking for educational reforms constituting the child as an 'active learner' - a whole child, and take advantage of the communication technology revolution.

Obedient vs. Children Negotiating with Authority The traditional emphasis on the value of 'total obedience' of children by adults has to go under value of children's rights, children as resource and not only as support. The paradigm shift is imperative in this discourse from 'obedience' to 'negotiations'. Obedience depicting more as fIxed, rigid and static rules and negotiations, indicating the relations as more flexible and based on equality and humane rights. In this case, children negotiate with 'authority' for their interests and adults, parents, teachers also negotiate with children in terms of time to be spent on certain activities and also of sharing the resources available at home as:well as in school, more as equal partners, stake holders and investors in civic society.

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm Shift

9

The facts are : • Children today, are increasingly experiencing different family situations, and exposed to a surfeit of technology, in its various forms, than any time before. • The electronic media (the interactive as well as the others) provide a mixed package i.e. it has positive and creative, as well as, negative and destructive inputs, as an inevitable part of the evolving Techno culture. • Children today are exposed to the values of individualism, patriarchy, mechanization, consumerism, nationalism, and terrorism. They are also the witness to movements that support ecology, peace, human rights and other humane movements of the post modern era. Considering the various options available to interact with technology, some progressive others bewildering - are we giving our children any choice, or confusing them with what appears to be the options? The goals of education primarily, are • To stimulate thinking, problem solving and motivate children for learning. • To facilitate them to develop the ability to set goals and to find out their pathways to achieve them. • To access, assimilate and retain relevant information in science, mathematics, psychology, geography, history, and other academic areas. • ·To provide the opportunity to each child to develop general competence with one's own pace, style and ability. • To develop team spirit and the values of co-operation and consideration. • To provide gender equality. • To provide the opportunity to communicate with peers locally and globally. These goals are from the viewpoint of society, child's individual point of view in terms of child's personal, social,

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cognitive, emotional, spiritual and overall personality development. New Technology and the School Environment I. CHILDREN -

SCHOOL - EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING

~

~GENERAL SUBJECTS

·t

II. COMPUTER - INFORMATION SUBJECTS • DESIGN

PROCESSING~

SPECIALISED

• MUSIC • TUTOR trEACHER • EVALUATOR III. COMPUTERS - ENTERTAINMENT - GAMES • GENERAL KNOWLEDGE • DEVELOPING SOFTWARE IV. COMPTUERS + INTERFACE

~

MULTI MEDIA

+ TELEPHONE - [COMMUNICATION (INTERNET)] + VIDEO + AUDIO - [AUDIO VISUAIlHYPER MEDIA]

The Role of a Teacher (1)

The teacher assumes the role of a facilitator and a support for the children.

(2) The teacher needs to pay individual attention to children. (3) The teacher helps to encourage gender equality in creating equal opportunities for girls and boys. (4) The teacher becomes a friend. (5) The teacher helps in building team and encourages team spirit. (6) The teacher chooses appropriate software for various levels of knowledge and information for the children as they set the educational goals for children. (7) The teacher gets invoived in the development of software to be used for children.

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm Shift

11

(8) The teacher involves children in developing the software. (9) The teacher shares hislher experiences with children and listens to their experiences. Limitation of a Teacher 1. Teachers can no more portray as the authoritarian and

custodian of knowledge in the classroom. As a computer is not the black-board, slate or notebook. Computer is an intelligent tool in the class for the children and teacher. 2. The teacher need not be threatened by the presence of computer in the classroom. 3. The teacher need not act as a competitor of power with children. Conclusion

There are thinkers as mentioned earlier who bemoan the disappearance of childhood. I feel that there is a reappearance of childhood, the context has definitely changed, and the roles of the socializing agencies like family and schools have now become more challenging. Constructing childhood would now mean being increasingly child centred, and using technology to their advantage. The school and schooling continues to be a significant socializing process for children, be they pre-school children. The teacher remains in charge and mentor for the children in school. The teacher monitors the learning of art, culture, history, geography, mathematics, science, initiating and fostering the skills of drama, theatre, debates, and above all developing and shaping the 'self in children for themselves and society. For the Indian society, the construction of children as an active humanistic subject within educational contexts could be a new way of recognizing the new resource for rebuilding the nation. The next fifty years will yield more imperative results than those achieved over the course of the last fifty years as these children are fourth generation born in free and independent India.

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SELECTED REFERENCES Buckingham, David (1996). "Critical Pedagogy and Media Education: A Theory in Search of a Practice." Journal of Curriculum Studies, 28(6), pp.627-50. Casas, F. et.al (2001). Information Technologies and Communication Between Parents and Children, Psychology in Spain, Vol. 5.1, pp. 33-46. Fendler, L. (2001). "Educating flexible souls: the construction of subjectivity through developmentality and interaction." In: Hultquist, K. and Dalberg, G. (eds.): Governing the Child in the New Millennium. New York: Routledge. Flekkoy, M.G. (1993). "Children's Rights. Reflections on and Consequences of the Use of Developmental Psychology in Working for the Interests of Children." The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children: A Practical Experience. Genc' Universiteit Gent, cahier 13. Gullestad, \1arianne (1996). "From Obedience to Negoiation: Dilemmas in the ransmission of Values between the generations in Norway." The Jour wl of the Royal Anthropolgcial Institute, March Hagen, Ingunn (2002). Being a computer user - What does that mean? A Discussion about Young People's talk about Computers and Themselves In Tufte, Thomas (ed) Medierne, Minoriteterne og det multikulturelle Samfund - Skandinaviske perspektiv, Goteborg: Nordicom (in press). Jaffe, P.D. and Wicky, H.R. (1997). "Competence? Now Really" in: Verhellen, E. (ed.): Understanding Children's Rights. Collected papers presented at the Second International Interdisciplinary Course on Children's Rights. University of Ghent, June 28 th - July 5th • James, A., Prout, A. and Jenks, C. (1998). Theorizing Childhood. Oxford: Polity Press. Kjorholt, Anne Trine (2001). The Participating Child -A Vital Pillar in this Century? Nordisk Pedagogik, Vol. 21, pp. 65-18. Oslo. Livingstone, Sonia (1999). New Media, New Audiences, New Media and Society, 1(1), pp. 59-66. Meyrowirz, Joshua (1985). No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mortier, F. (1997). "Competence in children. A philosophical perspective." In: Verhellen, E. (ed.): Understanding Children's Rights. Collected papers presented at the Second International Interdisciplinary Course on Children's Rights. University of Ghent, July. Nayar, Usha S. (1997). "Children and Technology: Alternatives and Possibilities. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (Mimeo). Nayar, Usha S. (1999). "Child Labour in Developing Countries: An Internal or Internationalised Issue." Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (Mimeo).

Information Technology: Challenges for Paradigm Shift

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Nayar, Usha S. (2002). "New Information Technology and the Young Generation: Evolving Identities and Values." In a Mediated Environment. Part of the Research Project sponsored by Norwegian Research Council (SKIKT) (ongoing study). Postman Neil (1983). The Disappearance of Childhood. London: W.H. Allen. Stephens, S. (1995). Children and the Politics of Culture, Rights, Risks and Reconstructions. New Jersey, Princeton, University Press. Thorne, B. (1993). Gender Play. Girls and Boys in School. Buckhingham: Open University Press.

Leadership in School Context Dr. Seema Rani

It is a tragedy of fate of the people ofIndia that, on the one hand, the people and the government, both consider education extremely important social service, but the system as it is made operative is highly frustrating. Undoubtedly, there has been a great expansion of schools; the people and the government both consider education extremely important a social service, but the system as it is made operative is highly frustrating. Education during the post-independence period. But, the quality and standards of teaching-learning in the schools have been continually deteriorating. The marginal teachers who are weak in their intellectual equipment usually set the tone of teaching in the schools. During the years following the 1968 Policy on education there had been a national commitment on the need to give a new push to school education. But, nothing could come out of that. This collapse of the system of school education may be easily understood as a correlate of crisis of leadership in school education. Many people in the country hold that the present scenario of school education is very dismal. Most of the students passing high school- and intermediate examinations apart from their extremely poor knowledge and skills are found to have caught

Leadership in School Context

15

undesirable attitudes. Destructive tendencies, violence, alienation, apathy to learning, lack of motivation and frustration are some of the psychological traits that characterize most of them. Such are the kinds of students which the Indian system of education is producing as against what the New Education Policy of 1986 said. The Policy said, "Education has an acculturation role"l, "education is an investment in the present and the future 2 education should foster universal and eternal values".3 It is more frustrating if the present scenario of education is put against what the Kothari Commission said. The commission said, "We have to cultivate, a spirit of largehearted tolerance, of mutual give and take .... No education will be worthwhile if the educated mind is unable to respond to this situation with intelligence and imagination4 Considering the kind of climate that prevails in most schools many people feel that much of the expenditure on education is unproductive. Schools, by and large, are ineffective. Most people feel that education in our country is a highly mismanaged affair. It was for this reason that the National Policy of Education (1986) on page 20 said that education needed to be managed in an atmosphere of utmost intellectual rigor, seriousness of purpose and at the same time of freedom and the process of introducing discipline into the system had to be started there and them. 5 This implies that education in India was not being administered properly. The downward trend in the quality of school education right since the independence is clearly visible and urgent steps have to be taken in order to protect the system from degradation. Before such attempts are made factors of effectiveness of school education have to be identified. Research in this field has not reached any final conclusion. Yet, several factors have been studied as factors of institutional effectiveness. In the process of education several variables are involved which determined partially if not wholly, the quality of school education. The human factor consisting of the principals who manage the school is, however, the most versatile one that cuts across all other factors and conditions operating in the schools. The material resources consisting of the school's equipment, methodology of teaching, organization of academic activities, supervision of teach-ing, school climate,

16

Towards Development with Young People

student discipline and their involvement in learning, teacher active participation in teaching are a host of conditions considered as significant determinants of high or low quality of school education. But all these conditions are manipulated and made operative by the principals. In themselves they are meaningless. Effective operation and organization of these is ensured only by the principals of the schools. The skills, insight, competence and style of functioning, in other words his leadership, determines how these will be manipulated. Looking from this point of view, the process of administration and the position of the principal in the school constitute the most important dimensions of effectiveness of school education. To put it a little differently, effectiveness of school education may, thus, be considered just an aspect, a function of principal's administrative effectiveness. Hence, recruitment of competent principals for schools and their development through appropriate training programs is of great importance. But, the most intriguing fact is to determine what makes a competent principal. The Education Commission (1964 -66) said that since the educational administration was the main instrument of implementation of the policies and the processes through which goals of education could be achieved "elasticity" and "dynamism" should be introduced in it. The commission further said that "a change in the attitude of the administrator was very necessary". He should cultivate an openness of mind and a spirit of inquiry rather than a rule of thumb approach, which tries to stick to established practices. For this, the commission said research in educational administration is very much needed. 6 In the past, many researchers have made serious efforts on identifying the traits and characteristics that make for success as principal of a school. They have tried to identify and describe the syndrome of the personality of the school principal. Considering the principal as a key person in the school, a leader to use the vocabulary of the science of management, they approach the problem from functional point of view. Leadership is a key concept in the field of management, which implies that

