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BIZARRE BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN EDUCATION DISTRICT 6

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

From time immemorial, the alarming rate of bizarre behavior among Nigerian youths particularly in the public school had increased tremendously. In the last decade, government negligence, and socio-economic factors have contributed to the increasing neglect of youths in the society. No doubt, the obvious effects of this is the risk in criminal tendencies among our secondary schools students many of whom are alienated not only from their families but also from the entire society. Smoking, fighting bullying and stealing have proliferated among young students in our secondary schools.

Consequently, bizarre acts in our schools continue unchecked, dressing mini, bushy and devilish haircut, ear notching, use of designer hair ring among male and female students are common sight. Worse and common is extortion of money from the junior ones by the senior ones under duress.

Hence bizarre behavior can be regarded as that behavior on the part of children and youth which may be regarded as deviation of youth and children of school age from accepted or established norms and values or reasonably ways of life in the schools as a subsystem of the society Adedokun (2004).

Bizarre behavior is typically defined as psychological disorder in which are in one way or the other maladaptive. This is because they threaten the well being of the individual student, youth around them, block the growth and fulfillment of the students potential which are within the secondary school age range between 10 and 20 years. It is also a term used to connote anti-social and personality disorders, an act done by children or youths, which when committed by adults would be a crime (Denga 2001)

Howels (1986) defines bizarre behavior as someone who has fallen out of his culture and deficient in socially accepted and adaptive behavior. He explained further that the deviant behavior may be viewed as part of a rebellion against schools, culture, norms and society in general

Dunken (1988) sees bizarre behavior as a realm of cultural criticism, lawlessness and non-conforming behavioral tendencies of our youth and children He sees behavior of this nature among our school youth as antisocial personality disorder and therefore call them as non conformist.

Bowlby (1974) in his book “Maternal Care and Mental Health” wrote on children in schools and their life pattern, in his research, he came to a conclusion that, unless there is a warm intimacy and continuous relationship between the school and home, whatever that disrupt and disturb the good relationship. This could lead to delinquency in our children.

In the encyclopedia of the social sciences, the status of a “child offender” is well defined. Bizarre behavior is not a crime and rejected youngsters cannot be charge with such crime and must be adjudge delinquent such “child offender” must be counseled, corrected and rehabilitated.

In general abnormality or abnormal behaviors observe in secondary school students which are bizarre and disruptive in nature, focuses on people who are consistently unable to adapt and function effectively in a wide varieties of school conditions and activities. One that goes against common or majority or presumed standard of behavior in the school environment, feeling of strangeness, depressed, isolation, loss of feeling, guilt, lost of reality and all other sensation recognized and labeled by an individual as out of the ordinary, out of common sense and of no moral justification for such bizarre behavioral tendencies in our secondary schools.

These inabilities to adapt and function can be affected by a number of pre-disposing variables including school physical condition, school administrative life-style, learning condition, peer group, home background/upbringing and parental responsibilities which are both educational and environmental in nature.

No doubt, today we talk about secret cults (cultism), examination malpractices, rapping and other highly criminalized vices, tendencies in our tertiary institutions, all these violates socially and educationally acceptable standards.

It is therefore very disheartening to see and read negative reports about the attitude of the young school students particularly the male involvement and the high incidence of destructive behavior. These acts were hitherto very common in Lagos, Ogun and some other states in Nigeria including Africa and all over the world. It may be attributed to many factors such as loss of moral values, high level of parental literacy, teachers neglect, poor home background, parental neglected, child abuse including unfavorable school structures and environment. Chukwuede, (2002) supports this view when he post that most of the children of low-income earners and low socio-economic background indulged in bizarre behavioral tendencies more often irrespective of their age, sex, class and administrative style of schools.

From the above, this study examines bizarre behavior, implications and consequences on students academic performance. Studies have pointed out that bizarre behavior is more a product of bad parenting and parental irresponsibility than social and economic factors. For instance, Denga (1999) lamented that poor dressing among young male school students have psychologically imposes other problems like flying the uniform polo, sagging and mini-skirt, which consumes much of the students serious school time that necessitated the poor academic performance in schools, in public examinations such as Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE), West African Examination Council (WAEC), and National Examination Council (NECO), in recent time and drop-out syndrome noticed among the secondary school age students

There are many things students does that we find strange and unexplainable nowadays we see various body tattooing and ear piercing and branding among younger generation of students. Their life style of dressing may seen bizarred to adults and teachers including school counselors and administrators. Bizarred behavior that usually has no rational basis and even unexplainable to the students, however seems to indicate that the individual student is confused and this frequently brings on hallucination.

On the other hand destructive behavior are characterized by behavior which are schizophrenic and anti social in nature, are very common sight including personality disorder such as bad dressing, indecent dressing, bushy hair, sagging, use of wrong socks, examination scandals, including youthful display of high handedness, bullying extorting, gangsterism, damage to school facilities and display of thuggery among our school youths, in their late teens and early twenties.

It should be kept in mind that parental roles in child development and education are vital. A child needs good reading, teaching and learning environment, mental relaxation to perform better with good parenting at home, provision of secure, stable and effective study condition that stimulate intellectual development. A child needs from parent and teachers, a positive involvement in positive learning that effect positively on their academic performances. Fan & Chen (2001).

