Monday, February 28, 2011

Educating educators

Today in class we discussed  Education. Questions like "Are state schools better than private schools?", "Are there any subjects that parents should be in charge of and not teachers?" "How can we achieve a good quality education?" were asked. That made me think about the issue and I came up with this entry.

We all can agree that Education is one of the most important matters in a society; it will make future members be one way or another. It's all about what we teach them at school...or is it?
It is known that education results vary depending on the country (http://www.pisa.oecd.org). True that every country has a different way of teaching, but i don't think that's the only factor. School and teachers are not the things we have to look at to improve, the system could be better of course, as everything else, but I see that the roots of this issue are parents and environment. The term "parents" could be applied to family or close family, too.

Certainly it makes sense that environment and the teachings and habits you get from your parents during your life makes a huge difference. While the method is the same for every student, parents are not.
Ideally, students are raised by parents who often read, have culture related habits or interests (going to museums, hobbies and the like),  friendly discuss/debate stuff with others, have a lot of common sense, went to college, etc and the most important thing: parents who know how and want to teach their children or get them into all of that  (because other way it's pretty useless). Given this ideal parents and assuming the environment (children's friends, living place, the media) is favorable, education should be a succes.
All of the habits above clearly help the kid being successful at school by improving vocabulary, thinking and debating skills, and even making him more open-minded.
On the other hand, if parents are exactly or mostly the opposite as the ideal ones, the student is likely to fail. And by failing I don't mean ending up with a low wage job and no degrees, by failing I mean not having common sense or not having clue about general culture; two things which are a burden in anyone's life in my opinion.

School can be significant too. Imagine we have the second case of parents. The kid is not really motivated to learn and often fails, probably not caring much about it. However, if the kid has this perfect teacher who loves his job and is aware of his situation, this teacher is likely to "save" him and help him being succesful. Or the kid might sadly be a lost cause anyway.
The opposite would be a kid with ideal parents but a horrible teacher who barely cares about students and is not very good at teaching. In this case I think the kid would overcome this with his parents' support; they could explain whatever he couldn't understand, give him tips or even complain to the principal.

So yeah, states of the world. If you want to improve at education, take parents into account, too.


16 comments:

  1. Good issue, well raised. I feel as long as the schools and parents work well with one another you can't really go wrong.

    It's when the parents expect too much from the schools and vice versa that things get compicated and blame is placed.

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  2. Let's do what China does, it's obviously working

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  3. dude I heard of a country (can't remember which one) where all teachers were subject to a test provided by the ministry of education. only like 30% passed the test.

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  4. With all the cut backs coming to the education system I just dont know where we will end up.

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  5. Our school system has been broken for a long time. There have been studies on cognitive function prior to and post going to school. Intelligence dropped after being "educated" (indoctrinated) *cough* *cough*

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  6. I believe if your interested in what your learning about it sinks in so much more, and typically people are able to advance academically this way. Nice post, Thanks.

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  7. There should be a test to say who can teach and they should be paid more, it is the most important thing.

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  8. I'm going to aree with Alexander lol

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  9. I like to think about how the teachers were hold in such higher esteem compared to that that they get today.
    Who was the teacher of Alexander the great? Right, Aristotle.
    A great individual always have great teachers. Always.

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  10. back in the days teachers were well respected people
    now in some of schools theyre just pushing around and ive heard some rumors about putting a trash can on their heads...

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  11. You need both elements to work together. I had educated parents who encouraged my interests. I read a lot as a child. I enjoyed maths and science. My parents were there to help, always. At a young age, teachers really encouraged me too. As I got older, and was quiet, teachers were happy to just ignore me. I know self-motivation is important, but you can't be too passive with kids.

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  12. my parents were always really supportive of me and would give me a slap if i got out of line. So yeah its mainly the parents responsibility.

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  13. I'm moving in that direction.

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