Leadership in School Context

17

success or effectiveness of an organization depends on the dynamic and effective leadership. It is defined as the process of influencing people to strive willingly for achieving organizational objectives. In other words, it is influencing the performance of the subordinates and the co-workers so as to achieve the goals of the organization. It is the quality of the person who is held responsible for achieving the goals of the organization, with the efforts of the group of people he heads or leads. The leader is the person who works through the people, directs them, motivates them, supervises and controls them leading them ultimately to achieve the objectives he is held responsible. Success or failure of the organization is determined largely, by the kind of leader who manages it. Depending upon the personality and behavioral qualities, there are transformational and transactional, two types of leaders. The transformational leaders concentrate more on so changing their employee and coworkers that they rise above their self-interests and keep the group or the organizational interest at the top in their mind. They are charismatic showing individual consideration and are intellectually stimulating. Such leaders influence their followers by the force of their personality. The transactional leaders, on the other hand, attach greater importance to setting up goals, developing strategies and methodology to achieve them through strict supervision and control. Transformational leaders like Mahatma Gandhi are born while transactional leaders can be developed through training and education. It is more meaningful to analyze and understand the position of the principal of the school in this background. He is a leader in the sense that he occupies the top position in the hierarchy of the school and is held responsible for achieving the goals of school education through many other workers, mainly the teachers. He has to guide, supervise and control the whole group of workers so as to maintain high standards of teachinglearning. He is responsible for adequate development of students - cognitive, affective and conative. He has to provide needed facilities and proper environment so that the teachers and other employees of the school are not handicapped and are able to use

18

Towards Development with Young People

their abilities and skills fully for achieving the goals of excellent education. He has to plan, that is, decide objectives and fix targets; he has to organize programs and activities and assign responsibilities to teachers; he has to manage and provide needed material resources and facilities and has to see that they are optimally used; he has to monitor the progress, motivate people and take corrective actions. The achievement, which in the context of the school is excellent in teaching learning and educational development of pupils, is the ultimate responsibility of the principal as a leader. What determines the effectiveness of school principals as leaders has been subjected to vigorous researching in India and abroad. What constitutes principal's leadership style is more effective? What are the qualities and characteristics of an effective principal? How can principal's leadership be measured? These have been some of the puzzling questions that the researchers have considered important to answer. But these questions have been answered by them in different ways. Theoretically, it seems reasonable to believe that the kind of philosophy about other people, the teachers and other employees of the school that a principal has determines his leadership behaviour: This belief derives support from McGregors 7 theory of leadership which says that a principal's philosophy determines his style of working. If he assumes that people themselves do not like to work and they need be controlled and directed, then he tends to be rigid, authoritarian, autocratic, strict and taskoriented. On the other hand, if he thinks that people, by nature, are not bad and lazy, they can be self-directed, they willingly want to work to satisfy their various needs, then he becomes supporting and facilitating. He may care for the people, give them a chance to work independently, help his subordinates and may prefer to be permissive. Depending upon their kind of philosophy, there may be theory-X and theory-Y principals. Theory-X principals are, generally, task-oriented while theoryY principals are, generally, people-oriented. Who of these is more effective and successful is difficult to predict because it is the school situation, which determines the appropriateness of the administrative style of the principal.

Leadership in School Context

19

The behaviouristic approach to principal's effectiveness focuses on not what he is like, but on what he does in order to help teachers and other employees accomplish objectives of the school. Research in this area concluded that there may be two major types of behaviour patterns describing success or effectiveness of principal's leadership, "initiating structure" and "consideration", one being system-oriented and the other peopleoriented. Andrew Halpin 8 used these dimensions for describing the leader behaviour of school superintendents. Fiedler 9 called them as task-oriented and relationship-oriented styles of leadership. Stogdill 10 however, said that no leader can be wholly system-oriented or wholly person-oriented. Depending upon the school situation and his own philosophy the school principals may be more task-oriented and less person-oriented, or more person-oriented and less task-oriented or equally system-oriented and person-oriented, that is, transactional which has been found by researchers to be highly correlated with most measures of principals leader effectiveness. A few researchers in India have tried to study and identify the styles of administration and the school principal's use and also the style, which is more effective. For this purpose they have used the concept of grid systems expounded by Blake and Mouton. l l This concept is based on the argument that every administrator has discernible style of functioning which is a composite of the task-oriented and people-oriented styles, and that every administrator has a variable position somewhere on both these dimensions. There can be many specific positions between being wholly task- oriented and wholly people-oriented. To show these on a chart Blake and Mouton developed a grid chart. On the left side of the chart is a vertical scale representing concern for people or relationship numbered from one to nine vertically starting from bottom. At the base of chart is a horizontal scale representing concern for task also numbered from one to nine starting from left to right. On both scales number 1 is low concern and number 9 is high concern. Theoretically there are 81 positions on the grid representing many varieties of administrative styles. But, the instrument, that is the center around only five points defined and expressed

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as 9,1; 1,9; 1,1, 5,5 and 9,9 styles of administration. These are defined as follows:

1. 9,1 Styles (lower right to the grid) This is the style showing little concern for the subordinate employees, but very high concern for the task. Such a type of administrator is primarily concerned with getting the job nicely done and completed in time. He is the embodiment of authoritarian personality telling the people all the time what to do and how to do. 2. 1,9 Style (upper left of the grid) This style represents little concern for the task, for teaching learning, student achievement and their development, but has intense concern for the people or friendly relation with them. It cares more for happy and harmonious work force even at the cost of educational goals. 3. 1,1 Style (lower left of the grid) This style represents low concern for both the teachers and other employees and also for goals of education. Neither it cares for task or for subordinates. Such an administrator is not involved in school's affairs and contributes nothing to standards of education. This is impoverished administration. Such administrator wants to be just present in the school but not seen. He just wants to survive. 4. 5,5 Style (center of the grid) This style is moderately concerned with both educational goals, and the teachers, students and other employees. By sticking to the middle of the road such principals keep the schools stable. They are always in a mood to compromise. In fact this is a style of mediocrity, not suitable if excellence in teaching, learning and high quality school education is aimed at: 5. 9,9 Style (Upper right corner of the grid) Principals who use this style of administration are highly involved in the task and the people both. To them achievement

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of high standards of teaching learning and teacher's welfare and development both are very important. This style yields optimum result in most schools particularly in public schools. Rensis Likert's large scale research in other organizations has supported this view.1 2 Hence, principals training programs in educational administration should aim at the development of this style. Such principals who use this style consider their job challenging for themselves and try to build up a good team of teachers and employees for achieving excellence in academic field. From this discussion it does not follow that a style of administration is good or bad in all schools. In fact, a variety of styles may be effective and ineffective depending upon the school situations. When the style used by a principal is appropriate to the school situation it is termed as effective. When it is inappropriate it is termed as ineffective. A style ineffective in one school situation may be effective in another school situation. According to situational theory of leadership propounded by Hersey and Blanchard 13 it is not the style itself, which is effective or ineffective. Rather, it is the situation that makes it effective or ineffective. A few most critical factors of school situation that determine the effectiveness of principals administrative styles discussed before are (a) psychological climate of the school, (b) technology, methods, equipment and facilities available in the school, (c) principals relationship with the superiors, coworkers and the subordinates, and Cd) maturity of the teachers and other employees, which means a composite of their skills and willingness to set high but realistic educational goals and to take responsibility for achieving the same. Within the frame work of these theoretical considerations, 'some researchers in India have tried to identify the administrative styles which the school principals in India use. They have also made efforts on finding out how the various administrative styles of principals are related to teacher's alienation, teachers morale and school climate. In some studies, researchers tried to find out if some personality needs were related to principals administrative effectiveness. A few most representative ones are briefly described in the following pages.

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Surendra Kumar 14 conducted a study on principals of secondary schools of Delhi in which he tried to find out if there was any relationship between principal's administrative styles and effectiveness of the schools. For measuring principal's administrative styles he used Styles of Leadership Questionnaire constructed by Professor Bhatnagar of Meerut University measuring the five styles as identified by Blake and Mouton for their grid chart. This tool yields scores on 9,1; 1,9; 5,5; 1,1 and 9,9 styles. For measuring schools effectiveness he constructed his own tool. The study was based on a sample of 48 principals. Some of the conclusions drawn were as follows. He found that there was a significant difference in the administrative styles of effective and ineffective schools and concluded that principal's administrative styles, perhaps, positively contributed to schools effectiveness. It was further concluded that: 9,9 style had the highest contribution to make as compared with other styles although principals of effective schools use 9,1 style more frequently. It was also revealed that majority of the ineffective schools of Delhi used 5,5 and 1,9 styles. That is, a majority of them followed the middle of the road administration policy trying to keep the schools just on rail and the teachers and the employees peaceful. Styles of administration are only one of the several variables, which contribute to principal's leadership. Other important variable may be principals' values of life and their personality characteristics, particularly personality needs. In the said study, it was found that those school principals were more effective leaders who had high theoretical and social values. Similarly, he found that n-nurturance, n-dominance and nendurance their personality needs were positively related to principal's administrative effectiveness defined in terms of their schools effectiveness. On the other hand, need aggression and need succourance were found to be negatively related. The syndrome of factors underlying effective schools was found to be 9,9 and 9,1 administrative styles together with high social and theoretical values combining four personality need such as nach., n-dom.,n-nur., and n-end. Kaushik 15 also conducted a study on a similar pattern. He also used the same tool, styles of Leadership Questionnaire by

Leadership ill School Context

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Bhatnagar for measuring principal's administrative styles. He tried to find out if there was any relationship between principal's administrative styles and school's climate, teacher's alienation and their morale. It was found that 9,9 style emphasizing the task of teaching, learning and the teacher's welfare and guidance generated more favorable school climate, produced less alienation in teachers and tended to keep high morale of the teachers leading ultimately to school's effectiveness. . The study was conducted on a sample of 50 principals of intermediate colleges. The study came to the conclusion that different administrative styles generate different kinds of school climates. Most favorable school climate was generated by 9,9 style of administration. Principal's administrative styles were found to be related to teacher's alienation and morale also. Highest level of alienation in teachers was found in colleges where the principals used 9,1 style more frequently. Finally, it was concluded that principals 9,9 style of administration generated more conducive school climate, produced least alienation in teachers, raised morale of teachers and achieved greatest amount of school effectiveness. Rita Chauhan 16 conducted a study on the effectiveness of democratic and authoritarian styles of administration. The study was based on sample of 141 principals of intermediate colleges of Allahabad district. She found that authoritarian styles of principal's administrative leadership was superior to democratic style as a factor of schools academic effectiveness. Though the findings of these studies cannot be considered conclusive, yet they may help in building up a theory of school administration. The findings may be useful in explaining why the schools are effective or ineffective. Ineffective administrative leadership, in most cases, may be found to be the cause of unsuccessful schools. The concept of principal's leadership and the findings of research in this area point out to the fact that principal's training in school management is important. If training and development programs are necessary for the executives in the context of the industry, they must be so for principals in the context of the schools too. Through the well structured programs of training developed around technical,

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conceptual and human skills, more competent and able principals may be inducted into the system. This may result in better standards of education providing to the nation highly skilled and intelligent manpower, most needed for country's sociopolitical and economical development. SELECTED REFERENCES 1. National Policy on Education -1986, Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India, Department of Education, New Delhi, May,1986, p. 2.

