(Comment on this article)Parents are the Most Important EducatorsAuthor Bio: The author is Susan du Plessis, not me. I take no credit for the article but found it so informative that adding was a must. Article Topics: Development,
Article types: Editorial,
Submitted By: Robin Kettle View Submitter's Profile (ukrobin) | The road to adulthood can be compared to a traveler who wants to travel from one place to another, but does not know the way. He therefore needs directions. If he receives the wrong directions, he will never reach his destination. A child who enters this world is in exactly the same situation. He also has a destination — he must become a grown-up man or a grown-up woman — but he has no idea how to get there. Consequently, he needs to be directed by grown-up persons, who have already traveled along this route, and who therefore can lead him to adulthood.
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The problem is that most people have come to identify the term “education” and “learning” only with schools and schooling. The school has grown from the modest institution it was in the nineteenth century to one that is blamed for all the ills of society and is seen as potentially capable of curing them. The school's functions and influence have been extended — some would say over-extended — and therefore the school is exceedingly vulnerable to criticism. It is, however, very important to note that the whole of education does not take place in the school. The school is especially responsible for the formal aspects of education, namely subject instruction, in order to provide society with an able workforce. The parents, on the other hand, are the primary educators of their child. And, as the primary educators of their child, they have the greatest responsibility to direct their child to adulthood.
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Being a parent is a tremendous privilege. But it is also a tremendous responsibility. Therefore parents must make sure that they are properly equipped for the task at hand because, as the late violin teacher Shinichi Suzuki so rightly stated, “The destiny of children lies in the hands of their parents.” |
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