Parents involvement in the schooling of their children is a funny issue. The funniest part (ha ha) of it is the very fact that it's an issue, and not a self-evident pillar of the concept of education. Denmark is an atypical phenomenon, where it is taken for granted. In most other countries, the establishment maintains control over education decisions, keeping the parents away from a position of decision, and from information. As in most issues where humans are involved, there are different reasons for keeping the parents away from education. Some bad reasons, some good.
Underlying the bad reasons is the basic premise of power: "because we can." The authorities have the authority, and they are not inclined to give the power away. A more specific origin cited in some places, is the religious establishment of previous centuries, which was worried about uncontrolled groups raising children outside their particular religious doctrine. The way to prevent that was to maintain central control over education. An often heard reason for avoiding parental authority, is the issue of expertise: The education establishment and education academia maintain a sense that they know better. Though in some circles of academia one can see signs of healthy humility - nobody knows very much.
There are also a few good reasons to mitigate parents' control over the education of children. In a mass education system it's hard to manage the effect of the many contradicting opinions. Maybe even impossible. Also, while it is my belief that humanity in general doesn't quite know how to educate its young, and while it may be true that some parents may have a knack for educating their kids, it is probably also true that some other parents are spectacularly bad at it, and it would be a shame to give them more power.
But these two arguments against parental control over education have obvious holes in them: If there is a contradiction between mass education and parental control, maybe we need to back off from mass education, instead of keeping the parents away. Maybe we can have it both ways: Mass public education for those parents who choose to let the state make the decisions, and state-supported private education for those who want to make their own decisions - again, see the Danish system. And with regards to those parents who we agree are no good at making education decisions, there are two familiar problems: First, why punish everybody for the potential errors of the few? Second, as parents, we have control over many aspects of their kids' life, and we can make mistakes, and we do make them, in their feeding, exercise, habits, opinions, etc. There could be a case for taking all kids away from their parents. This has been tried on many occasions, often as part of a racist assumption that kids of a minority race are better off being raised by others. Communal upbringing has also been tried with an ideological basis in communist societies, and in places where the people ultimately have a say - such as Israeli Kibbutzim - it was ultimately rejected.
I hold this truth to be self-evident, that when you let people be involved in something they care about, they will do much more and much better than you would expect. They will put into it more than the free time they think they have. They will function beyond the level of skill they think they have. This is a great potential resource. It would be very good to get a piece of that potential in the context of K12 education. What we need is to face and resolve the various difficulties we come across.
Managing contradicting opinions of parents contributing to mass education: Leadership + Administration. Leadership can help minimize the contradictions. Easier said.
Meticulous administration can allow different contributors to work in the same environment without much friction. Such administration can break the mass education system to smaller units - each with its somewhat different direction and rules. At the same time, the contributors can be grouped together according to the same lines of direction and beliefs, to match the education units.
Dealing with particularly bad parents: Let's divide and conquer: Among the "bad" parents, some want to be involved in their kids' education, and some don't want to. Those who don't want to be involved are not an issue, because they don't interfere. Among those who do want to be involved, some are defined as "bad" by the law, and some are not. Those who are legally "bad" need to be dealt with on the legal plain, and are not to be allowed to interfere. Regarding those who are not legally "bad" parents: Who are we to call their parenting "bad"? They have their own way, they pull in their own direction, and they are part of "managing contradicting opinions..." above.
For those of us who believe they know better than the parents: That's ok, if you can lead the parents willingly in your direction. Again - Leadership.
The common themes seem to be the same themes as for management of any organization: Leadership and Administration. Leadership can be bought in the same stores as charisma. No further details are available for its procurement. Good administration is less elusive. There are many devils in the details, but an administrative mechanism can be created and continuously tuned. Again, easier said than done.
A few features of a mechanism that supports parents' contribution:
- Types of contribution from parents: extra teaching, real-world examples, logistics, technical help, etc.
- Inform parents of what the system thinks it needs
- Keep parents informed about the activity in schools, so the parents can come up with suggestions for relevant contributions
- Keep active contributors informed about changes in needs, schedules and plans, so they don't waste their effort on dead ends and irrelevant deadlines
- Seek feedback from active contributors
- Seek feedback from non-contributing parents
- A dispatching mechanism to accept offers from potential contributors, with a quick positive response for almost every offer
- Strictly voluntary contribution, to prevent it from becoming a casual money-making opportunity
If we build a convenient and responsive framework for parents to contribute, to be involved constructively - parents will come and contribute.
I think.
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