Considering
figures, one could say that a generation of Argentinean students will be less
well educated than their parents. Teachers are getting the blame. Others say
that the educational system is the one who has to be blamed. But according to
my point of view, those responsible for the underlying problem are mainly the
educational system and parents.
Firstly, while
on one hand, we have countries that stand out for their educational quality,
their high expectation standards; on the other hand our system aims at reducing the level of expectations creating educational policies in order to make it
easier for students. As a consequence the quality of the educational system is
lower and more mediocre. It seems that the main goal of this system is to make
things easier for students so they can pass the different grades
without major difficulties and to get the diploma.
Secondly, the
truth is that in some debates about our poor
education, not much is being said about disengaged parents. While teachers have
become the scapegoats for Argentina's failing schools, maybe it's time to shine
the light on parents. The truth is that many parents do not communicate with
their children neither accompany them with their homework. Most of these
parents prefer to buy kids iPods, expensive phones, and all kinds of electronic
gadgets, but few parents involved in their children´s education. Several parents
are disengaged and few of them communicate with teachers unless there is a
problem. For example, when children get low grades or comments such as "needs
improvement," or "unsatisfactory", parents appear and blame
teachers when actually they should think about themselves and their own responsibility in the first place. In my opinion, it's a three way street. If neither
the parents, children nor teachers are on board together, it is going to be
hard to make it work. There has to be communication between parents and teachers to make it
work.
To
conclude, instead of just blaming the teachers, how about we start pointing at
the educational system and the lack of parents’ involvement that makes teaching
hard to do?
I’ve always thought that EDUCATION is an issue that involves not only teachers and students but also students’ family.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it’s understandable that our current crisis forces people to work as much as possible in order to support their family. However, we have to bear in mind that education is essential in a person’s life, and that we (as responsible adults) have to become involve in our children’s education. Even if we have many things to do, we should try to spend more time with our children, and help them grow and prosper.
It’s not possible for teachers to form students without their parents’ support, because “teaching” does not only refer to learning school subjects or scientific knowledge, but also values, attitudes, good behaviour, and things like that.
Hi Flor! A few years ago, I saw a similar picture to this one comparing year 1980 with year 2014. A few years ago, if a student failed an exam, he was the only one to blame. His parents would admit that he hadn't studied that much, they would ask him to apologise to the teacher and to re-sit (of course, he wouldnt have been allowed to watch TV for a week or play with his friends). However, nowadays parents dont admit that SOMETIMES its the student's fault but they blame the teacher or as you both girls said, the educational system. They are so blindly protective of their children that they cant see the harm they are doing on them. Once I finish with my course studies and start working full time, the people I fear the most are not kids, teenagers, adults, school authorities .. but PARENTS! hahaha
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments girls. I really enjoy reading them. And yes, you are right, education involves children´s parents also. I think that I´d feel the same you feel Mai, I´d fear parents too because nowadays it is difficult to find parents who see what their children do, so it´s easier to blame teachers.
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