[TO READERS: Is this 1979 (28 yrs ago) article still relevant in 2007? Please comment]
1979, Education Advisory #9
THE URGENCY BEHIND PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION
1. Parents are legally and morally responsible far the education of their children. That is an obligation that must be fully understood. If a child is sent to school (remember, the parent signs the child into school), and is getting an inappropriate education, it is the parent’s right and duty to intervene on behalf of the child. It is the parent, on the basis of accurate information and knowledge of the child’s needs, who can pursue changes as appropriate. But, a school can be held accountable if it fails to keep parents informed of the true progress of the child.
2. Parents must be involved because they know their children best. They are their best advocates on a sustained, long-term basis and can make sure they get what they need. They are their children’s first teachers and should maintain a positive guiding influence throughout their growing years.
3. Schools, in some areas, have been used as laboratories for innovations, experiments and social engineering–as well as hot-houses for elitist or political purposes. Parents need to be involved in their schools to ensure the goals and programs are those they approve of.
4. Teacher unions are militantly moving toward more control over education programs and policies. Parents need to be involved as spokespersons for their children’s rights if learning conditions, school programs and such matters as “weighting”* become matters in employer-employee bargaining. Traditionally, these matters are those that school trustees are to have control over, but in some districts unions have successfully bargained themselves into considerable influence in these policy areas. In some districts parents are becoming actively involved in the annual bargaining process to ensure their children’s educational rights. (*weighting–whereby some children are labelled, e.g., hyperactive child may be counted for two children, thus reducing student-teacher ratio)
5. Children with special needs deserve an individualized education program (IEP). If parents don’t know the diagnosis, the types of programs available, the choices regarding styles of instruction, they cannot be meaningfully involved. In the United States parents of handicapped children must, by law, be involved in development and review of IEP’s.
6. Every child in North America is entitled to a free education in a public school. Public schools must be what they say they are, that is public, “not private or secret; accessible to all” (Webster’s Dictionary). Public schools must be open to public scrutiny and parents should be given candid information on which to base their support, criticism or withdrawal. Trustees of the public system of education must not only ensure that parents have easy access to their schools, they must themselves ensure their own availability to parent input and consultation.
7. Growing evidence shows that the helping professions don’t always produce positive results. Sometimes clients are kept dependent, or their problems or needs compounded. In medicine this kind of doctor-caused problem is called iatrogenic. In education this condition is called dispedagogia (mis-teaching). Parents need to know how to spot such counter-educatiional practices, how to seek relief and how to deal with the helping professional’s characteristic response to criticism–”denial, defensiveness, and withdrawal”.** (**p.45, Community Psychology, Rappaport, Halt-Rhinehart-Winston, 1977)
8. The single most important factor contributing to educational success is the degree to which a student is in charge of himself and his learning. Parents who actively participate in their communities, including their schools, provide a good model for their children of people who are in charge of themselves. An educational system that empowers people–students, teachers, parents–to do their respective jobs well is the ideal we aim for.
9. The 1980′s will see a great deal of public relations efforts directed by school systems at parents and the public generally in an effort to build public confidence and support. Parents are in a key position to ensure that these efforts embody genuine two-way communication–interaction, not manipulation. At the same time, parents must continue equipping themselves with the knowledge and skills needed to become involved in educational planning. It is certain that the 1980′s will see client participation as part of planning and evaluation efforts in all fields of human services, and education will see both parents and students more involved. The give and take of negotiating will become an important part of planning for each student, for schools, and systems as a whole.