CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the
study
Social work is a helping profession;
the main goal of social work is to improve a society’s overall well-being,
especially for the most vulnerable populations. Social work’s distinguishing
characteristics are its emphasis on the person-in-environment model and its
emphasis on social justice. In other words, social workers not only consider
individuals’ internal struggles, as other counselors might, they also work with
people to examine their relationships, family history, work environment,
community environment, and the structures and policies that impact them in
order to identify ways to help address a problem or challenge. Social workers
also do not limit their work to individuals; they work with individuals,
couples, families, groups, neighborhoods, communities, and organizations.
Social work practice is also strengths-based. Social workers help people
or groups identify their problems, determine their skills and capacities, what
they are doing well, and how that was accomplished, and then analyze ways that
those strengths might be applied to the identified problems. Social workers
work directly with clients who are individuals, families or small groups. These
social workers help clients cope with problems such as poverty, abuse,
addiction, and mental illness by providing counseling, connecting clients with
service providers, and empowering clients to meet their own needs.
Again, social workers choose to work with communities, organizations or
governments. These workers advocate for vulnerable populations, fighting to end
the inequalities and injustices they see in their communities. They create
policies, break down barriers, and drive reform. Social work is a
practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social
change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of
people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility
and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work,
social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people
and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing.
However, anti-social activities are rampant in the contemporary Nigerian
Society. This is evident in the deluge of social problems witnessed on regular
bases. These problems which include various factors such as social inequality,
ethnicity, limited resources, corruption, poverty, criminality, and other
socio-economic crises pervade the length and breadth of the country. There is a
wide gap between the expectations of the society and its actual manifestations.
Hardly would a day go by without a record of one form of social problem or the
other. In line with the above, Osarenren (2002) argued that societal attitudes
change because society is dynamic and changes occur quite frequently and to
support her claims, she advanced some fundamental reasons for anti-social
behaviours in the society. For her, one of the reasons is the change in the
structure of the society which happens to be as a result of rapid transition
from rural to urbanization and industrialization; secondly, there has been a
serious disruption of sense of community solidarity and of the integrity of the
extended family structure; and thirdly, it is observed that delinquency is on
the rise in deteriorated neighborhoods near the city centre of large cities. One
may therefore surmise that delinquency is closely associated with urbanization.
From a sociological perspective, a social problem exists when there is a
sizable difference between the ideals of a society and its actual achievements.
From this perspective, social problems are created by the failure to close the
gap between the way people want things to be and the way things really are
(Coleman, 1999). Certain social conditions are detrimental in any situation
(Eitzen, Smith & Baca-Zinn, 2009). These conditions prevent members of a
society from developing and using their full potential. Those conditions like
poverty, racism, unequal opportunity are, therefore, social problems in any
social setting. There is a common consensus among experts that deviance is a social
problem and could be seen as a product of both personal and social traits.
Osarenren (2002) argued that any behavior which does not conform to the rules,
regulations, norms and values of a given time is viewed as deviance. In line
with this position, Ajuzie (2005), submitted that deviance should be eradicated
or put to control in the society .She argues further that the best a society
could do in order to achieve this is to undertake application of knowledge to practical
ends, through corrections, development of policies and programmes for combating
crime and deviance, to reform, remobilize and to treat deviants. Matza (1964)
came up with the idea of treating deviant cases when he projected a premise
that something must be wrong with a deviant actor and which compels him to be
lawless and inhibits him from conformity to conventional norms and the laws of
the society. Education is a watchdog that is essential for correcting the
problem of deviance and ensuring conformity to institutional rules and regulations.
The impact of education on change and adjustment is tremendous in that
knowledge is light; it transforms and leads in the right direction. The thrust
of this study is to explore the effect of social problems on the academic
performance and social adjustment of secondary school students. In this
breadth, ‘deviance’ readily comes to mind, because it is a term that is easily
associated with social problems among youths in general and secondary school
students in particular. Before the study is explored in-depth, laying a solid
foundation with regards to relevant accounts of social deviance issues among
youths and secondary school students in Nigeria will be useful. In the account
of Osaat (1999), the present generation has been a generation of youth
restiveness and moral decadence, sporadic ethnic and religious violence,
insurgent tribal youth militias, and labour unrest among adult workers, and a
generation where youths grow with criminal tendencies, with growing interests
in cultic activities, and examination malpractice as the dominant means of
achieving success in educational institutions. Deviance, disturbances, crises,
issues, violence, unrest and all anti-social behaviours, all of which have been
categorized as social problems are prevalent in every sector of the Nigerian
nation. The primary focus of this study is to lay emphasis on these problems
with a focus on the educational sector and especially among students of senior
secondary schools in Nigeria. Student participation in anti-social behaviours
is on a steady rise. The alarming effect of this behavior constitutes a major
challenge Teachers, Parents, Guardians, and the Government, the stake-holders
in the educational sector and even among the well meaning Nigerians at large. A
number of occurrences, which have become the ‘norm’, are testimony to the fact
that social problems in schools have come to stay.
THE COMPLETE PROJECT IS CHAPTER 1-5
#4000 ONLY
PAYMENT
PROCEDURE;
BANK: FIRST
BANK
ACCOUNT NAME:
EGBE JOHN EDOGI
ACT NO: 3034851408
GTBANK
ACCOUNT
NAME:
EGBE
JOHN EDOGI
ACT NO: 0122005571
Please after payment send the teller
number and your name the way it appear in the teller to any of the following
phone number:
08037940241
08183133884
egbe4u@gmail.com
You will receive your
material in your email box within 24 hours after payment. Thanks for
doing business with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment