Impact of Socio-Economic Status on Educational and Career Aspirations of Grade 10 Maguindanaon Students at Esperanza National High School

Decision-making process relative to educational and career aspirations has a very significant part in planning career guidance which helps the students to effectively choose the career track/strand in senior high school curriculum. This study aimed to investigate the influence of socio-economic status of students on their educational and career aspirations. Descriptive correlational research design was employed in which a researcher-made checklist was answered by the randomly chosen Grade 10 Maguindanaon students. Frequency, percentage and Chi-square were appropriately applied to provide good inferences and implications of the results. Findings revealed that most of the parents of Grade 10 Maguindanao students finished high school level. Majority of the fathers were farmers and the mothers were housekeepers whose combined monthly income ranged from ₱10,000 to ₱15,000. Socio-economic status of Maguindanao students was significantly related to their educational and career aspirations. Higher social standing of the parents led to the higher educational and career aspirations. Low family income hampered the students to take up career track with high standard. Thus, Esperanza National High School should initiate an intervention program to inspire Maguindanaon students to pursue their educational and career aspirations despite of the financial woes they experience in life.


INTRODUCTION
A career aspiration is a path that students want to become in the future. Students' right career aspirations before entering into the senior high school education have a significant influence on their professional life and future accomplishment. A misperceived choice of career track directs all individual efforts and resources into wrong direction, when not aligned with the expectations and social standing of the parents; would not only be frustrating rather draining of the individual intelligence and wastage of resources (Ahmed, et al. 2017). Planning career guidance programs for Grade 10 students should be initiated so that right career path will be expected and no repentance will happen at the end of the day. For three years now, due to the implementation of senior high school curriculum, Grade 10 students are confronted with the problem of having to decide on future career paths. The decision what particular track or strand to take up in the senior high school is a critical decision that students make at this time in their lives.
As emphasized by Pascual (2015), students' career success can be best attained if the career aspirations suited to their personality, ability, intellect and most especially to their socioeconomic status serve as their guide in choosing the track or strand they are to take in senior high school. It is expected that the course they will take up in college is related to the track or strand they are enrolled in senior high school. Many students took courses in college not related to the track or strand they had in senior high school (Palmes, 2018). These students were found to have difficulty in coping up with the standard of their course. The track or strand they had in senior high school curriculum was not related to their course in college. Studies show that socio-economic profile has an effect on the educational and career aspirations of the students. Educational and career aspirations should be based from the social standing of the parents so that no frustration will happen in the future.
Thus, this action research was conducted to guide the Maguindanaon students in their educational and career aspirations. The diagram below illustrates how the variables were statistically treated to give good analysis, interpretation and implication of the results.

Statement of the Problem
This action research generally aimed to determine the influence of the socio-economic status of Grade 10 Maguindanao students on their educational and career aspirations.
Specifically, this study sought answers to the following questions: 1. What are the socio-economic profile of Grade 10 Maguindanao students in terms of: Maguindanaon students? 5. Is the socio-economic status of Grade 10 Maguindanaon students significantly related to their educational and career aspirations?

Innovation, Intervention and Strategy
Maguindanaon are the biggest Filipino Muslim in the Philippines. They are not only known for their rich and beautiful cultures and traditions. They are also known for their unique aspirations and struggles for their religion. The following intervention programs were initiated by Esperanza National High School to inspire more Maguindanaon students to value education and to increase the level of their educational and career aspirations: (1) Each Maguindanaon teacher sponsors the school fees of at least one indigent Maguindanaon student; (2) Monthly Islamic Symposium is conducted for them wherein Arabic teachers and Maguindanaon professionals are invited to give inspirational message and to share their experiences in achieving their successful educational and career aspirations; (3) Muslim Student Organization (MSO) is created to produce potential Maguindanao leaders who will serve as the voice of the whole Maguindanaon studentry; (4) Identified malnourished students are offered with free lunch; and (5) PTA meeting exclusive for Maguindanaon parents is conducted twice a semester to inspire the parents to support the educational and career aspirations of their children.

Research Design
This study employed a descriptive research design which examined the impact of the socio-economic status of Grade 10 Maguindanaon students on their educational and career aspirations.

Sources of Data and Information
Grade 10 Maguindanaon students served as the respondents of the study. To get the total number of sample, Slovin's (1960) equation was applied. Then, simple random sampling technique was used to identify the individual respondents.

Data Gathering Methods
The diagram below shows the data gathering methods and statistical treatment of the study.        The following table presents the combined monthly family income of the parents of Grade 10 Maguindanaon students.

Educational and Career Aspirations of Grade 10 Maguindanao Students By Gender
To determine if there is a gender difference in the educational and career aspirations of Grade 10 Maguindanaon students, Tables 2 and 3 present the results. Statistical findings revealed that there is a significant gender difference in the educational aspirations of the Grade 10 Maguindanao students (x 2 -computed = 189.890 > x 2 -critical = 124.342). This denotes that males preferred tracks that can give them immediate jobs after high school graduation while females wanted to take up tracks that can equip them with enough academic competence for higher education. As found out, significant gender difference in the career aspirations of the Grade 10 Maguindanaon students is registered as x 2 -computed = 193.732 > x 2 -critical value = 124.342). This means that males and females have different perceptions regarding their career preference. The former wanted to be peace keepers such as policemen and security guards and many of them preferred to be engineers. The latter wanted to be public school teachers, social workers and many wanted to work abroad.
The two previous tables imply that males have different priorities compared with females in terms of educational and career aspirations. Table 5 presents the correlation analysis of socio-economic status and educational and career aspirations of Grade 10 Maguindanao students. Correlation analysis shows that educational and career aspirations of Grade 10 Maguindanaon students are strongly influenced by their socio-economic status. This is confirmed by all the x 2 -computed values of 198.026 and 200.147 which are all greater than the x 2 -critical value of 124.342, respectively. This simply means that those students whose social standing is high preferred to choose academic track to equip themselves for higher education and those financial standing is low tend to choose Technical-Vocational Livelihood (TVL) track to prepare for job opportunities upon high school graduation.

CONCLUSION
Most of the parents of Grade 10 Maguindanao finished high school education. Majority of the fathers are farmers and most of the mothers are housekeepers. Their combined monthly income ranges from ₱10,000 to ₱15,000 only. Males and females have significant difference on their educational and career aspirations. Males prefer TVL track to prepare for job and business opportunities and female choose to take up academic track to equip themselves for higher education. Socioeconomic profile of Maguindanao students has a positive impact on their educational and career aspirations.
Many Maguindanaon became very successful despite of the low level of the social standing of the parents they had before. It is hereby recommended that those Maguindanaon students who belong to the poverty line should apply for a part time job such as being a working student so that they will be able to achieve the career that they wish to. There are many poor Maguindanaon but deserving students taking up higher courses in college. Esperanza National High School should initiate an intervention program to inspire these students to pursue their educational and career aspirations despite of the difficulties they experience in life.