Public Relations 1

Public Relations 1

Although Travis’ teacher’s quandary (deciding whether or not to pass a student who should by all technical means ‘fail’) is one that is extremely difficult to decide upon, I fully believe that teacher’s should “socially promote” children in their early years.

One of the reasons why I choose to argue on this side of the debate is because I was “socially promoted” through to grade five, when I should have been held back by all other means. In saying this, it is evident I am drawing upon a common way of looking at the social world known as the “accessibility schema”. In this context, I am drawing upon a concept that is at the forefront of my mind (due to my own personal experiences) and applying it to a specific situation, in order to assess the social world. Despite this awareness, I maintain the belief that because “social promotion” worked for me, it should also be effective with other individuals.

Another reason in which I would argue that Travis should be “socially promoted” through to grade four is based on the principle of the Pygmalion Effect. Although Travis’ teacher believes his aptitude to be poor in certain subject areas, it is promising that such skills would improve over time. Given enough attention and encouragement, it is likely that Travis would “bloom” intellectually. The empirical basis for this is seen in the Pygmalion Effect; wherein a select few students were seen to improve academically based solely on the expectations of the Teacher. If the Teacher believed the select few students to be “intellectual bloomers”, the students actually fulfilled these expectations. This is known as the “self-fulfilling prophecy”, which is yet another social schema that occurs when: a person has an expectation about another person, this expectation influences the way they act toward that person, and these actions cause the person to behave according to one’s expectations. According to this, it is likely that if Travis would be able to improve upon his...

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