Parental help and responsibilities which are armed at greater cognitive  competence, greater problem-solving skills, greater school enjoyment, better school attendance and fewer behavioral problems at schools. In effect a more powerful indicator and predictor of achievement at teens must be geared towards, good parental interest and perception of their roles and responsibilities in full filling it.

This study therefore examines the home and learning environment as a factors, a breeding ground that expose students to bizarre acts, as well as responsible for their poor academic performance among the Secondary School students in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six of Lagos State.

Statement of the Problem

Problems of drug abuse seem to be very growing concern globally as well as in our contextual setting among youth in public secondary schools. Some of the researchers have shown that consumption of drugs by school going youth do not only decreases their academic performance, but also lowers their Intelligence Quotient and make them vulnerable to crime. Furthermore, drug abuse exposes them to health risks among other myriad problems (Boyd 2005, NACADA 2007, Nyassy, 2010). In connection to that, academic performance in public secondary school students in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six has also remained low for a couple of years despite the efforts put by the Government in discouraging illegal use of drugs, still there is a great challenge among the youth in Nigerian public schools. Despite the fact that the government of Nigeria fights against drug abuse, but there is no any study conducted in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six to investigate the impact of drug abuse on academic performance in public secondary schools since most of drug abuse victims are secondary school students.

Objectives of the Study

General Objective

Generally the study aimed to investigate impact of drug abuse on academic performance in public secondary schools in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six of Lagos State.

Specific Objectives

Specifically the study also aimed at achieving the following:-

·      To identify common types of drugs abused by students in public secondary schools in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six of Lagos State.

·      To explore the causes of drug abuse among students in public secondary schools in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six of Lagos State.

·      To assess the rate of school attendance among students involved in drug abuse

·      To assess terminal and annual examination performance among students involved in drug abuse.

Research Questions

What common types of drugs abused by students in public secondary schools in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six of Lagos State?

·      What causes drug abuse among students in public secondary schools in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six of Lagos State?

·      How rate is the of school attendance among students involved in drug abuse?

·      How are the terminal and annual examination performances among students involved in drug abuse?

Significance for the Study

The research investigated the impact of drug abuse on academic performance in public secondary schools in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six of Lagos State. Therefore the findings obtained by the researcher are useful to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Office of the President as well as Prime Minister’s Office in guiding programs in drug abuse among the students in public secondary schools in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six and Nigeria as whole. The study provides useful information to the policy makers on possible ways in dealing with drug abuse, not only in secondary schools but also in other learning institutions. Finally, the study help the school administrators and counselors to come up with the way forward in reducing the impacts of drug abuse in Nigerian schools.

Scope of the study

This study covers Bizarre Behavior and Academic Performance of Students in Education District 6. This study was conducted in Oshodi/Isolo Education District Six in Lagos state.

Limitations of the Study

The demanding schedule of respondents at work made it very difficult getting the respondents to participate in the survey. As a result, retrieving copies of questionnaire in timely fashion was very challenging. Also, the researcher is a student and therefore has limited time as well as resources in covering extensive literature available in conducting this research. Information provided by the researcher may not hold true for all businesses or organizations but is restricted to the selected organization used as a study in this research especially in the locality where this study is being conducted. Finally, the researcher is restricted only to the evidence provided by the participants in the research and therefore cannot determine the reliability and accuracy of the information provided.

Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

Definition of terms

Drug: According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary (2009) defined the term drug as any illegal substance like as Marijuana or Cocaine in which some people use in order to feel happy, relaxed, or excited whereby WHO (1952) defined drug as any substances that when taken into a living body causes reactions or sometimes modifies its psychological functioning.

Drug abuse: Drug abuse is said to be an emotional problem which estates and sometimes also as physical, resulting from the interaction between a living organism and a drug mostly featured by behavioural and other responses which often include a necessity to take that drug on continuous or periodic and sometimes to avoid the discomfort of its absence, Kilonzo (1996).

Drug Related Problems: According to (PCNE, 2003) asserted that a drug related problems are those events or circumstances involving drug therapy which actually or potentially interfere with desired health outcomes.

Illicit drugs: Illicit drugs are simply those drugs which are consumed illegally but in this study the term illicit is used to describe drugs which are under international control but which are produced, trafficked and/or consumed illicitly (UNODC, 2017).

Impact: According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary (2009) defines impact as the effect or influence that an event, situation etc, has on someone or something.

Legal drugs: According to this study, legal drugs would refer to all substances such as alcohol, tobacco e.t.c which seems to be somehow dangerous although their usage the government sometimes allows. Additionally, legal drugs are considered to be permissible for use, and therefore are either prescribed by a physician or are available over the counter at a pharmacy or other outlet. Therefore, they intend for medical purposes, for instance easing pain symptoms and health condition treatments (OTC, 2015).

Student: According to this study, a student is any individual attending public secondary school during the year 2017.

Youth: According to this study, youth are defined according to World Health Organisation and therefore youth refer to young people ranging to 10 and 24 years WHO (1993).

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