Question

Can children not learn in school if they are hungry or feel unsafe in their neighborhood? Take Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into account when answering this question. What criticisms would you offer for this hierarchy?

Answer 1

One of the most important factors is that people are the result of their environment which would mean that they would be either positively or negatively affected depending on their parenting, family, education, friends, culture, religion etc. If they do not have proper family or neighbourhood in their environment, they would be psychologically affected which would have a direct impact on their performance elsewhere not just in their academics. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs motivation theory suggests that people have certain needs and they are in a hierarchical order such as the physiological, safety and security, belonging, esteem and self-actualization. Thus, food is placed at the bottom and without food one cannot survive which means that need should be met before moving on to the next level safety and secure environment. However, one needs to be belonged and taken care of in the first level which would provide them most of the physiological and safety needs thus, the need to belong should be the primary need from which people can build their life and fulfil other needs.

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