The familiar is comforting to us. We don’t fear what we have experienced before, the known.
When we as parents visit our kids’ school, its no wonder that we feel that the schools are fine. Most of us attended the same type of schools; the setting is familiar. The rooms have desks with attached chairs, notebooks, textbooks, crayons, pencils, backboards etc.– perfect images of how school was when we were kids. The way schools communicate with parents is also the same. They send us a notice on paper in our kids’ backpack or on a notebook and even that is exactly like how our parents got the notes.
What is wrong with this picture?
Our kids today have more access to information at their finger tips than we ever did, but the schools have done woefully little to keep up with the information revolution. Why are teachers still giving assignments that can be solved by one simple Google Search? We are so used to the concept of school being the same as it was in our youth that we don’t notice, don’t think about, how desperately it needs to change. I am not saying that schools should be inundated with the latest technological gadgets, but that the basic premise of our Education system needs to change.
- We need to meet students where they are, which is a more advanced place than we were at the same age.
- Parents need to be engaged and schools need to do more to engage them. This means moving beyond notices in backpacks to seeking parents’ input.
- We need to put the T back in the PTA or even evolve the 100+year organization.
- We need to move away from standardized tests because our kids aren’t standard. They are vibrant, fast moving, and extremely informed.
We need to get out of our kids’ way. We need to let Education be driven by the kids’ needs, not what we think schools should look like. Parents need to embrace a vision of schools of the future and push to make that a reality. We need a parent revolution. Are you with me?
Many parents struggle with the notion that they can change the system. It is hard to imagine that one person can affect the system in a positive manner. It is especially hard to envision change when many other like-minded parents choose to abandon public schools instead of fighting to make them better.
Here are some things each one of us as parents can do to help improve the schools:
- Question standardized testing–especially those that deliver the tests after the school year if over. What good does that do?
- Be a problem parent and discuss your concerns. I know we are often afraid of the teacher because we don’t want any backlash. However, if none of us express concern over an assignment that makes no sense, then nothing will ever change.
- Understand how the regulations and reform laws affect you.
- More than ever, this is the time to get involved in your kids’ schools. Teachers sometimes mistakenly believe that parents view schools and teachers as babysitters; parents need to change that perception by being engaged.
- Fight for good teachers, well paid teachers. They are shaping the future of our children. Teachers are amongst the least paid professionals. Would you like your child to be a teacher? If the answer is no, then the situation needs to change and fast.
Every parent needs to actively engage and ask for change. We simply can’t be bystanders anymore. Our children’s future is at stake.
Image by Corey Leopold
Related posts:
4 Steps to Start a Parent Revolution in Education http://bit.ly/g11utS via @parentella
RT @Parentella: 4 Steps to Start a Parent Revolution in Education #ptchat http://bit.ly/ekMSvQ (via @shellTerrell)
I so totally agree with all of this!! Especially putting the T back in PTA. We’ve been joking that our PTA should be renamed PAA, as we can only count on the administrators to provide a presence at our meetings. The teachers only show up when they want to ask us for funding.
RT @lornacost @Parentella Can it just be engagement and not seen as a revolution? #ptchat http://bit.ly/ekMSvQ (via @shellTerrell)
RT @mediadigger: RT @Parentella: 4 Steps to Start a Parent Revolution in Education #ptchat http://bit.ly/ekMSvQ (via @shellTerrell)
RT @Parentella: Starting a Parent Revolution #ptchat http://bit.ly/ekMSvQ
RT @Parentella: Starting a Parent Revolution #ptchat http://bit.ly/ekMSvQ
[...] And I think it is those small moments of victory, those small interactions that (hopefully) produce results that help us all to realize that a real revolution can happen. [...]
[...] The post originally appeared on Parentella’s blog. [...]
Great post Aparna. We cannot do what we need to do without a huge change in the engagement level of parents. I am not blaming parents for their disengagement because they are products of a system that didn’t engage them when they were in our schools. Just saying…we need all hands on deck for our kids’ sake and we need a united front.
Our contexts and constructs may be different depending on our state/province/country, but we have similarities in the challenges we face too. I sense we are on the verge of a big shift in education, but not always sure what direction we are going, and who should be the agents of change. As a parent, I think I have always done #1 – #4, but I am not sure how to have impact in #5. I also struggle with how we can include parents in change when a consensus/agreement on what change should look like may be very difficult to reach. Parent engagement is often interpreted and defined in different ways as well, and not all agree what that should look like and where it should take place. Can there be a common vision? We have systems that create different stresses on educators and parents which makes it hard to find the united front at times. I do have much hope, don’t get me wrong, but the complexities always lead me to many questions along the path of change….
This is both street smart and intleilegnt.
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[...] The post originally appeared on Parentella’s blog. [...]
I think MOST of us have lost sight of what school really is supposed to be all about. Throughout the annals of history, it has been a place where children go to be instructed in the art of living life. INSTRUCTED, as in taught – not pampered. School has NEVER been a place where paranoid parents live out their own unresolved angst and heckle teachers. I say put the learning back into schools and keep the activism for the Oprah Winfrey Show. Our kids get one shot at learning all this stuff. Let’s not mess it up by over-enabling the pupils and eunuchising the instructors