What if the education system schooled parents?
For centuries the education system has been a process of parents handing off their children to public or private schools and letting teachers educate a large group of students. This means schools have to deal with many issues including immaturity, dishonesty, medical conditions, absence/tardiness, uncaring teachers, etc. (the list goes on from personal experience).
But, what if instead of teachers educating groups of children, instead teachers educated groups of parents? Parents are more mature, understand the importance of honesty, have already learned to overcome any medical conditions or learning disabilities, etc. and most importantly, they can be educated on how to educate and raise their children correctly. This means the teacher-to-child ratio is the same as the parent-to-child ratio. Absence/tardiness by children is a rare occurrence (living in the same house and all), and parents care more about their children than teachers do. In cases where parents are the ones with behavioral problems, traditional education can be used, and it will be much less overburdened compared to the current situation.
Obviously I have not considered all implications, this was just a random thought I had today. I'm curious to explore the idea more.
But, what if instead of teachers educating groups of children, instead teachers educated groups of parents? Parents are more mature, understand the importance of honesty, have already learned to overcome any medical conditions or learning disabilities, etc. and most importantly, they can be educated on how to educate and raise their children correctly. This means the teacher-to-child ratio is the same as the parent-to-child ratio. Absence/tardiness by children is a rare occurrence (living in the same house and all), and parents care more about their children than teachers do. In cases where parents are the ones with behavioral problems, traditional education can be used, and it will be much less overburdened compared to the current situation.
Obviously I have not considered all implications, this was just a random thought I had today. I'm curious to explore the idea more.
So, you spend a semester teaching parents what took someone years to learn, so they can then go teach their children?
Wait a minute, are you actually advocating for home schooling here, or are you talking about something like a "parents license"?
You're excluding parents with more then two children here.
Anyway, it comes down to specialization. I as a parent have no trouble what so ever admitting that the individual whowhen went to school specifically to learn how to teach my child is more qualified then I am to do so. Disciplinary issues aside, our current education system scales very well to large class sizes. There are a few exceptions; my little ones teacher from last year for example. But that 'overburdening' was due primarily to age and medical and staffing issues. It has been fixed.
| This means the teacher-to-child ratio is the same as the parent-to-child ratio. |
You're excluding parents with more then two children here.
Anyway, it comes down to specialization. I as a parent have no trouble what so ever admitting that the individual who
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Here's an issue with this system: there'd be no check against parents teaching their children creationism (EDIT2: exclusively).
EDIT: Actually, there are a lot of accountability issues here. How do we know that any of the good practices taught in class will be actually followed, especially if the parent wants to teach something that conflicts with science or if the parents are neglectful/abusive? The latter issue is especially troubling for me, as if the parents are abusive, the children will not have a "second place" to go to in order to report what happened.
-Albatross
EDIT: Actually, there are a lot of accountability issues here. How do we know that any of the good practices taught in class will be actually followed, especially if the parent wants to teach something that conflicts with science or if the parents are neglectful/abusive? The latter issue is especially troubling for me, as if the parents are abusive, the children will not have a "second place" to go to in order to report what happened.
-Albatross
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| TheRabbitologist wrote: |
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| ... if the parent wants to teach something that conflicts with science ... |
I don't see why this would be a big problem. After all I still lie to my kid about Santa, the Easter Bunny and where babies come from. Everyone of those slaps 'logic' right in the face and I know full well that she's going to unlearn them one day with or without my help. Kids are smart, they figure an incredible amount of stuff out on their own. The ones susceptible to dogma are probably predisposed as such.
Like I said, I did not think this through, and the more I think about it the more it sounds like a bad idea.
Parents have years before their kids would normally go to school anyway.
Instead of the kids going to school, the parents go to school.
Huh? With 2 parents and 3 kids, both ratios are 2:3.
Some schools currently teach this, and it's also a subject of hot debate about how/if religion should be taught in schools. I'd rather not touch that topic.
