2.

2 STUDIES IN INDIA

Pathak (1974) showed that,

(1) The pupils studying in school of high socio-economic and

achieving status had high achievement scores as compared to
pupils studding in schools of various status combinations.

(2) Boys and girls did not differ on achievement groups .

(3) Achievement was positively related to pupil's school

performance, attitude towards study and intelligence.

(4) The difference, between the mean score of grade VIII and X
was significant at .01 level whereas the difference between the
mean scores for perception of pupils of grade IX and X was not
significant.

Pacholi (1971) : studied the students of IX and X classes. In science

group,

the incidence of underachievement was more than that in arts group.

The students did not understand the subject thoroughly and so the
teaching method of science group should also be improved specially
in Mathematics. During interview, most of the students expressed
that they did not understand the subject-matter clearly in the class-
room.

Gupta (1971) : showed that it was not possible to discriminate among

the under or overachievement on the basis of their scores on

numerical ability test although school attendance as such could not
differentiate significantly among the under – or overachievers. Under
achievers as a group are likely to exhibit the tendency to attend the
school to a lesser extent than the average and overachievers.

Beedawat (1976) did the work with objectives:

(1) To study the incidence of academic under achievement
among

students of class IX of secondary school of Bikaner division.

(2) To make comparative study of incidence of

underachievement

(a) Among boys and girls.

(b) In rural and urban areas.

(3) To make comparative studies between underachievers,

over

achievers, average achievers.

(4) To study the factors related to academic achievement.

Major finding were :

(1) The intensity of incidence of underachievement was more or less

uniform in the urban and rural areas.

(2) The incidence of underachievement was higher in science groups.

(3) The proportion of underachievers among girls was larger than that
among boys.

(4) Very few of the underachievers were found to be outgoing, warm-

hearted and easy –going.

Srivastavas (1981) showed that :

(1) Underachievement was related to – (a) poor study habits (b) poor
reading ability (c) low academic motivation (d) poor health (e) poor
social and emotional adjustment (f) problems concerning family and
school.

(2) Underachievement was related to various background and personal

factors likes, age, socio-economic status, size of the family, birth
order parent's occupation, number of sibling, reading interest,
failures in school examination and participation in games and
sports.
(3) No significant relationship was found to exist between
underachievement and in act ness of parental structure, hobbies,
interests in games sports, music and attitude toward school.

Chatterjee (1974) considered two independent sets of factors :

family background factors and the school factors as acting

upon the intervening variables which were intelligence, school maturity,
moral development and social acceptance. These intervening variables were
supposed to mediate between the independent and dependent variables
which were achievement and measurement of perceptual organizational
ability of the children.

In the light of the above review of related literature, it can be

concluded that underachievement is a complex phenomenon. In present
structure of highly competitive society, one really needs to study what
makes a student with high intelligence an underachievers. Is it the over
demanding parents or too much pressure on the gifted for academic
excellence or the authoritarian attitude of the schools which have now-a-
days become industries rather than substitute for home or lack of
dedication of the teachers or lack of proper understanding between the
student and the teacher or an overall frustration which is reasonable for
causing underachievement.

The present study is an attempt to find out the answers to all

such questions in a systematic way.

=0=0=0=0=0=