In terms of how teacher attitudes affect students, consider the high Mexican-American school dropout rate, as high as 50 percent, which has been ascribed to a number of causes or explanations. One of the prime reasons involves language problems. Many of the students are Spanish speakers who are not performing satisfactorily in English. They are most often sent to bilingual programs. The largest percentage, 46 percent, are classified as English speakers as they speak more English than Spanish, but their English skills are still considerably below grade level. Bilingual and ESL programs have been shaped to these students but have had modest success at best (Ransford 180-181). However, teacher expectations also come into play, and the fact that teachers have lower expectations often means that they get lower performance from these students. Teachers often underestimate the abilities of their students and define them as losers, and students react to the perception that this is the way their teacher thinks of them and perform at a low level. Most teachers do not have a conscious desire to produce failure, but this is the effect just the same, an effect brought about by subtle forms of interaction (Ransford 188).
The attitude students have toward the educational experience affects how teachers react and how they teach. If students are unruly and disruptive, this affects how other students learn as well. This can be very discouraging to dedicated teachers who want to guide their students through the educational experience. Students who are apathetic do not enhance the educational experience for anyone, and teachers are affected by facing a classroom full of apathetic students every morning. On the other hand, if students are eager and attentive, this encourages the teacher to do his or her best and creates a good atmosphere in which learning can take place.
This is not to say that a good teacher might not react to a dis...