School Adjustment and Academic Achievement of XI Standard Students in Madurai City

Abstract

The well-adjusted person is pleasant in his social dealings and is satisfied with life in its various aspects. This is because of a realistic appraisal of himself. Another important concept which helps us to understand social development is the concept of ‘social role’. According to Parsons and Bales (50), a role is a unit of culture, a set of expectations of behaviour. Every individual is expected to behave in a certain way because of his position in a social group. Mental health has two important aspects. It is both individual and social. The individual aspect connotes that the individual is internally adjusted. He is self-confident, adequate and free from internal conflicts and tensions or inconsistencies. He is skilful enough to be able to adapt to new situations. But he achieves this internal adjustment in a social setup. It will be pertinent here to explain the word ‘adjustment’. If one can establish a satisfactory relationship between himself and his environment, between his needs, and desires and those of other people, or if one can meet the demands of a situation, he has achieved adjustment. Adjustment results in happiness because it implies that emotional conflicts and tensions have been resolved and relieved. Keeping this criterion in mind, one can say that a mentally healthy teacher will be able to make successful adjustments that are needed by the nature of his job-adjustment to his strenuous life, to work and study.