2. Ibid., p. 3. 3. Ibid., p. 8. 4. Ministry of Educational, Government of India, Education and National development: Report of the Education Commission - 1964 - 66, New Delhi, 1966, (para - 1.68)

5. Op. cit., p. 20 6. Education and National Development: Report of the Education Commission - 1964-66, New Delhi, 1966, p. 462. 7. McGregor, Douglas, The Human Side of Enterprise, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1960. 8. Halpin, A.W., The Leadership Behaviour of School Superintendent, Columbia, Ohio College of Education, Ohio State University, 1956. 9. Fiedler, Fred E. A Theory of beadership Effectiveness. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1967. 10. Stogdill, R.. Handbook of Leadership: A Survey of Theory and Research, New York, The Free Press, 1974. 11. Blake, R.R. and Mouton, J.S., The New Managerial Grid III, Houston Gulf Publishing, 1984. 12. Likert, Rensis. The Human Organization, New York, McGrawHill Book Co., 1967. 13. Hersey, Paul; and Blanchard, Kenneth H, Management of Organizational Behaviour, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi, 1978. 14. Garg, Surendra Kumar. "A Study of Institutional Effectiveness as a Function of Principal's Administrative Styles and their Personality Structure at +2 Level", Ph.D. Thesis in Education ,Charan Singh University, Meerut, U.P., 1995.

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15. Kaushik, M.P, 'A Study of Organizational Climates of Intermediate Colleges of Moradabad Region in Relation TO Teacher's Alienation, their Morale and Principal's Leadership Styles and Institutional Effectiveness", Ph.D. Thesis in Education, Rohilkhand University, U.P., 1993. 16. Chauhan, Rita, Instltutional Academic Effectiveness Under Different Leadership Behaviours, Ph.D. Thesis in Education, Allahabad University, Allahabad, U.P., 1994.

Impact of Computers on the Public Schools Dr. Marlow Edigar

The use of computer is rapidly increasing in the societal arena. Banks, supermarkets, hardware stores, car dealerships, and the business world in general, are using computers to store and retrieve data. The school setting is attempting to catch up with the use of computers. Schools are a nonprofit organization and depend upon tax moneys to pay for computers. As there is an increased amount of money in the school budget for technology purchases, more pupils are experiencing computer services than ever before. In school districts throughout the country, computer literacy is considered a top educational goal. But too few administrators, teachers and parents understand what the term really means. What passes for computer literacy in many schools is a shadow of the real thing. To understand why, we need to look at the two roles the computer plays in most schools: information resource and self-contained teaching machine. As an information resource, the computer can complement books, magazines, videos, and other media. For example, a fourth grade teacher might augment a unit on animals with an article

Impact of Computers on the Public Schools

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from a multimedia encyclopedia or other software-based resources. The advent of the CD ROM, with its large storage capacity, has made such information-based software readily available. But most educational software is designed to turn computers into teaching machines. A class of programs called integrated learning systems enables a computer to act like personal tutor in subject as drives as reading, writing, mathematics and foreign languages. Students go through such programs at their own pace, with the software providing lessons, quick feedback, infinite patience, and detailed achievements records. (German, 1997). School administrators need to understand and value technological use in a classroom. School administrator perceive the necessity of implementing technological use in classroom so that pupils may achieve more optimally. No doubt, there are school administrators who lack quality experiences with technology and, therefore, do not see the need for pupils experience in learning activities involving technology. Each principal and supervisor should avail themselves in learning more about technology and how to integrate its use into the school curriculum. Talking to and learning from classroom teachers, as well as teachers learning from principals, should assist the school in realising the importance of technology in modern curriculum. Staff development programmes in using technology in the curriculum should be in the offing. Teachers and administrators need to realize the importance of an updated curriculum. The school of today and the work place of tomorrow should not be in isolation from each other, but rather integrated entities. Definite goals in service education using technology are musts. These goals and experience for participants need to be carefully chosen. Relevance and importance are two concepts that need careful consideration when in service education programmes are developed implemented. The goals of the workshop should be clearly stated and cooperatively developed by workshop participants .... (Ediger, 1997). Computer software has different purposes in its use. Drill and practice programmes began as basic instruction on such topics as multiplication tables, for example. Over the years their power, sophistication and subject coverage have grown.

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Turorial software offers the best hope .... for computer based individualized learning. The software, often with multimedia attributes like full motion video and sound, is written to tutor slow to fast students. Usually, these programmes offer teachers with some breakdown on students progress. Simulation ~{)ftware artificially creates a real life experience and this artificial real life can be extremely interesting and effective. The approach is anything but rote, but (especially for scientific and technical subjects) draws on the augments the knowledge of the participants. It can be used for single or large group players. The number of commercially available simulation programmes is burgeoning. As the image resolution and full page display capablities of computer monitors improve, the realness, if you will, of simulations will further improve ... Problem solving software tests critical thinking and judgement, often without looking for a "right answer". One product, for example, centres. upon accidental breaking of a teacher's vase by two students who had wanted to hide her two pencils. The player is first prompted to select ( on the computer) four goals in order of importance. The goals are: (1) always be honest and tell the truth; (2) maintain good relations with peers; (3) protect yourself; and (4) be well liked by your peers. Then repeated throughout the play, the player is promoted to select an option for example, (1) tell the teacher you did't break vase; (2) to say that you did't see who broke it; (3) say the other boy broke it; and (4) say nothing. Then at the end of the program, the player is graded by the computer on how well his or her answers accorded with the goal selection. The programme also allows a group of students to play with each student representing a separate "goal" the user manual states that the goal of the product is to represent the player with consequences of his or her actions (Cosmann, 1996).

Schools of Thought in Computer Use There are different schools of thought in terms of how computer use is to be stressed. The first school of thought emphasizes that precise measurably stated objectives be written prior to instruction. These objectives might be state mandated or locally written. Care must be taken to write objectives that

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are relevant and important for pupils to achieve. Much time needs to be given in writting precise objectives that have worth, not trivia nor the unimportant. Once the objectives have been agreed upon, they provide guidance to the teacher in stressing the content to be taught. Computer programs should then emphasize, as learning activities, that which is contained in these precise objectives. Thus, drill and practice, tutorial, simulation, and games may provide necessary subject matter in order that each pupil might achieve predetermined measurably - stated objectives. In multimedia technology procedure, CD ROMs, and internet may offer further learning opportunities to pupils in achieving these precise objectives. After instruction, the teacher needs to measure if pllpils havelhave not achieved the stated objectives. If objectives have been achieved, the pupil may move on to increasingly more complex objectives within the learning sequence. Those pupils not mastering what is the stated objctive(s) need other teaching strategies involving technology in its diverse forms. A second school of thought in assisting teaches to guide pupil achievement is to stress problem solving . Within a unit of study, pupils identify a problem. The problem needs to be clearly stated so that pupils understand what will be achieved. After problem selection, pupils may gather data or information to solve the open-ended problem. Diverse reference sources using technology might then be used as information sources. A hypothesis is obtained from the information acquired to solve the problem. The hypothesis is tested with the use of additional technology sources of information. A third school of thought in teaching pupils is an ideacentered technology curriculum . Thus, in an ongoing unit of study the teacher has general objectives for pupils to achive. These objectives are more open ended as compared to the teacher who desires measurably stated objectives in teaching and learning situations. Pupils with teacher guidance use a variety of technology to secure information pertaining to the sequential open ended objectives as stated in the curriculum. Whatever the topic being studied, the teacher guides pupils through technology use to secure information in depth. The teacher

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observes how well pupils are realizing the general objectives. Subject matter achieved by pupils mayor may not emphsize problem solving. Basic, essential subject mattter may be obtained by pupils that is relevant and guides in attaining the general objectives. A fourth school of thought in using a technology-centred curriculum is to emphasize pupil/teacher planning of objectives, learning opportunities, and evaluation procedures. The planning is done after pupils have been orientated to the new unit of study. Thus pupils plan with the teacher what they wish to learn. The means of learning are also planned cooperatively in that information sources need locating. Co-operative evaluation is a further ingredient of teacher/pupil planning school of thouglit in the curriculum. An additional procedure here is for the teacher to develop learning stations, perhaps seven to eight"stations per classroom. Tasks on a card are listed at each center. The pupil then may determine what he \she wishes to learn as well as what to omit. There are ample number of tasks so that the individual pupil may select what to learn and what to omit. A variety of technology is available to guide pupils in the learning process (Ediger, 1995) Psychology in Computer Use

Psychologists in education tend to agree that learning activities involving technology use should be: (1)

Meaningful in that pupils understand what is being presented via technology. With meaning, pupils understand that which has been presented inductively or deductively.

(2) Interesting in that content and skills capture pupil's attention. The use of technology provides time whereby pupils are thoroughly involved in the ongoing experiences. (3) Purposeful whereby pupils perceive reasons for learning. Pupil pupose is a tremendously salient factor in guiding pupil learning. Intrinsically, pupils should develop a need for learning in ongoing units and lessons.

