The Rush Faced By The School Child In The City

The  rush  of  the  school  child

The fast-paced life of the urban does not solely seek out the adults and working class people in society; it engulfs even the children. With its wide selection of renowned prestige school, parents and children are beckoned into facing the rush every morning to attend a school in the city.  These school children as seen in the pictures above become roped into the web of the seeming chaos which pervades the city. They are forced to embrace the fast-paced lifestyle along with adults. The boy on the left, darts to the bus stop with minutes to spare before the school bell rings. His bag and lunch kit appearing to be the equivalent of his size, make the trek even harder. Similarly, the school children on the right, with little time to spare, purchase the quickest most affordable breakfast they could locate. Their lifestyles exemplify the tale of many a school child in the city. A meal on the go seems to be the new trend as life becomes too hectic to enjoy a healthy breakfast in the comfort of one’s home. This poses severe implications to one’s health and physiological development.

Abraham Maslow (1943) proposed the Hierarchy of Needs theory, whereby every human being has a hierarchy of 5 levels of needs which must be met in order to reach self-actualization. These include, physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization, all aligned in a hierarchical structure in ascending order from the most basic to the highest growth need. He argues that in order to advance to higher level needs, one must first satisfy lower level needs such as, the need for food which is physiological in nature. He even goes on to discuss the retarding effect that life experiences may have on one’s ability to elevate to a higher level if lower level needs are not met.  This directly relates to the school children in the pictures above. Their busy lives may result in failure to consume a healthy and satisfactory meal before arriving at school. As suggested by Maslow’s theory, this lifestyle threatens their development and impairs their ability to reach the higher level needs , mandatory to excel in school.  

The link below provides a thorough explanation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory

http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

References

McLeod, S. A. (2007). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html