Where are we headed as a society? Today’s call by Queensland teachers for help to deal with rising child mental health and behavioural issues is just another in a series of calls for more assistance in the raising of our children. But the calls are becoming disparing for those who care about our children and their futures.
Once again the question has raised such comments as
Where are their parents?
Why do teachers have to teach basic life skills?
The formative years of learning happen before kids reach school. Basic manners, life expectations, communication skills, respect and attutude to others are all a reflection of home. We are a product of our breeding, we’re reflections of our parents and our surroundings. Just compare the recent MY School data that directly correlates the ICSEA rating of the Socio Econmonic Ranking of a school to the student outcomes.
The problem for our schools and particularly State Schools who take all children in difference to the private system is that while some parents try their best to instill basic skills in their kids, other parents couldn’t give a ….
It’s the parents who drop off the kids at 7.30am when school starts at 9am instead of networking with other parents or pick up the kids in some cases younger than 10 years old, at 4.30 a full 90 minutes after school has finished from a main road. Haven’t these parents heard of the tragic story of Daniel Morcombe.
Teachers and Principals will all tell you of the parents with whom they just can’t connect. No attendance at the Parent Teacher interview, won’t answer notes home or even take a call, no lunch, no socks, shoes with holes in them and so the list goes on. How many schools provide breakfast services for students who arrive early or just dont have food at home?
It’s then those children who want to learn and the teachers who have the best intentions to impart their knowledge who are disrupted and miss out.
There are some great parents, really engaged and schools equally who do amazing things with the resources and parent/community support they have. We should applaud them and hold them up as beacons as to how we can really do it well, any ideas on how we can do that?
As a society we have to make a decision about what we want for our kids and ourselves. Do we need full employment, kick single parents off support payments when their kids turn 8 or should we ask them to instead involve themselves in their children’s schools thus providing much needed teacher aide assistance or just flat out volunteering in our community.
The fabric of society is being ripped apart by the desire for more wealth and more possessions. Europeans and Americans will tell you at the moment that the house or car doesn’t support them when they dont have enough money for food. It’s friends and family who have been there.
We need to engage in more human interaction. Get rid of the second, third or fourth TV or the Xbox or close down the laptops and TALK.
While your family may not be as large as the Waltons, next time you sit for a meal, talk, engage, turn the TV off and ask your friend, son or daughter how their day was.
It’s no wonder teachers bleat about wanting to be paid more when they may be trying to do your job and theirs.
Reference Article Courier Mail
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