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(4) Integrative among three kinds of objectives. Thus, relevant knowledge needs to be obtained by pupils. Skills that guide in using the obtained knowledge also need to be developed. Quality altitudes are beneficial in that an increased amount of knowledge and skills may be developed. (5) Sequential in that pupils perceive new learnings secured as being related to those previously obtained. The relationship of the new and the previously secured subject matter should guide pupils to perceive the relationship of ideas (Ediger, 1994). Based on learning the opportunities being meaningful, interesting, purposeful, integrated, and sequential, there are selected specific psychologies that merit attention in technology use. There are teachers who desire that objectives be precisely stated. These specific objectives then provide direction in selecting learning opportunities. The chosen objectives emphasized by the teacher assist pupils to achieve the precise ends. After instruction, it can be measured if pupils have been successful in goal attainment. A second psychology of learning stresses that open-ended, general objectives be used in teaching. These objectives are clearly stated, but do not possess the measurable component. More leeway is then given the teacher in planning sequential learning opportunities for pupils. Thus, pupils with teacher guidance are orientated to the new unit of study using technology, but the sequence now resides largely within pupils in planning cooperatively what to learn. Learners may then wish to work in committees to complete planned experiences. The teacher is a guide and assists pupils to stay on the task with the use of technology. Evalution consists of pupils with teacher guidance appraising that which has been learned using quality criteria. A third psychology of learning stresses a project method. Here, within an ongoing unit of study, pupils perceive a need or purpose . The need/purpose involves a problem area. The purpose is clarified so that meaningful learning accrues. After establishing the purpose, pupils plan what needs to be done to

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obtain knowledge/skills to solve the problem. Technology needs to be surveyed and chosen for problem solving. Following planning, the involved pupils carry out the plans .Quality procedures need to be used here. Responsibility rests with pupils and teacher assistance. Criteria need to be developed to appraise the completed project in order to evalute its woth or value. A fourth psychology of learning emphasizes that pupils choose from among alternatives that which is to be selected as activities and experiences. The teacher might then develop learning centers pertaining to the unit of study being taught. The individual pupil chooses which center and which station to work at. The chosen tasks may be individual or committee work. The pupil does the sequencing in a psychological curriculum. He/she determines what comes first, second, and third in terms of activities and experiences. Sequence resides within the pupil, not the teacher nor within teaching materials. If the activities do not meet personal needs of a pupil, he/she may plan with the teacher an alternative route of learning (Ediger, 1996). A fifth psychology of instruction emphasizes that pupils possess many intelligences and way of presenting information acquired. A pupil learnings such as verbal! linguistic, logical! mathematical, visual/spatial, musical, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, scientific, humanistic, and intrapersonal procedures (Gardner, 1993). Pupils should then have a greater say in how to indicate what has been .learned. For example, a pupil may prefer to work with others or work individually in ongoing activities and also prefer to show what has been achieved in one of the two approaches- interpersonal or intrapersonal. Or, a pupil in a history class may wish to show learnings acquired through musical experiences. Much history has been recorded in musical form with both lyrics and musical scores. There are numerous ways for pupils to show what has been learned to others. There are multiple intelligences to indicate these learnings. Through technology, one may indicate to others the breadth and depth of experiences and achievements.

National Standards in Education Presently, much emphasis is being placed on national and state trends to motivate pupils to achieve more and at a more

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33

complex level. This includes the area of technology and computers. My concerns when developing national and state standards are the following: (1) That the standards are realistics and achievable by learners. If the standards are too difficult, there may be many pupils failing in school. Pupils should achieve optimally to be sure. But, the standard setters need to avoid becoming overly ambitious in establishing goals not attainable. (2) That pupils and the teacher also have input into the curriculum locally. Having standards set by those outside the local school district, removes the teacher's chances of becoming very knowledgeable about each pupil's talents and abilities.It is more difficult to provide for individual differences when the standard setters are far removed from home base. (3) That pupils may not feel motivated to learn when the objectives chosen have little or no relevance for the learner. Standard setters are human beings like the rest of us. They have their biases and preferences also. Or surely, there will be some common agreement about the objectives that pupils need to achieve. (4) That too much forcing will be emphasized in a hierarchy from the standard setters to teachers and pupils in the classroom. For computer literacy to occur, pupils need to understand hardware components and how systems such as Microsoft Windows and Mac OS work. Learners need to be able to switch between multiple programs through a menu structure and change fonts. Pupils also need to be able to develop a spreadsheet formula. There are many tools for software use and committee endeavors in writing. These include CAl programs, CD ROMS, drafting, spelling checkers, analyses of texts, calculators, graphics, word processing, and online databases. Pupils should be creative in determining what to do when certainty is not there in computer use. Asking for assistance is one approach, but there in computer use and becoming a problem solver is more important. Life consists of problems to be solved.

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Feasible national and state standards are needed in the technologylcomputer curriculum. Technologies as conduits to new knowledge, resources, and higher order thinking skills have entered classrooms and schools nationwide. Personal computers, CD-ROMs, online services, the World Wide Webb, and other innovative technologies have enriched curricular resources and altered the types of instruction available. The new Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) report, "Teachers and Technologies : Making the connection" provides evidence that schools access to technology is rising steadily. OTA reports 5.8 million computers are available in school for instruction - about one computer for every nine students. Approximately 35% of schools can access on-line services, 30% have CD ROMS, and nearly all have TVs and VCRs. Most of these technologies are used for traditional instruction, such as presenting information, basic skills practice, word processing, and developing computer literacy. Teachers are, however, begining to use more innovative applications- using desktop publishing, developing mathematical and scientific reasoning with computer simulations, gathering information using on-line services and CD ROM databases, and communicating via E-mail ( Hartley, 1997). Computer literacy is also for pupils with special needs, Hoge and Rogers (1996) wrote: Why would a speech language teacher need technology to work with children with special needs? Studies of augmentative and alternative communication suggested options, but did they apply to the realities of my students? Assigned to work with children with serious communication disorders, I soon saw the difference that technology can make. Technology is a motivating tool. The other therapists and I learned that technology unleashed potential and creates opportunities for social interaction. We began with simple application of technology - a big round switch and a tape recorder. Suddenly, a child would demonstrate that she knew what would happen when she pressed a switch - music played. In another classroom, the special day class teacher and I applied for a small grant to get software and switches that

Impact of Computers

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the Public Schools

35

special-needs could use to play with regular education peers on the classroom computer. They found they could race other, play jokes and trade comments. Disabilities were less a factor that they had been without technology. Pressing a key to play a game involves less muscle coordination than many other more physical games. Children with special needs deserve a way to interact socially with others. Sometimes physical limitations eliminate normal playgroup activities. Sometimes communication limitations interfere with normal requests, comments and conversation so integral to child's world. Technology provides alternatives. Accessing technology can be as simple as depressing a switch with a finger or an arm. Even chins and feet work if necessary. Muscles used in pointing are far simpler than the complex ones required for many other kinds of interactions.

In Closing School and society should be integrated, and not remain separate entities. In the societal arena, much use is made of technology. The school setting also needs to have pupils become proficient in computer literacy. For example, all pupils should learn to use the word processor. The typewriter of the past is a museum piece. When I started university teaching in the 1962-1963 school year, there were an endless number of typewriters on the campus, but no word processors. Even in typing classes, shall we say "only the typewriter or "the typewriter alone" the typewriter only, was used by the instructor and students. Now a typewriter, for at least twenty years has not be visible on any university campus. I remember one of our school of education secretaries, twenty-five years ago who was so efficient in using the typewriter feared using the word processor. Mter trying the word processor for the first time, she realized the key board was quite similar to the typewriter keyboard; she also realized the many benefits of the word processor over the typewriter. I have written and had published over 2,200 manuscripts on educational topics. Formerly, I wrote all the manuscripts in longhand using paper and pencil, never having attainded a typing class. Work study students then would type out the manuscripts

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and return them for proofing. In the days of the typewriter, there were so many corrections to be made. It was very time consuming to proof and return the manuscript, again and again to the work study person for revision. Liquid paper or white out was a vey ueful item to posses in the days of the typewriter. Some errors could then be corrected rather quickly by using liquid paper or write out, and retyping those letters or words. I finally wondered why not learn to use the word processor on my own, with no previous course work or practice in typing. The rest is history; with much effort, I have learned to use the word processor. I make quite a few typing errors, but with spell check, I could now type a final copy of a PHD thesis. Word processor is an amazing device. I type directly into the word processor without first having to write in longhand. This approach has truly saved time, work and effort. The final copy looks neat and attractive. In writing about the future pertaining to technology , Mehlinger (1996) wrote: Finally, technology will have greater intelligence. This intelligence will be displayed in several ways. Firstly, the technology will have more features and greater capacity. Second, it will have the capability to learn from the user, so that it can customize its services to fit the user's learning and interest. Future technology will provide not only data bases but knowledge bases. And technology will be able to stay abreast of that information most valuable to the user and alert him or her to its availability. Integration, interaction, and intelligence. These are the three features we can expect of technology in the future. And, they will change the way technology is employed in schools. SELECTED REFERENCES Cosmann, Richard (1996), " The Evolution of Educational Computer Software", Edu~ation, 116 (4), p. 62l. Ediger, Marlow (1997), Teaching Reading and the Language Arts in the Elementary school. Kirksville, Missouri: Simpson Publishing Company, pp. 269-270. Ediger, Marlow (1995), Philosophy in Curriculum Development. Kirksville, Missouri: Simpson Publishing Company, pp, 1-15. Ediger, Marlow (1994), "Early Field Experiences in Teacher Education," College Student Journal, 28 (3), pp. 302-303.

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Ediger, Marlow (1996), Elementary Education. Kirksville, Missouri: Simpson Publishing Company, pp. 172-184. Gardner, Howard (1993), Multiple Intelligences : The Theory in Practice. New York: The Basic books. German, Mark, "Computer Literacy: Teaching for the Real World," The Principal, 76 (4), p. 46. Haertel, Geneva D., "Creating School and Classroom Cultures that Value Learning: The Role of National Standards," Educational Horizons, 75 (3), p. 144. Hoge, Suzi and Sharon Rogers (1996)," Two Perspectives for Children with Special Needs," The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 63 (1), pp. 12-13.

