Sifting through Education – 3 areas needing change
It has been said “…Parents have the right to require that their children be taught in an atmosphere that reflects their values…”. Unfortunately, in deliverance this is wrong. Ask your school principal to change your child’s Education to reflect your family values and you will be quickly told why your values are wrong.
Parents are invited to express their opinion only so the Education system can say they have given the family options. The Education system is designed to run in a particular order delivering a particular curriculum to a particular type of student. The school system acts like a sieve to sift out the lumps to ensure it runs smoothly.
Having spent many hours in the Principals office (as a parent, not a student) I can say without doubt School principals and senior staff DO listen to parents. From experience I can say however, this is NOT to enable the implementation of our values as parents, but rather to explain to us why our values are wrong.
Prior to the 2007 Election in Australia the John Howard Coalition Government implemented change in the Industrial relations act giving more freedom to employees and employers. These changes enabled Individual work place agreements to be negotiated between employer and employee. It gave more freedom to both the worker and the boss. The Rudd Labor government overturned the system after the election in 2007.
This “WorkChoices” system failed because it did not accommodate for Greed. This was perhaps the only problem with the structure. Giving Freedom to Individuals rather than a collective body IS a good thing, when implemented with protection for both employer and employee.
The Education system is run in a similar way to the current Union based Industrial Relations system. Everything is done based on a collective criteria and curriculum. The only students who are eligible to receive an Individual Education Program (IEP) are those with higher support needs. Even then, the IEP’s have to reflect Implementation through a collective system.
The Individual as such has no rights under any collective system. The development of which is done based on an assumed majority.
Parental Autonomy does not exist within the Education System as it currently exists.
It’s obvious the system needs drastic change to accommodate the individual more so than the collective.
3 areas needing change are:
- All students should receive Individual Education Programs.
- Students from 8 years of age should be encouraged with support, to set their own curriculum based on pre-determined testing criteria to ensure a streamlined Testing program.
- Parents should be included in the Design, Implementation and Updating of the Students individual education program.
Eric J. Smith
May 17, 2010
Tags: Autonomy, Education, family values, special needs kids Posted in: Education System
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