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What is the role of the school in today's society? Are the schools
supposed to prepare our students for the workplace or to prepare them
for everyday life? Educating today's children becomes more complex
every year as educators are striving to keep up with new demands while
parents are becoming increasingly frustrated with school issues. It may
be easy to blame school administration and school boards. But we need
to think about the broader issue what comprises an education and who is
responsible for teaching children certain fundamental lessons.
Right
now it seems that the school systems are expected to teach our children
everything and the schools are expected to turn out a well-rounded
child. All concerned seem to blame the schools for any failure in this
enormous task. Is this really a fair indictment of the school system?
Shouldn't parents return to a more active role in educating children?
Is there a role required of other segments of society besides the
schools? Perhaps we need to examine where the responsibility needs to
be placed.
In the past several decades, the structure of the
family has changed dramatically. Society expects the schools to teach
an increasing number of young people more than academics. The schools
are perhaps expected to replace the nuclear family as the means of
producing well-rounded citizens. As schools take on the responsibility
of teaching more than the traditional academic subjects, teachers have
little time to adapt. This frustration can be passed onto the students
who are also expected to cope with more studies. Are these expectations
realistic for either teacher or child? Is it necessary for teachers to
handle all students, including those with problems, in the same
classroom as all the other students? Does this help the students become
well educated? There are many lofty goals for our school systems today
but perhaps we should reconsider what we are expecting school to
achieve. Some of these duties may rightfully belong in the hands of
other segments of society.
Education is more than classroom
studies in a structured environment. Some lessons are better taught in
other venues and a parent should not expect the school to handle these
areas. For example, love is a concept that comes from the home. What
educators are finding is that if there isn't love in the child's home,
related concepts like respect get lost at school.
While the
student is expected to learn and participate at school, the burdens of
today's schooling may overload the student and interfere with proper
learning. Teaching techniques may be inadequate to keep pace with
rapidly changing technology. Schools are indeed bogged down with too
many diverse demands.
We cannot expect schools to teach
everything a child needs to understand about the world. Schools can and
should provide a forum for a child to learn, grow, and succeed.
However, it's parents and society as a whole who must provide suitable
role models for children to become active and productive citizens.
Copyright 2006 Brian Solent. All rights reserved.
Brian Solent is the creator of Dee School Yes - a popular on-line information resource on schools. Visit his website and article archive at: http://www.dschooly.com/
Tags: school schools children expected
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