Education inspires. On the subject of education; Abraham Lincoln stated, “I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.” and how right he was. Research suggests that adult support may be the most important aspect of a child’s life if they are to succeed in life and school.
As Philosopher George Santayana once said, "a child educated only in school is an uneducated child." Although school will facilitate an educated child, the input parents give is different to that of their teacher. Parents and teachers are both partners in education. For children to succeed emotionally and unconditionally, both must work together.
To have both creates winners in children and although I've heard it said that with one inspirational teacher a child can succeed, without the help of a parent, those circumstances aren’t the norm. When there is support from home, children will feel and stay inspired. With little encouragement from parents, there will be little to no motivation.
With little motivation, comes very little reward. Education produces independent thinkers, emotional support inspires. Through education we can aspire to be what we want to be, but the input and support needs to be there. Even without having an education, parents can go on to inspire their children, as long as they see the importance and the qualities of an education.
Parents must want their children to have an education, otherwise they will struggle to survive the education system and in the world without it.
When I was a child I was exhausted, not with fatigue but with mis-education. That's why my fathers instincts moved swiftly when he thought I was being misguided; being an educator doesn't mean you fully understand.
I've seen first hand how lack of parental involvement can ruin a child.
Thanks Tim. Yes, quite!! I think it's okay not to understand, as long as we continually try to work things out, so that our children see that we're trying. We can't know everything, but we can at least try to work things out. We learn as we go.
Your last paragraph sums up your response nicely Tim and is true. There are many ways parental involvement can ruin a child. It's true that we don't go to school to learn how to be a parent, but I do think as the adult and parent; we do have a moral and emotional responsibility to our children to get the parenting things right. Previous learned behaviour isn't acceptable.
It's a slight cop out when parents say, 'I didn't go to school to learn how to be a parent,' as if that makes everything okay. I've heard it said many times. But that doesn't make our behaviour right. We are accountable and responsible.