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth Dr. D. K. Srivastava

Today, youth is seeking its place in modern world. They are living in a world characterized by rising aspirations, rapid changes in technology, high education and awareness and changing face of society. They are trying to establish their identity in business, social service, government, and corporate world in India and abroad. However, there is a growing sense of despair and restlessness among the educated youth in our country. Many young people are unemployed despite the availing adequate educational qualification. They experience frustration in their life. The objective of this study is to investigate antecedents and consequences of frustration. Firstly, an attempt has been made to identify environmental factors of frustration. Secondly, it analyses the impact of personality variables like the need for achievement and locus of control on frustration. Thirdly, it analyses the consequences of frustration among the educated unemployed youth. In, addition, in differences between urban and rural samples have been examined in the study. Data have been collected from the urban and rural areas of Allahabad. At

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

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the time of data collection, students were trying for a job after completing their minimum qualification. They were unemployed at that time. The age of students varied between 18 and 30 years and their educational qualification between intermediate and post-graduation. The findings of the study indicated that environmental variables and personality variables were significant predictors of frustration. Need for achievement was positively related to frustration. Most of the respondents were facing economic problems in their life. Some of them were dependent upon friends and relatives. Most of them think that employment opportunities are not available. Dominant reaction of the respondents to frustration was analyzed. It was found that aggression was manifested by 33.07%. Fixation was dominant reaction of 14.61 % students only, regression was manifested by 27.69% and resignation by 24.61% students. The results indicated that the high frustration group showed more aggression, regression and resignation as compared to the low frustration group. Student having high frustration showed adjustment problems. It was found that urban respondents experienced more frustration than rural respondents. The implications of findings have been discussed for counseling of unemployed youth. Key words: Frustration, Antecedents, Consequences.

INTRODUCTION In any country, youth plays an important role in social vital change and development of the society. In India, youths constitute one third of population. In absolute terms, the total youth population in 1986 was 250 million. It is necessary to know the needs and problems of the youth in the country. Researchers from different disciplines like Economics, Education, Sociology and Psychology have studied the different aspects of youth and provided valuable information. These disciplines have covered a wide range of topics which include unemploymant and its consequences, vocational preferences and career aspirations, student unrest in universities, political movements, sex and age differences in personality profile, generation gap, impact of modernization, creativity, drug abuse, identity crisis, interpersonal conflict, intergroup relations conflict with authority, and frustration in the organization etc. Some of the

40

Towards Development with Young People

studies have given specific attention to the problems of youth belonging to SC and ST and other poverty groups. Youths are seeking its place in modern world. They are living in a world, which is in many ways alien and unfamiliar to the old generation. Especially, there is growing sense of despair, and restlessness among the educated youth and undisciplined behaviour and violent outburst have become a common feature all over. Because, in the industrial societies the youths were exempt from adult economic participation in order to get advanced training for the more technologically sophisticated industrial world. They were increasingly separated from the larger community and were socialized by schools and peers. This has created a situation where adulthood is postponed to increasingly later ages. Thus, youths are developing as a separate cultural group having their own ideas, values, norms and attitudes. This trend has developed because of increasing separation of age groups in industrial societies. The young are in schools and are either not permitted to work, or find difficulty in getting work. They are separated from adults who work in institutions away from the young. Most of social interactions also take place along age lines. Young interact with young groups, and elders interact with elders. There is little interaction between the young and the old. Therefore, modern youth develops in his own world, is not in a mood to conform to the style of life of elders. The youth develop their own identity.

Review of Literature Today youth in India is facing multitudes of problems like unemployment, regional conflict, poverty, identity crisis and drug abuse etc .. In addition, values and aspirations of the youths are changing. Pandey (1974) investigated the aspirations and values of urban and rural youth in India. Educational aspirations of urban youth were found to be higher than that of the rural youth. The study also indicated that youths of today are moving toward modernization. A definite trend toward modernization, in terms of social mobility, greater faith in science and technology, full awareness of importance of the mass media and achievement orientation was found. Reddy & Bhat (1977) concluded that individuals were aware of the importance of future

FrustratIOn Among Unemployed Youth

41

,and were also aware of the possibilities of success in building their future. In the past 45 years, there has been an expansion of formal education. Formal education is shaping the experience of youth so as to bring about significant changes in life; for example, modern attitudes and values among the youth. Therefore, today's youth is facing a complex situation characterized by rising expectations from life and lack of opportunities to fulfill his expectations. Unemployment among youths is a major problem in the country. Educated as well as uneducated people are unemployed. A person is unemployed if he or she is seeking work but has no work during a reference period. In 1981, it was 1.78 million and in 1988, it went up to 3.58 million persons unemployed. In 1991, 3.63 million persons were unemployed and in 2001 it sky rocketed to the (three crore)30 million. Thus, number of unemployed persons is increasing rapidly in India. Unemployment has implications for development of youth as well as development of country. Therefore, researchers from various disciplines have focussed their attention to the problem. Causes of unemployment and impact of youth have been major focus of research. Unemployment may lead to crime, increase in crime and violence, corruption, social tension among various groups like supporters and opponents of MandaI Commission, drug abuse, stress and health problems among the youth. Researchers from various disciplines like Sociology, Psychology and Education, Political Science, have been studying the problem of unemployment and its impact on individuals and groups. Psychologists have concentrated on the social and psychological problems of unemployed people. They have studied antecedents and consequences of unemployment among the youth and its impact on their behaviour. A large number of studies have focused on the consequences of unemployment among the educated youth. Behaviour in response to unemployment is the outcome of the complex interaction between the personality characteristics and social situation of the individual. Unrest and agitation by students is common in any University campus today. The students perceived that the defective examination system, problem of relationships, political interference in educational

42

Towards Development with Young People

system, lack of communication between the students and authorities and complacency on the part of the authorities, demoralizing influences of public leaders and union politics are the major causes of student agitation (Sharma, 1971). In a study of Kerala University students, George (1971) found that they were facing the following problems:1. Personal Relations: The students perceived that they were little more than units in an anonymous mass, numbers on the computer tape and for the professor's faceless beings in a lecture hall. They had no opportunity to develop meaningful personal relationship with the professors who are indifferent to their needs aI d problems.

2. Need t(J Participation in Social and Political Activities: In the post-ind. pendence era, the students have imbibed the democratic spirit and wish to become active rather than passive members of the society they are about to enter. Therefore, they wish to be actively involved in the social and political developments of the country. 3. Need for Independence: Modern education requires several years of advanced study and students are quite grown up and mature. In developing countries like India, students have little chance of getting part-time employment and have to depend on their parents for their financial resources. However, they have strong need for independence. After the age of 18 to 20, most of the students feel that they should not depend upon their parents for their survival. However, it is difficult to achieve it. Reddy & Bhat (1977) examined the life orientation of youth. Individualistic orientation, activist orientation and future orientation of youth are analyzed. Individualistic oriented people are highly mobile for career growth. Activists oriented people believe that it is possible for the individuals to manipulate the existing conditions through their individual efforts and get the advantage out ofthat. They do not believe that life is preordained. Future oriented people are plan oriented. They believe in sacrificing the present gratification for future gain. On the other hand, present oriented people believe in present gratification and leave the future to itself, which, they believe, is uncertain. It was found that subjects in urban and rural areas had high

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

43

activist and future orientation and low individual orientation. Because of close family relations and the need to be related to kin, their mobility was likely to be impeded. Without mobility they would not be able to achieve career growth they wanted. This could create feelings offrustration. It is likely that inability to achieve what they want can be manifested as deviant behaviour at the local and regional levels. Life orientation needs, interest etc., are determined by the culture and social circumstances. In a rural setting, non-school going boys express self-reliance as dominant need which indicates that they do not like to be dependent upon their parents. The girls express need for knowledge and security. Similarly, reading, new experience, music and playing. However, ranking of different needs and interest can vary across different social groups. However, there are certain gaps in the literature, which need attention of further studies. Firstly, there is a general trend to address the researches to the problem of youth in the changing socio-cultural context, rather than to the problems of youth with reference to the uniqueness of this stage of development. Youth in India have been studied in terms of their physical, emotional, social, motivational and personality development to arrive at the general pattern of development. Secondly, studies have methodological flaws with respect to sampling, design, measurement and analysis. Sometimes measurement tools without eligibility and validity have been used. Relationships have been established without controlling other variables in the study. Thirdly, studies in India mostly involve students rather than non-students, urban rather than rural, non-working rather than working youth. Studies on rural and non-students are not adequately represented though they constitute a majority of the total population in India. There appears to be lack of syst8Ulatic studies on frustration among youth in the Ingian context, though there are studies on stress among youth. Behavior in response to unemployment is determined by social situations and personality characteristics of youth. Unemployment may lead to various problems like stress, health and frustration etc. Educated unemployed youth may experience frustration because they are not yet able to get a job. Thus,

44

Towards Development with Young People

there is blocking of motive leading to experience of frustration. Consequences of frustration may be aggression, regression, anxiety, depression and adjustment problems among youth. Frustration among Indian youth has not received enough attention of the psychologists. Therefore, the study analyses antecedents and consequences of frustration of educated youth in the urban and rural areas. Frustration

Frustration is a hypothetical construct. It is a psychological state of a person. Frustration refers to unpleasant emotional state that results from blocked goal seeking. Frustration occurs whenever the organism or individual meets a more or less unsurmountac Ie obstacle or obstructions in its route to the satisfaction of ar y need or motive (Rosenwig, 1946). Frustration is experienced \/henever an individual's motives are thwarted either by obstacles that block or impede his progress toward a desired goal or by absence of an appropriate goal (Coleman and Boren, 1972). Frustration is a state, which can disturb the psychological equilibrium of an individual. Every person has his or her own tolerance level against frustration. Some have little tolerance and become easily frustrated, while others have high tolerance and may not be frustrated easily. However, there is a threshold of frustration below, which the people can think rationally and act effectively. It varies from person to person depending upon the different needs and circumstances of life. Frustration may lead to different reactions like aggression, regression, rationalization, depression, etc. These reactions give us time to solve the problems that might overwhelm us. Being able to rationalize failure that would otherwise cause despair helps the person to adjust with the situation till one finds a solution. However, behaviour based on defense mechanism may not prove completely satisfying to the individual as long as the motives underlying the behaviour remain unsatisfied. An experience of frustration among youth can be harmful to individuals as well as society if it cannot be coped properly. At the individual level, frustration may lead to adjustment problem among your, poor performance in examination and job, and mental illness. At the societal level, frustration among youth

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

45

may lead to student unrest, violence, crime and development of anti-national feelings among youth. Secondly, frustration among youth prevents adequate utilization of resources of youth for development of the country. In a country like India, youth is facing severe unemployment problem, which may lead to frustration among young persons. Antecedents of Frustration Following are the sources of frustration: (1)

Environmental sources that block the gratification of need.

