Child is born innocent with 'tabla rasa' (a clean slate) status. Yes, the child starts gaining knowledge in the form of experience and exposure given to it at every stage. It is very vital that the child gets these external inputs in the right proportion and quality at the early stages. Parents play a very important role in providing these in the best possible manner. Later comes the role of schools which shape the child..
Guide the child; don't force!
Elders should help the child to grow. Allow it to attain natural skills. Observe the child at every stage and be keen on giving the right guidance.
Parents are the decision makers as far as their wards are concerned in all walks of life especially when it comes to choosing the right school, mode of education, course and stream of academics and offering a motivation for their future career. It is but natural for the parents to be the dominating force in this stage. But are the parents equipped with the correct concept of education to suit the needs of their child?
Before going deep into the child’s role in choosing a school, let us see how the parent grades a school.
Parents are usually attracted by the name and fame of the school, infrastructure and building, location and facilities offered in the school, track record of the school especially with the exam results and toppers list, school transport system and of course the fee structure. (Some parents feel the higher the fees the better the academic standard.)
With all my experience I would humbly present another factor that the most parents fail to look into. Though some of them want to know whether the quality of teachers are good enough, many bother more about the management and the academic heads of the school rather than the actual teacher community. The bitter truth is that the child’s most contact is with the teachers and not the other top administration of the school. I feel that the day when the parents are concerned about the quality of teachers in their child’s school more than anything, the quality of schools will automatically be improved. Though every Board of education stresses upon the quality of teachers in qualification, subject specialization, remuneration offered to them, the schools find easy methods to appoint teachers of not so good quality and pay them very meagerly. Who is going to bell the cat?
Eventhough you cannot change time, realise it is time for you to change.