Chapter 3: Families and Communities

All students are capable of learning at high levels regardless of their family structure. Families are now very different with single parents, grandparents as guardians, and adoptive parents. The stress that different situations have on children, and students, do not effect their education according to Hall, Quinn, and Gollnick. In The Joy of Teaching it says "Although children are advantaged when they live with two caring and loving parents, living with two parents is not essential for success in school and life as shown by the number of successful professionals who were raised by a single parent." This supports the idea that students are able to do as well with "unconventional" types of families as they do in "conventional" families. Although poverty is more popular in families headed by single parents, and poverty does affect education, children in different family structures can, and do, succeed.