(2) Personal inadequacies or shortcomings that make it impossible to reach the goal. (3) Conflict between and among motives that hamper the process of goal achievement (Morgan, King and Robinson, 1981). Among the various antecedents of frustration, there had been studies on personal inadequacy and conflict among motives (Coleman, 1969, Forbes, 1948). However, environmental factors covering frustration among youth have not been given due attention in the Indian context. Therefore, in the present study, an attempt has been made to identify the environmental factors, which cause frustration among the educated youth. Environment may block the fulfillment of motives. Among environmental sources, three variables have been selected for the present study, which include, financial status, and lack of employment opportunity and the role of educational system. If a person is not able to earn, his financial status will be poor. leading to various problems in life. Hence, poor financial status can be a source of frustration. Education system in our country is not suitable for the current situation. It provides degrees and diplomas but does not provide jobs. It needs modification so that the students can get a job after finishing their education. At present, many students do not get a job even after completing their education. Thus, the role of educational system can be a source of frustration among youth. Despite wide individual and group differences in human motives, there appears to be a common core of psychological needs related to the maintenance and actualization. Srichand (1970) found that discrepancy

46

Towards Development with Young People

between achievement and aspiration levels, feelings of incompetence and insecurity were responsible for creating frustration among the scientists. Mathew (1970) found that the causes of frustration lie mainly in homes, health of the person and the social areas. Payne and Hartely (1987) developed a model to understand reactions to unemployment. According to this model, psychological experience of unemployment is determined by perception of environment, conditioning variables and personal attributes. Perception of environment includes support and constraints and demands and opportunities after unemployment. Conditioning variables refer to financial worries, income changes, health changes and social class. Personal attributes like externality, employment commitment and coping style were taken into consideration. This model has been supported empirically. The model acknowledges that individuals cope in different ways and allow personality factors to influence response to experience of unemployment. Similarly, individuals are likely to react differently to frustration. Biographical variables like· age, sex personality variables like the need for achievement, locus of control, introversions, etc., influence reactions to frustration. In this study, two personality variables locus of control and need for achievement have been selected. Payne and Hartley (1987) found that externality is a dominant personal attribute, which influenced depression. Some studies have found that locus of control is related to anxiety and depression. Both, need for achievement and locus of control, influence coping style of individuals. Therefore, both these variables will have moderate consequences offrustration among educated youth. Unemployment has many consequences fOI the individual as well as society. It may lead to frustration. deviant behavior and may have adverse effect on adjustment of students to society. Premrajan & Deepa (1990) investigated the mental state of unemployed and concluded that it had negative effects on psychological well-being. Winefield and Tiggerman (1985) found that unemployed males reported higher boredom, loneliness and anger. The males generally expressed less happiness and helplessness than females. Bank & Jackson (1982) examined the possible effects of unemployment on minor psychiatric

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

47

disorders. Their longitudinal data supported the hypothesis that greater psychiatric disturbances were the consequences of unemployment in young groups. Most of the studies on unemployment have concentrated on stress, psychiatric disorders and coping style of unemployed individuals. However, frustration has not received enough attention. In a country like India, youth is experiencing frustration because of massive unemployment. Frustration is likely to lead to various psychological problems among the youth and social problems like, theft, crime, ·terrorism etc. Therefore, frustration among youth requires the attention of researchers to understand the behaviour of unemployed youth and develop a programme for effective utilization of their resources. It is clear from a review of literature that the studies have not analysed the consequences of frustration among the educated youth. Most of the studies have been conducted in universities in big cities like, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, etc., which cover only urban youth. Rural youth has been ignored by psychologists. It is likely that urban and rural youth may perceive the situation of unemployment differently, and respond to it in their own ways because of differences in personality profile, awareness level, and social situation. Generally, studies have concentrated on consequences like maladjustment, types of psychological illness, and coping style. However, positive mental health of the unemployed youth has received little attention. This study tries to fill some of these gaps. For the present study, it is assumed that unemployed individuals between 18 to 30 years try for gratification of different needs. It is argued that individuals are motivated according to Maslow's need hierarchy. In the process of gratification of needs, there can be blocking by environmental or personal factors which can lead to frustration. Once an individual has achieved gratification of a particular need he/she will try to achieve something else, i.e., gratification of the next need in the hierarchy. Frustration occurs whenever the organism or individual meets more or less unsurmountable obstacle in its route to the satisfaction of any vital need (Rosenwig, 1946). Most of the respondents will use any of defense reaction to cope with frustration immediately. It may lead to symptoms like

Towards Development with Young People

48

anxiety and depression. An analysis of the defense reactions and psychological illness gives partial assessment of the consequences of frustration. Frustration has motivational chara=

42

16.03

15

5.72

205

78.24

262

as

59

22.51

33

12.59

169

64.50

262

~

27 31

10.30 11.83

24 15

9.16 5.72

211 216

80.53 84.50

262 262

60

22.90

83

31.67

119

45.41

262

50

19.08

75

28.62

132

50.38

262

;p

'"

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

55

Table 4 presents the perception of youth about environment. Most of the respondents had economic problems in life. They felt that employment opportunities were not adequate for youth. They perceived that they did not have opportunities for advancement in life. Regarding educational system, they agreed that it is not suitable to fulfill the aspirations of youth; educational system is colonial in character, which requires modification. Respondents perceived that the social and economic situation of the country and educational system were responsible for the problems of youth. Educational system was not suitable to meet the aspirations of youth in India. They perceived that political parties have not paid attention to the problems of youth in the country. Similarly, Government has not tried to solve the problems of youth. It is clear that respondents are having a hostile perception of their environment, which can lead to interference in the achievement of goal, leading to frustration. TABLE 5 Multiple Regression Analysis of Frustration Independent Variables

Beta

Lack of Opportunity Financial Status Need for Achievement Locus of Control Educational System

.1950 .2289 .1605 .1310 .1214

SE Beta .0616 .0552 .0621 .0578 .0597

Unique Variance 13.29 5.76 4.11 1.09 1.20

F

Sig of F

10.00 17.18 6.67 5.13 4.13

.001 .000 .001 .002 .004

Multiple R = .5047 R2 = .2547 F (5,256) = 17.49 P < .01 Variance explamed = 25.47%

Table 5 presents multiple regression analysis of frustration. All independent variables are significantly related to frustration and explain 25.47% variance. Lack of opportunity explains 13.29% variance. Among two personality variables, the need for achievement explains more variance than locus of control. Table 6 presents results of t-test between high and low frustration group. This analysis was conducted to analyze the impact of frustration on defense reactions, personal adjustment, anxiety depression etc.

56

Towards Development with Young People

TABLE 6 Comparison of High and Low frustration Group Dependent Variables Aggression Resignation Fixation Regression Life Satisfaction Personal Adjustment Anxiety State Depression Positive Self-evaluation Perception of really Autonomy Group oriented attitudes Environmental Mastery Mental health Integration of personality

High Low Frustration Frustration

19.70 18.32 17.70 20.57 33.17 27.92 6.56 16.17 29.30 24.15 17.32 30.42 23.42 16.67 33.54

18.09 16.29 17.27 18.55 33.68 27.07 6.18 15.83 30.33 24.65 18.19 31.19 24.56 19.51 34.46

t-value

Sig.

3.05 3.14 .75 3.60 .15 1.78 2.03 1.02 -2.22 -1.20 -2.36 -1.33 -2.79 -2.31 -1.37

.002 .002

NS 0.00

NS -0.07 .04

NS .02

NS .01

NS .03 .02

NS

TABLE 7 Comparison of Urban and Rural Group Dependent Variables Lack of opportunity Inadequable Utilization of resources of youth Lack of direction Not fulfilling Responsibility Lack of concern Frustration Resignation Fixation Regression Aggression Life satisfaction Locus of control Need for achievement Anxiety state Depression Personal adjustment Educational system Lack of opportunity Financial Status Environmental sources

Group 1 Urban

Group 2 Rural

t-value

Sig.

3_15

3.42

-1.85

.06

4.19 3.01 3_12

4.19 2.91 3.27

-_01 .60 -.86

NS NS NS

3_82 20.43 18.55 18.24 20.52 19.52 33.91 40_38 25.57 6-78 15.78 27_75 12_05 17.58 1.51 1.61

3.78 19_18 16.85 17.08 19.30 18.75 33.59 40.54 25.56 6.18 16_19 27.47 11.62 17.51 1.38 1.45

_26 2_08 2.59 2_03 2.11 1.46 _36 -_18 .02 3_17 -1.26 _57 1.20 .14 2.07 2.45

NS _03 .01 .04 .03 NS NS NS NS .02 NS NS NS NS .03 .01

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

57

Table 7 presents the results of t-test between urban and rural samples. Urban and rural groups were compared on all variables of the study. It was found that urban group had more frustration than rural group. Similarly, urban group showed more fixation, regression and resignation. Both groups did not differ on aggression. On all other variables urban, rural differences were not significant. Rural group perceived more lack of opportunity than urban group.

DISCUSSION Antecedents of Frustration The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis that environment variables and personality variables determine frustration. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that environmental variables and personality variables were significant predictors of frustration (Refer table 5). Lack of employment opportunity, financial problems and educational system facilitated frustration among the unemployed youth. Two personality variables, high need for achievement, and external locus of control, increased frustration among the educated youth. Thus, the hypothesis was supported. At the time of data collection, respondents were trying to get a job. Lack of employment opportunities interfered with their attempt to get a job. After the age of 18 years and passing graduation, every student is eligible to get a job. It is assumed that they are trying for job at age 18 or 21 years. Mean age of the respondents was 25 years. Thus, they were not able to get a job in the last four-five years. Therefore, the expectations of job remains unfulfilled at the age of 25 years. Under such a situation, students experience frustration. In addition to lack of employment opportunities, the present educational system does not play any constructive role in providing employment. Most of the colleges and universities award students degrees of B.A., B.Sc., B.eom., M.Sc., M.A., etc. which only fulfill the minimum criteria to get a job. For employment, students have to appear in various examination/interviews conducted by government, private companies and other such institutions. Therefore, their educational qualification does not provide job directly. It makes them eligible to get a job. In a study of college youth,

58

Towards Development with Young People

Laxminarayan (1985) found that most of the students were dissatisfied with the present educational system because it was not job oriented. It more examination oriented and not creative. Therefore, dissatisfaction with the present educational system leads to frustration among youth. Financial constraints increased frustration. Most of the students are dependent upon relatives, parents and friends. Their financial status is poor. However they feel a strong need for independence which remains unfulfilled. Because of unemployment, students have not been able to because independent of their survival which leads to frustration. Thus the hypothesis that the environmental sources, namely lack of employment opportunity, poor financial status and the role of educational system will increase, frustration was supported.

is

The findings indicated that the need for achievement was positively related to frustration. The students with high need for achievement have higher expectations that effort will lead to success. Therefore, under conditions of failure in their attempts for job, they experience higher frustration. It has been found that need for achievement individuals experience more stress. The results of the present study are consistent with existing literature. It was found that external locus of control increases frustration among educated youth. External individuals believe that events are controlled by chance. However, external students expect to get a job because of their education and efforts for the same. When job is not available, they find more interference by environmental sources and therefore, they experience more frustration. On the other hand, internal individuals find less fru.stration because they think that they can control efforts, which will determine availability of job. Therefore, they experience less interference by environmental sources. Consequently, an internal student is likely to experience less frustration. The hypothesis that the need for achievement will be positively related to frustration was supported. The hypothesis that externality will be positively related to frustration was supported (Refer table 5). Some previous studies have found that externality was associated with anxiety and maladjustment. (Farley & Mealia 1972). Archer (1977) reviewed research studies and found that higher test anxiety

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

59

was related to greater externality. Two explanations can be forwarded for the positive relationship between externality and frustration. Firstly, Lefcourt (1972) indicated that internals were more ready to take action to confront difficulties, employed more effective cognitive strategies and were able to delay qualification of needs. Therefore, they experienced low frustration. On the other hand, externals believing that rewards are controlled by forces outside themselves, powerful others and chances are unable to face difficulties, tend to withdraw from difficult situations with feelings of inadequacy. Therefore, they experience more frustration. Another reason is that the externals are unable to delay gratification of need, which increases feelings of frustration. .

