I recently came across important questions on a
blog of a famous American businessman. He was writing in connection to the
beginning of a new school year in the fall and on educational achievement of
school-going children. His main thrust was financial education.
The questions: “What are our schools teaching our
kids? Is it really the information they need to succeed in life? Are they being
taught to think for themselves and to solve problems?” The businessman
contends that our traditional schools have failed to teach children to think for themselves and
all key skills they need to be successful.
It seems majority of
parents or guardians of young people consider that the job of educating their
children belongs first to the state, or a school. As a result, parents focus on
providing food, clothing, medical care and entertaining their children (or
filling up houses with gadgets). Schools then do whatever they can in fulfilling
the duty of education.
I will turn the
first question to the parents: what are you actively teaching your children? Although
I won’t belabour the case for parents as the first educators of their children;
here is an alternative question. Where
else do parents go when
schools and higher education system fail to be good guides and become instead sources
of confusion and hindrances to true
education? In the heart
of the child that each one of us is we would consider ‘going home’ to a parent,
to family.
So then, what and
how are parents to teach their children? I suppose every parent would want to
teach their child what would make them competent in life’s varied circumstances
(work, leisure, difficulty, and uncertainty) and ultimately how to find
happiness.
How to teach? Let’s
break down the task of teaching. Teaching
takes place only when its intended
result -- which must be known from
the start -- is achieved -- when the child is ‘taught’.
One
can try to teach their child forgiveness, but they have not taught until the
message reaches the child and the he or she is seen forgiving habitually (even
in petty matters). Being
taught means to perceive that what the teacher has said is true and valid, to perceive why it is so and to do it.
One
way parents try to teach is by modelling the behaviour they would like taught
to their children. Children usually assimilate the behaviour and messages (good
and bad) in the home without the need to be drummed into them. However, the
teaching is not done until the message (forgiving is good, forgiving helps
relationships) reaches them and they practice it.
Parents
who decide to leave education to the schools will find (albeit rather late) that
their children did not learn much else apart from subject facts that are soon
forgotten after receiving a grade. For those who choose to take up the
challenge, there’s much work to do in learning and seeking wisdom to teach one’s
children. Parents who have the time and ability may decide to
home-school whereas others may only manage to teach children how to play a
musical instrument. Whichever course is taken, you will have made
a choice to give of yourselves and that is an invaluable legacy for your
children.
What
can you begin to do now? Here is some inspiration
from Paul Bregman.