What do you Expect?

A Statistics Canada study released yesterday reached an interesting conclusion. The study was looking at why children from poorer families were less likely to enroll in a university than children from higher income families. What they found was that the gap was only 12% influenced by financial constraints. 84% of the gap was determined to be the result of lower parental and high school expectations. In other words, they aren't as likely to enroll in a university because the primary influences in their lives don't expect them to excel.

For those of us familiar with the Youth Development approach, this isn't a big surprise (for an introduction, use the link above to visit the InterNetwork for Youth's Youth Development page). Having high expectations for young people is one of the environmental 'protective factors' that fosters each young person's innate resilience. When you believe young people are capable and competent, they become capable and competent. When you believe that are lazy and manipulative, they become lazy and manipulative. Do you want to know what you really believe about young people? Look at the behavior of the young people you are in a position to influence -- and if you don't like what you see, you might want to reconsider your beliefs.