In addition to hypothesized antecedents of frustration, the respondents were asked some questions about the causes of frustration. These questions were related to the responsibility of the parents and teachers and ambitions of youth. Answers were analysed by cross-tabulation (Refer table 3). Most of the respondents agreed that inadequate utilization of resources of youth by society, rising ambitions of youth and lack of concern by government regarding the problems of youth were major causes of frustration. In addition, the inability of youth to direct their lives was also perceived as a cause of frustration. The respondents found that teachers and parents were not able to fulfill their responsibility toward the youth. Most of the respondents agreed that these variables were causing frustration. Perception of Youth about Environment

An attempt has been made in the study to analyse how the respondents perceived their environment. Five dimensions, namel~·. role of educational system, economic problems, empl"yment opportunities, career growth and role of political parties were opportunities, career growth and role of political parties were selected. Results have been given in table 4. The findings indicate that most of the respondents have various {>l"onomic problems in life, which decrease their self-respect because they are not able to solve these problems of life. Some of the respondents were dependent upon friends and relatives for their survival. Most of them perceived that employment

60

Towards Development with Young People

opportunities were not easily available. They had very limited opportunities for job. Whatever jobs were available it was difficult to get. They faced various problems in making use of the job opportunities. Similarly, they found that the chances of career growth were limited. They had to struggle to get a job. They felt that hard work did not lead to success to get in their efforts for job. The respondents agreed that social and economic situation of the country caused frustration among the youth. Similarly, they felt that the educational system of the country was responsible f6r most of the problems of youth. The present system of education did not fulfill the expectations of youth. It was still colonial and should be changed. Thus, it is clear that the respondents had a hostile perception of their environment, which either, caused their problems or increased their existing problems. Hostile perception of environment may lead to anxiety and depression. The results revealed that the educated youth did not receive the attention of political parties and government. They agreed that various political parties exploited the time and energy of youth for their vested interests. The parties did not pay attention to solving the problems of youth. They agreed that government has not played a positive role in solving the problems of educated youth.

Consequences of Frustration In this study, four-defense reactions to frustration namely, aggression, fixation, regression and resignation were analyzed. It was found that aggression was manifested by 33.07% respondents. Fixation was dominant reaction only for 14.61% respondents. Regression was manifested by 27.69% and resignation by 24.61 % (refer table 2). Two groups, one high on frustration and the other low on frustration score, were compared on various variables. This analysis was conducted to investigate the consequences of frustration (refer table 6). The results indicated that the high frustration group showed more -aggression, regression and resignation as compared to the low frustration group. Fixation was not affected by the magnitude of frustration. The frustration

Frustration Among Unemployed Youth

61

group had poor adjustment. This group had low score on positive self-evaluation, autonomy, environmental mastery, integration of personality and positive mental health. Aggression of respondents is likely to be directed toward self or environment. When it is directed toward self, it can create adjustment problems for unemployed youth. Whenever, it is directed towards environment, it is likely to be manifested in counterproductive behavior by students like strike in college or university, student unrest and attack on government property like train, buses, govt. building etc. High frustration group experienced more anxiety also. Differences between Urban and Rural Sample Two groups, urban and rural, have been compared on all variables of the study. Table 7 presents results of the t-test. It was found that urban respondents experienced more frustration than rural respondents. Resignation, regression and fixation were higher in the urban group. Two groups did not differ on aggression. Urban group showed more anxiety. Regarding, depression there was no difference between the two groups. Urban group had more financial problems than rural group. Two groups did not differ on personality variables, depression, personal adjustment, and life satisfaction. Counseling for Unemployed Youth The findings of the study indicate that unemployed students experience frustration and adjustment problems in life. Sometimes, it is seen that unemployed students are not able to cope with life and attempt even suicide. Thus, it is necessary that adequate attention should be paid to the unemployed youth by society to help them to cope with the problems of life. Counselling can be a very effective tool for improving their adjustment and developing copping skills. Parents and teachers should take this initiative. Non-governmental organizations can support this effort. Thereafter, there should be an attempt to help the unemployed youth to think of self-employment. As the job situation is very depressing, it may be difficult for unemployed people to get a job. Central and state governments are not recruiting many people. Many public and private sector companies are already reducing manpower. Under such a

62

Towards Development with Young People

situation, it is not advisable to wait for a job for many years. Government agencies, banks, non-government organizations etc., should help the unemployed youth to look for self-employment in urban as well rural areas. It will facilitate economic development also. SELECTED REFERENCES Archer, R. P. (1979) Relationship between Locus of Control and Anxiety, Journal of Personality Assessment, 43, pp. 617-626. Bank, M. H. & Jackson, R. R (1982) "Unemployment and Sore of Minor Psychiatric Disorders in Young People: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal evidence." Psychological Medicine 12 pp. 789 - 798. Coleman, J. C. (1969) Psychology and Effective Behaviour, First Indian Reprint. Coleman, J. C. and Boren, W. E. (1972) Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life, Taraporwalla & Sons. Bombay. Dhillon, G. (1988) "Personal Adjustment Scale", in Pestonjee D. M. (Ed.) Second Handbook of Educational and Psychological Measurement

concept, New Delhi. Dixit B. M. and Srivastava, D. N. Reaction to Fru,stration Scale, National Psychological Corporation, Agra. Forbes, I. E. (1948) "Response Fixation under Anxiety and Nonanxiety" Journal of Experimental Psychology. 38, pp. 111-131 Farley, F. H. and Mealia, W. L. (1972) Fear and Locus of Control. Psychology. 9 10 - 12. George E. I (1971) 'Needs and Problems of Students,' in The Indian Youth (Ed.) Prayag Mehta, Somaiya Publications, Bombay. Jagdish and Srivastava, A. K (1983) 'Construction and Standardization of Mental Health Inventory: A Pilot Study,' Perspectives in Psychological Researches 6 (1) pp. 35-36. Keenon, A and Newton, T. J. (1984) 'Frustration in Organization; Relationship to Role Stress Climate and Psychological Strains,' Journal of Occupational Psychology, 57, pp. 57-66. Levinson, H. (1981) "Differences among Internality, Powerful others and Change: Research with locus of control construct, Vol. I, Academic Press. Lynn, R. (1960) 'An Achievement Motivation Questionnaire,' British Journal of Psychology. 60, pp. 529 - 629. Laxminarayan, H. D. (1985) College Youth: Challenge and Response, Mittal Publishers. New Delhi.

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Lefcourt, H. M. (1972) Recent Developments in the Study of Locus of Control in B. A. Maher (Ed.) Progress in Experimental Personality Research Vol. 6, 1 - 39, Academic Press N. Y. Mathew, J. B. (1970) 'Causes of Frustration in Adolescents and its Relation with Level of Aspiration Ph.D. thesis (Education) Agra University. Morgan, C. T. King, R. A. and Robinson, M. R. (1981) Introduction to Psychology, Sixth Edition Mc-Graw Hill, Singapore Nunnaly, J. C. (1969) Psychometric Theory. The Grow Hill M.Y. Padaki, R. (1988) "Job Attitudes" in Janak Pandey (Ed.) Psychology in India: The State of Art Vol HI,-Sage, New Delhi. Pandey, R (1974) Indian Youth on Cross Roads: A Study of the Values and Aspirations of College Students, Vani Vihar, Varanasi. Payne, R. and Hartely, J. (1987) 'A Test of a Model for Exploring the Effective Experience of Unemployed Men, Journal of Occupational Psychology. 60, pp. 31-47. Premrajan, R. K and Vinod, D. M. (1990) Unemployment Stress; Its Impact and Psychosocial Strains in Educated Youth of Bombay Project Report. Unit for Child and Youth Research, T. 1. S. S. Bombay. Reddy U.K and Bhat, KS. (1977) Indian Youth and Their Life Orientation, in Prayag Mehta Edited Indian Youth: Emerging Problems and Issues, Somaiya Publications. Rosenwig, M. (1946) 'An Outcome of Frustration Theory' in J. M. C. V. H Hunt (Ed.) Personality and Behaviour Disorder Vol. I, Ronald Press. Sharma B. R. (1988) Frustration: Reaction of Govt. Executives IIPA New Delhi. Srichanda, A. (1970) frustration: A Socio-Psychological Study Oxford and IBH Publishing House, New Delhi. Winefield, A. H. and Tiggerman, M. (1985) Psychological Correlates of Employment and Unemployment. Effects of, predisposing factors and sex differences. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 58. pp. 229-242.

Language Development Dr. Reeta Sonawat Pooja Samat

INTRODUCTION Language has an important role in the development of an individual. His growth, learning, social development, thinking, values depend on the language he speaks. Language development depends on past sensorimotor experiences and exposure to a variety of people, places and things. Language is learned through imitation and reinforcement. Receptive language is a language that is spoken or written by others and received by the individual. The receptive language skills are listening and reading. Expressive language is language that is used in communication with other individuals. Speaking and writing are expressive language skills. Between the ages of three and four (3-4), children acquire the ability to comprehend most of the learning they will use in conversation throughout their lives. At three (3) years of age most children use 900 words; by four (4) years they use about 1550. Expressing emotions and ideas is also vital to language development. Provide stimulating situations in which the child

Language Development

65

has ample time to give opinions and express creativity without being interrupted. Language skills will affect all endeavors in learning. Having acquired these abilities, the child will be ready to attempt other learning skills.

INFLUENCES ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Language Development depends on the Following Factors: 1. Heredity:

A genetic influence - The biological base of the child.

2. Ecological Environment of the Child: One important environmental influence is how much and what kind of speech the babies hear.

3. Development of Internal Mechanisms: It plays a large role in a young child's growing linguistic capacity. Deaf children make up their own sign language when they do not have models to follow. 4. Cognitive Development:

The cognitive-linguistic like are very specific in children. This suggests that children are motivated to learn words that are important to them at the time.

