EDUCATION MUST BEGIN AT HOME

Contributed by Blesilda A. Tamoro, Teacher III, Sta. Rosa Elementary School, Pilar

The parents should be the first to teach their school-age children. If all went as planned, their children are back in school and their family is on its way to what we hope will be a great school year. The area’s public schools are back in session and most private and church-sponsored schools are starting this June if they haven’t already.

We can’t think of any more important duty to our future than the work of good teachers and proactive parents. And make no mistake, it takes both. Despite the constant drumbeat of criticism, students with parents seriously involved in their education very likely will do well.

We suspect one of the biggest problems for our schools is that too many parents – sometimes for legitimate reasons – are not involved enough to schools programs and activities. Schools are not meant to be education factories where we insert children into kindergarten and then wait for an educated teenager to emerge.

Education is a long process and requires a tremendous amount of work and commitment from parents or guardians as well as teachers. That’s not to say there are not bad schools and bad teachers. And they should not be given a free pass.

Sometimes parent thinks that when students are not performing at their best, it’s a failure of the wider education system, not just the school. The wider education system means schools, parents and the larger community.

What if we were to take the schools and teachers we have and instead of focusing only on what’s wrong with them, we focus also on what parents need to be doing at home, not only to have their children prepared to learn each day, but also to supplement the classroom? The parents must be responsible enough for the education of their children. Education must always begin at home.

References:

Brossard, James H.D. The Sociology of Child Development. New York: Harper. 1954

Cook, Lloyd Allen and Cook, Elaine Forsyth. A Sociological Approach to Education, 3^rd ed. New York: McGraw Hill Book Co., Inc. 1960. Chapter 8

Stanley, William O., Smith B. Othanel, Benne, Kenneth D. and Anderson, Archibald W., Social Foundations of Education. New York: The Dryden Press, Inc. 1956, Section B.