Recently in the news, there has been more coverage on the push for "parental control" in education. On election day, voters across the country, including in New Jersey, voted to elect board members who had promised to work toward greater "parental control" in school districts. Even some who ran for governor vowed to allow more "parental control," like in Virginia and New Jersey. The reason for this is because certain people believe education needs a setback to the "basics" and that parent input could be the answer. If parents were to be given greater"parental control" what do think the future of our education system would look like? Do you think ur students would benefit from more "parental control" in education, or would that hinder education, based on what we've learned in this class? How much parental involvement do you think our education system needs?
Kathryn Osborne --
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to get past the politics to see the real issues here of parental involvement. As in the Stanford study and others, it has long been suggested that students should be educated by adults other than their parents. As a person whose parent taught in the same school that she attended, I can say that any activity that my mother was involved in, I ran the other way. Not that she was terrible, but there is an unspoken understanding that treatment will not be the same if your parent is also your teacher or your after-school activity sponsor.
Sweeping in new BOE members all over the state will not immediately relieve the growing and somewhat misguided hot-topic concerns. Diversity, LGBTQ++, CRT, anti maskers, anti vaccers, Columbus Day vs indigenous peoples day, etc.,...The list will not stop. We must as a society and a profession look at each action and reaction in the cool light of day and not overreact, but add conscious thought to the discussion. It is a dangerous thing to push into another specialized profession and pretend to know better. I would never push into a doctor's office and tell them how to treat their patients or push onto a construction job sight and tell them how to build the multi-million dollar building.