5. Size of the Family: Children coming from small sized family learn to talk faster. 6. Sex:

Girls learn faster to talk compared to boys.

7. Ordinal Position: First born are superior when compared to later born. 8. Child Training Methods: Permissive and democratic child training encourages languages learning.

9. Multiple Births: Children of multiple births are generally delayed speech.

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10. Personality: Well-adjusted children tend to speak better.

11. Contracts with Peers: The more contact children have with peers, the better and strongly motivated are they to learn to talk. Desire to communicate. Stimulation given by others to. talk. Physical readiness to talk. Mental readiness to talk. -

A good model to imitate.

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Opportunities for practice.

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Motivation.

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Guidance by providing good model.

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Parents education especially mothers education

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And type of day care center.

LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT According to Coupe and Goldbart (J 988) Communication Develops through the Following Levels: Levell. Pre-Intentional: Reflexive Level (birth to 6 months)

Child produces reflexive behaviour in response to external and internal stimuli. Adults in the surrounding assign very early child with communication intent and meaning. Thus, child is receiving inputs from all sensory channels. Level 2. Pre-Intentional: Reactive Level (at 6 months)

Child starts reacting in response to events and people within his environment. The child shows reactive behaviour and begins to receive and starts discriminating inputs from all sensory channels. Level 3. Pre Intentional: Proactive Level (7 months to 9 months)

In this stage the adults in the surrounding playa significant role on the child. The child makes an effort to act on the environment and tries to understand the adult's display of affect and action.

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Level 4. Intentional: Primitive level (10 months to 12 months) When the child reaches this stage, he begins to act on others and objects in his environment. Thus behavior is intentional during this stage. Child's intentional communication reflects limited range of function and lack clear meaning. Level 5. Intentional: Conventional level (12 months to 15 months) The child intentionally communicates. The communication function increases rapidly from signals to gestures and then the child starts vocalizing, including jargons and protowords. Level 6. Intentionally: Referential level (15 months to 18 months) Child's comprehension of language continues to develop through out this level. Before this level, the child has already made efforts to understand linguistic input. At this stage, the child communicates intentionally. He can express a range of functions initially using combination of protowords and words or signs. By understanding the structure of early interaction we can sensitize ourself to the rules of commination and hence to possible cause of delay or failure and potential areas of intervention. The levels mentioned above give us a fair picture of how language develops rapidly during the early years. From birth to about six months, caregivers accept a wide range of baby's action and vocalization as meaningful. At around six months the body is demonstrating some level of intentionally, the beginnings of intentional action on the environment. From this stage they interpret only certain actions or gestures as meaningful, others influence child's communication in his surrounding. During this stage child adult's action or vocalization can shape intentional communication. At this stage the infant can engage in true turn taking interaction with caregivers. From this stage of intentional communication the baby now starts reaching out for things, which are within and beyond his reach. By looking in the reach for signal, the baby communication to the adult that he wants the thing he is reaching for. The reach-for-signals has two functions:

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• Reaching for something and looking urgently from it to the person with whom you are trying to communicate. • The intention is not to get an object, but gain some kind of interaction or joint interaction with the adult. From around twelve to fifteen months of course, these functions start to be communicated as words, through the use of gestures for communication does continue. From 15 or 18 months, children and their caregivers engage in joint attention or joint action such as play. In these routines the adult's comments on the child's action, thus mapping appropriate language onto what the child is doing. EARLY CHILDHOOD GROWTH CHART OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Infants:

Age

Activities

Up to 3 months

• Crying. • Response to one's voice. • Making certain sounds.

3 - 8 months

• Playing with sounds e.g. gurgling! bubblebowling. • Babbling to themselves. • Waving arms and feet to show excitement.

Crawlers & Walkers: Age Activities 8 - 12 months

• Understanding and Responding to gestures. • Puts books in mouth and turn sturdy pages. • Looking for someone/something when asked for.

12 - 18 months

• • • • •

Say first words Understand few words and simple instructions. Know their own names. Create long babbling sentences. Look at pictures books with interest.

Toddlers:

Age

Activities

18 - 24 months

• Put 2 or more words together. • Learn new words quickly.

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• Ask and answer simple questions. • Use crayons for scribbling. 24 - 36 months

• • • •

Listen to stories being read. Like to play "pretend" games. Love "why" questions. Enjoy looking at pictures, books, turning pages, naming objects. • Scribbling becomes more like writing.

Preschoolers: Age

Activities

3 - 4 years

• • • • •

4 - 5 years

• Play with words. • Begin to draw figures of people, animals and objects. • Understand that pictures, numbers, words and letter are symbols of real things and ideas. • Enjoy reading on their own. (Pictures). • May recognize a few words e.g. their names! signs.

5 - 6 years

• • • •

Know names of family members. Can talk about things happening. Make up stories. Listen attentively to stories. Enjoy books that tell about real things as well as "make belief'. • Feeling upset / shy. • Make shapes such as circle / squares. • Pretend to write like adults.

Can recognize and reproduce many shapes. Letter and numbers. Gain control over writing and drawing tools. Understand that written letters on page are spoken words. • Use invested spellings. • Dictate / make up stories.

APPROACHES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT These Theorectical Approaches are Usually Described as: • Psycholinguistic Approach. • Sociolinguistic Approach. • Emergent Literacy. • Whole language approach.

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• Receptive Expressive communication skills. • Sequential language growth.

PSYCHOLINGUISTIC APPROACH • The first words or proto words that children produce express things to do with meaning and content. • When a child uses a word or a protoword they are in fact, making some comments about something they understand about the world, some actions or events in the environment. However, it must be remembered that the meaning may not exist but they're in the world but they are imposed on events and objects based on relations made by the child. • Language development is built, at least in part, on cognitive development. That is on the child's knowledge about objects and entitles and the relationships between them.

SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACH In'the socioliguistic approach the focus is on the child in a social setting. • Language is acquired only if they have a reason to communicate. Children communicate only if they have a reason to communicate - The reason to communicate can be social or material. • Child produces more complex expressions as he matures. • Language is learned in dynamic, social interactions involving the child and matures languages user. The emphasis is on the importance of positive contacts with adults, since it is they who provide the input to be decoded and understood. • Language is first acquired as a more effective means of obtaining things that the child could previously get, or do by simpler communication. • Children are being influenced by adult's behaviour. The language learner needs a set of social and cognitive skills if they are to benefit from adult facilitation.

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EMERGENT LITERACY Definition Literacy development is seen in children emerging from oral language and after their initial unconventional attempts at reading (pictures) and writing (scribbling). Hence, the terms "Emergent Literacy". Scale, 1987 stated emergent reading refers to the period between birth and the times when children begin to read and write in conventional ways. Now it has been realized that long before we initiate formal instructions, children start getting ready to read.

Manifestations (1)

Children's spontaneous "re-reading" of familiar books before they are fully literate.

(2) 3 year old / lesser age group children identifying the signs and tables which are not read in conventional ways. E.g. Brands - Colgate, Maggi etc. This reveals that child understands that print carries a meaning. {3) Scribbles of young children to which they begin to ready random letters.

INTRODUCTION TO WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH The term whole language does not refer only to providing interesting comprehensible texts and helping children understand less comprehensible texts. It involves instilling a love of literature problem solving and critical thinking, collaboration authenticity, personalized learning and much more (Goodman, Bird, 1991). Whole language is a perspective on education a philosophy of education a belief system about education. It is an educational theory grounded in research and practice and practice grounded in theory and research (Harste, 1989). One way of characterizing whole language is to say that it is a "constructivist" view of learning with particular emphasis on the development ofliterary. Derived from research in cognitive psychology, constructions assert that human beings develop concepts through their own

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intellectual interactions with and actions upon their world. Learners and learning are not passive, but active. Basis of Whole Language Teaching Whole language is hinged on four humanistic Scientific pillars: • Theory of learning. • Theory of language. • View of teaching and role of teachers and • Language center of view of curriculum.

Learning Theory • Language learning is easy. • Language has a personal and social function. It stems from the need to communicate is shaped by the norms of the society. • Language learning is whole and simultaneous and not fragmented or sequential. • The learner owns the language. He decides when to use it, what for and with what results. • Language serves as a tool for learners to decode/ understand his surroundings. • Language development is a holistic personal social achievement. Whole language approach looks at the totality of the language and is founded on sound scientific knowledge and theories about language. It accepts that language is inclusive and indivisible. It recognizes that language and its parts; e.g. words, sounds, letters, phrases, clauses, sentences and paragraphs can be studied, but the whole is always more than the sum of its parts. E.g. This is the same as saying that if a wooden table is reduced to its elements and studied, one may gather insights as to the characteristics of the carbon hydrogen and other elements that form the table, but it is no longer a table. It helps to understand how a table can be, but w.e don't build a table with them.

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For whole language proponents, language is language only when it is whole. When they look at words, phrases on sentences, they do so always in the context of the whole, real language included in the experiences of the learner. Rewis Caroll said, "Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves". Whole language teacher knows that as long as they keep language whole and sensible, all the parts will fit snuggly in their proper places.

View of Teaching and Role of Teachers Whole language teachers are professionals and constantly draw from a large body of scientific know ledge in carrying out their task of responsibility for their successes and failures. As teachers they believe that they guide, support, monitor encourage and facilitate learning but do not control it.

View of Curriculum The key principle for language development and learning through knowledge is integration speaking, listening, writing and reading all happen in the context of exploration of the environment, events, ideas and experience of children inside and outside school. It becomes a broad curriculum that takes off from where the learners are in their language and knowledge development. Whole language teachers accept individual differences and make plans for the individual growth of each child. Choice, ownership, relevance, children need to be internally convinced that what they are doing through the use of language is beneficial and fun for them. To achieve this, they need to have a sense of ownership of the activities that they are doing. They must have a sense of mission in doing the activities and they must likewise believe that such exercises are for their own benefit in the end.

SOME KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF WHOLE LANGUAGE EDUCATION Acceptance of Learners Whole language classrooms, "acceptance of learners" also means that whole language teachers develop the classroom

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environmental and the curriculum for and with the students to meet their needs and engage them in learning about what interests them, as well as to cover .essentials from the curriculum guidelines. Flexibility within Structure Instead of having children do one brief .activity or worksheet after another, whole language teachers organize the day in larger blocks oftime so that children can engage in meaningful pursuits. Thus, they engage in fewer different tasks, but larger and more satisfying projects.Together and individually, the students have many choices as to what they will do and learn, which enables them to takl significant responsibility for their learning. Supportive Classroom Community May whole language teachers help