Yes, I'm starting t not like my idea anymore.
| ResidentBiscuit wrote: |
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| So, you spend a semester teaching parents what took someone years to learn, so they can then go teach their children? |
| Computergeek01 wrote: |
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| Wait a minute, are you actually advocating for home schooling here, or are you talking about something like a "parents license"? |
| Computergeek01 wrote: |
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| You're excluding parents with more then two children here. |
| TheRabbitologist wrote: |
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| Here's an issue with this system: there'd be no check against parents teaching their children creationism. |
| TheRabbitologist wrote: |
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| Actually, there are a lot of accountability issues here. |
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| LB wrote: |
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| Huh? With 2 parents and 3 kids, both ratios are 2:3. |
Then you're still excluding the households with more then three kids. They are more uncommon but at the same time they are the ones that need the most help with the issues that you posted above.
Also, it's extremely difficult to teach your kid about a topic that they just aren't interested in or that they already know and it's compounded when you feel the same way about the topic. It's instinctive\chemical, you want your offspring to like you and you can see when you're making them miserable so you just don't want to do it.
For example, I normally have no problem helping my kid with her homework. But it took us three hours to finish a work sheet on dinosaurs for kindergartners. Neither my self or my kid could possibly care less about paleontology. We ended up building one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_bazooka and having a silly string fight before finishing it. My kid is in GT courses right now, but if her education were left up to me nothing would ever get done.
| Computergeek01 wrote: |
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| Then you're still excluding the households with more then three kids. They are more uncommon but at the same time they are the ones that need the most help with the issues that you posted above. |
2 kids: 1:1 and 1:1
3 kids: 2:3 and 2:3
4 kids: 1:2 and 1:2
5 kids: 2:5 and 2:5
6 kids: 1:3 and 1:3
etc... all the ratios are the same for both teacher:student and parent:child.
| Instead of the kids going to school, the parents go to school. |
So I'm supposed to go to work for 10-12 hours, then to school for another 6 hours, then come home and regurgitate what I learned to my kids and hopefully be able to do it in less time than it took me so I can sleep 1 or 2 hours, and for 18 hours of the day my kids will just be sitting in daycare doing nothing productive waiting for me to get done with work and school?
Yeah, I don't like it.
You realize that they are not likely going to be in the same age group right? So even if the warm bodies are there, you're either teaching the older one stuff that they've already gone over, skipping the prerequisites for the younger one or your dividing your time equally on each topic meaning that they don't get as much time on the subject as smaller households would. That's the disadvantage I'm talking about.
It would make a decent South Park episode at least; lot's of room for some funny situations with parents getting poor grades, getting referrals, talking back to the teacher, bullying each other etc.
I can't teach my parents how to open a web browser let alone teach them advanced algebra or physics.
This idea is extremely impractical. It is only feasible for wealthier families where there are two parents (single parent families do exist) and one of those parents doesn't need to work.
An interesting idea, but I don't think an adult life could go back to that, so much changes and the idea of school wouldn't work that way IMO.
I think the Simpsons covered this...
Cletus: "I teach the big ones, and the big ones teach the little ones, but nobody ever taught me so the whole thing's kinda pointless"
Cletus: "I teach the big ones, and the big ones teach the little ones, but nobody ever taught me so the whole thing's kinda pointless"
I've been a trustee at one or another private school for more than 20 years. One idea I suggested at a Strategic Planning session was to spend some time concentrating on parent education:
- parents are nearly as much a part of the childrens' education as the teachers.
- society is pushing more and more responsibility onto the schools. Things that children used to learn at home or church are now expected to be taught at school. Where does this end?
- we expect parents to help their kids learn, but we don't really tell them how to do it.
So while I think it's a good idea to send children to professional teachers, it's also a good idea to actively teach the parents how to help their children learn.
- parents are nearly as much a part of the childrens' education as the teachers.
- society is pushing more and more responsibility onto the schools. Things that children used to learn at home or church are now expected to be taught at school. Where does this end?
- we expect parents to help their kids learn, but we don't really tell them how to do it.
So while I think it's a good idea to send children to professional teachers, it's also a good idea to actively teach the parents how to help their children learn.
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@dhayden: I think that's the less extreme version of what I was thinking, and I agree. (by the way, you may wish to fix a few typos)
Something my parents always tell other parents is "read to your children". So many kids even at my college, when they read aloud, completely ignore punctuation and are monotone. It makes me wonder if they even understand what they read.
Something my parents always tell other parents is "read to your children". So many kids even at my college, when they read aloud, completely ignore punctuation and are monotone. It makes me wonder if they even understand what they read.
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