‘Families Are Children’s Most Important Educators’

June 1, 2011 by PaulM Posted in Culture, Education, History, Lowell 1 Comment

Families are children’s most important educators. Our society must invest in parental education, prenatal care and preschool. Of course, schools must improve; every one should have a stable, experienced staff, adequate resources and a balanced curriculum including the arts, foreign languages, history and science.

If every child arrived in school well-nourished, healthy and ready to learn, from a family with a stable home and a steady income, many of our educational problems would be solved. And that would be a miracle.

Read the rest of this opinion column by Prof. Diane Ravitch of NYU  in today’s NYTimes, and get the paper if you want more.

One Response to ‘Families Are Children’s Most Important Educators’

  1. Kim Scott says:

    “If every child arrived in school well-nourished, healthy and ready to learn, from a family with a stable home and a steady income, many of our educational problems would be solved. And that would be a miracle.”

    This is by far one of my greatest issues/concerns as a parent of two LPS students that I deal with. I do not think that my children will have a better cirriculum or any better teachers (In fact I think the opposite) by attending a private school in the city but I would be paying to surround them with children that are healthy and ready to learn, etc… The “Death and Life of the Great American School System” is a fantastic read. I made the decision that this is my neighborhood school, my children have the right to be there, I am a taxpayer, and what they learn about diversity will be a lesson greater then what they will gain at the private school. I will let you know how it goes as I have concerns about whether they are getting the differentiation they need.