Factors affecting students academic performance in English 11 Essay

Factors affecting the academic performance in English 11 of first year AB-English students of the School of Arts and Criminology Introduction  Academic performance is one of the crucial areas of a learner’s life. Some learners may not be bothered if they progress or not, however, their parents are left with great distress if their children do not perform. This is because families, as well as the government invest in the education of child. On top of that, generally all parents would want their children to be successful citizens in future. â€Å"When young people fail at school, it is most often not because they are stupid, crazy or psychologically incapable. Rather, it is because they have not been taught the developmentally appropriate tools, skills and strategies every child needs to succeed in school and in life. â€Å" John Jay, stated that multiple factors come to play when it comes to academic performance of a learner, which need to be considered should one want to perform better. Research has found that determinants of learners’ performance have been the subject of on-going debate among educators, academics and policy makers. Different people believe that different factors affect learners differently under different circumstances. However there are some form of consensus on general factors that affect that performance. These include socio-economic, psychological and environmental factors. Different people come from different backgrounds – not everyone can afford school fees, for example, and therefore some children may not attend school properly because of such reasons, which may affect their academic performance at the end of the day. Smoking, alcohol, time spent sleeping and stress all have a great affect on students’ academic performance ( Pat & Tyler). Learners need to take care of their personal health, which includes eating healthy, doing exercise, getting enough sleep and rest. Behaviors such as smoking and drug usage may impact the school performance as these interfere with the brain functioning. Stress has been found to interfere with performance, and should therefore be taken seriously. Many factors can cause stress, including financial constraints, child abuse, parental neglect, irresponsibility and divorce, among many others. If a child is stressed, they may not focus on their schoolwork as their minds are often occupied by disturbing thoughts that may not leave room for them to study as effectively as they ought to do. Negative thoughts  can trouble a child and escalate into suicidal thoughts. These thoughts can lead to self-destructive behavioral patterns, but the thoughts in themselves can already be distracting from schoolwork and therefore directly and indirectly have an impact on academic performance. Some learners wish to progress in school, but they might not always perform as they wish, even if they feel they are trying their best.