Influence Of Birth Order And Gender On Academic Achievement Of Secondary School Students
[A CASE STUDY OF OFFA LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF KWARA STATE]

The parents
    The parents being the closest link to the child at birth especially the mother tends to create a conducive environment for the child which involves feeling of safety, sense of belongings and some degree of freedom.
    Duntoye (2002) established the planning which make them to bit more than what they can show. The economic strength of parents determines how they can help the child in the academic achievement in life.
    Bukoye (2002) emphasized that parents have great and inevitable influence on their children academic achievement.
    Fatola (2002) also emphasized that some emotional problems brought from home can effect learning and thereby causing poor academic achievement for students.
    Roe and Lunneborg (1990) emphasized that since early experience is usually dominated by the family situation and particularly by relations with the parents some description of parental behaviours.
    For example large families are generally lower in socio-economic status than small families. Hence third born children are not only third birth order but they are also more likely to come from large poorer families than first born children. If third borns have a particular trait it may be due to birth order or it may be due to family size, or to any number of other variables.
Personality Position
    Without exception you are of the following: The oldest or only child in your family; a middle child, or the youngest or named after some relatives who has passed away.
    Alfred Adler (2006) argued that birth order influences personality. He said that birth order can leave an indelible impression on an individual is style of life which is one’s habitual way of dealing with the task of friendship, love and work. Adler said further that firstborns are “dethroned” when a second child comes along, and this may have a lasting influence on them. Younger and only children may be pampered and spoiled which can also affect their later personalities. According to Adler he said that birth order has influence on development of personality and has become a controversial issue in psychology. One important modern theory of personality states that the big five personality trait of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism represent most of the important elements of personality that can be measured. Contemporary approaches to birth order frequently suggest that birth order influences these five traits.
    According to All Part (2001) personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psycholophysical system that determine his unique adjustment to his environment. Mostly, the personality position of a child determines to some certain extent what he might become in life. Birth order or ordinal position can leave a lasting imprint on adult personality.
    The clearest differences are between first born and laterborn children. The first born seem to have a higher chance of achievement eminence than later born. Freud Kant Beethoven Dante, Einstein and a disproportionately large number of other eminent men and women were first born children (Harris 1964). More and More are medical students or graduate students of the last 36 Presidents in American. 20 were first born, as were most of this country’s astronauts (Hilton 2007).
    Laster – born persons tend to excel in social relationship. They are affectionate, friendly and at ease with others. Youngest children also tend to be more original and creative than firstborns.
    In other word a child that takes a special position in the family will also boast his/her ego which may either influence positively or negatively. Therefore there is need for moderation in the amount of love given to children in their home.
Sibling Effects
    The effects of sibling (brothers and sisters) on one’s development is obviously important. In fact, at least it is as important as parent in shaping some aspects of personality. Walter Tolman (2000) believes brothers and sisters often turn to each other when parent cannot fill all their psychological  needs. Thus, a child relationship with his brothers and sisters may serve as training ground for adult attitude and relationship. Since there is no one that is an inland the support of the siblings is very much needed for the achievement of each student and this can come in the area of doing assignment projects etc. sibling relationship often last an entire lifetime. They point out that life span view proposes that development is continuous, which individuals continually adjusting to the competing demand of socialization agent and biological tendencies. Thus, even those concerned only with interaction among young siblings implicitly or explicitly acknowledged that all relationships change overtime and that any effect of birth order may be eliminated, reinforced or altered by later experiences. Michael E. Lamb and Brian Sutton Smith (2000).