It’s easy to get it into one’s head that sending a child to school is all that’s needed for their education. Indeed, a huge number of people think that way, and then take actions that match that line of thought. Of course, it’s not true, and there’s a wealth of evidence that a huge number of problems occur when children lack parent involvement in K12 education. The information is solid, and has proven that it’s far, far better for parents to take an active, direct role.
Schools Can Only Do So Much
For starters, a school can only do so much to teach a child when they don’t have any support from home. A child is at school only a short amount of time, compared to how much time they’re at home. And certainly, any teacher can assign homework. But homework is often used for the process of learning at home. And learning involves more than a simple rote memorization. True learning involves understanding the material and using it expand their knowledge of the world around them.
When children lack parent involvement in K12 education, they can certainly figure out how to give the rote answers that teachers may want on the homework. But there’s no one to help them truly understand and comprehend the material. Without that parental involvement, how can they ever truly learn?
Learning Includes Respect For Teachers
But that’s not the only place that a lack of parental involvement can cause problems. When there’s no parental involvement, children don’t learn how to properly respect their teacher. Children learn about social cues and social hierarchy from their parents, after all. If parents aren’t being involved in their education, they’ll begin to learn that their education simply isn’t that important. After all, if it was important, then surely their parents would take an active role, right?
When they see that their parents aren’t taking that active role, what they internalize is that their parents don’t find their education very important. Thus, it won’t matter how many times their parents say things like “get a good education” and “you need to do all your homework”, they’ll see that their parents don’t really care. When parents don’t care, how can children be expected to care?
The simple truth is that they can’t. If parents don’t care, children won’t care. Thus, if you want your children to take their education seriously, you have to show them that you care. You have to take an active role in that education, and ensure they’re learning.
Is There A Right Way For Parents to Get Involved?
However, it’s important to take an active role in the right way. Many parents attempt to take an active role by showing up at school and attempting to guide the learning structure. That’s the wrong thing to do! While no person is perfect, and teachers and administrators alike will make a number of mistakes, it’s important to understand that they have learning and experience in how to teach children.
If you’re not a teacher, nor a school administrator, and you’ve never taken classes on how to teach and instruct children, then you don’t really know how to do so. So it’s important to allow the school to plan out lesson plans that are important. Your job, as a parent, is to support your child in learning that information.
Many children lack parent involvement in K12 education, but that doesn’t have to be the way it is. It’s simple to take an active role in your child’s education. All you have to do is show interest, listen to what they’ve learned, and try to help them understand. When you do that, they’ll truly be getting the education they deserve.
