You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education - Hardcover

Robinson PhD, Sir Ken; Aronica, Lou

 
9780670016723: You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0670016721 ISBN 13: 9780670016723
Verlag: Viking, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

An essential book for parents to help their children get the education they need to live happy, productive lives from The New York Times bestselling author of The Element and Creative Schools

Parents everywhere are deeply concerned about the education of their children, especially now, when education has become a minefield of politics and controversy.  One of the world’s most influential educators, Robinson has had countless conversations with parents about the dilemmas they face. As a parent, what should you look for in your children’s education? How can you tell if their school is right for them and what can you do if it isn’t? In this important new book, he offers clear principles and practical advice on how to support your child through the K-12 education system, or outside it if you choose to homeschool or un-school.  Dispelling many myths and tackling critical schooling options and controversies, You, Your Child, and School is a key book for parents to learn about the kind of education their children really need and what they can do to make sure they get it.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, is a global leader in educational reform and a New York Times bestselling author. The most watched speaker in the history of the prestigious TED conference, Fast Company calls him “one of the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation”.  Professor Emeritus at the University of Warwick in the UK, he advises governments, corporations, education systems, and some of the world's leading cultural organizations. The Element has been translated into twenty-three languages.

Lou Aronica is the author of four novels and coauthor of several works of nonfiction, including the national bestseller The Culture Code (with Clotaire Rapaille), The Element, and Finding Your Element.

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Chapter One

Get Your Bearings

If you're a parent of school-age children this book is for you. My aim is to help you get them the education they need to live productive, fulfilled lives. I've worked in education all my professional life. Along the way I've had countless conversations with parents about school. I'm a parent too and know firsthand that being a parent is a challenge as well as a pleasure. It gets more complicated when your children start school. Until then, you've been mainly responsible for their development and well-being. Now you entrust a major chunk of their waking hours to others, giving them enormous influence over your children's lives during their most formative years.

Seeing them go to school on that first day brings a suite of emotions. You hope they'll be excited about learning, make good friends, and be happy and inspired at school. At the same time, you probably feel a good deal of trepidation. School brings a whole new set of relationships. How will your children respond to their teachers? Will the school see what's special about them? What about the other parents and children? Will your child rise above the new social hurdles or trip over them? As your child heads into school for that first day, it's no wonder you feel a catch in your throat. You think things will never be the same. You're right.

Emma Robinson (no relation) is a teacher in England. She's also a parent and knows how it feels to leave your child at school on that very first day. She wrote a poem called "Dear Teacher," which has since been shared by thousands of other parents. Here's an extract:

I know you're rather busy

First day back, there's just no time

A whole new class of little ones

And this one here is mine.

I'm sure you have things covered

And have done this lots before

But my boy is very little

He hasn't long turned four.

In his uniform this morning

He looked so tall and steady

But now beside your great big school

I'm not quite sure he's ready.

It seems like just a blink ago

I first held him in my arms

It's been my job to love, to teach

To keep him safe from harm.

I know as I give him one more kiss

And watch him walk away,

That he'll never again be wholly mine

As he was before today.

Parents have always worried about handing their children over, but these days they have even more on their minds about school. Many are exasperated about what's happening in education. They worry that there's far too much testing and stress at school. They feel that the curriculum has become too narrow because of cuts in important programs in the arts, sports, and outdoor activities. They're concerned that their children are not treated as individuals and that schools are failing to cultivate their curiosity, creativity, and personal talents. They're anxious about how many young people are being diagnosed with learning problems and being medicated to keep them focused. They worry about potential bullying and harassment. If they have children in high school, they worry about the rising costs of college and whether their children will be able to find a job whether they go to college or not. More than that, they often feel powerless as parents to do anything about it.

Anger and Anxiety

Recently, I asked people on Twitter and Facebook about their biggest concerns in educating their children. In less than an hour, hundreds of people from all over the world had posted responses. Bec, a young mother in the United States, spoke for many when she said that children's "strengths are not valued and their weaknesses are magnified. Their grades are more important than their sense of self." Kimmie, another mom, asked, "Will my children discover their true potential and be guided to a career that they love and are passionate about." Conchita wrote, "I have all sorts of worries about my two daughters. I feel the current system will not let them shine and my ten-year-old may not get what she needs to overcome her learning difficulties and anxiety."

Jon is worried that children "are gradually being taught to not enjoy learning: that it's somehow an arduous rite of passage we're all forced to go through with no solid reasoning. It's a constant battle to keep that spark of curiosity and delight about learning alive when the system packages it and sets narratives about education the way it does." Karin said, "Education is broken. There's too much pressure, too many tests, too many demands, too much assembly line. How can we reboot? How can we prepare our kids for a radically different life from the one the current system prepares them for?"

Carol was concerned that the "one-size-fits-all approach, orchestrated by individuals that have no business dictating educational policy, is producing students who have no ability to think for themselves and an absolute fear of failure." Another mother's top concern was whether schools "are teaching kids to be creative problem solvers. Testing doesn't teach kids to be versatile thinkers." Tracey points to a deep worry for many parents: "I'm most concerned with the fact that policy makers seem to have little regard for parent voices. The culture around parent voices is dismissive at best and those who make decisions about kids haven't a clue what actually goes on in classrooms." These are all legitimate anxieties and if you share them, you're right to be worried.

Education is sometimes thought of as a preparation for what happens when your child leaves school-getting a good job or going on to higher education. There's a sense in which that's true, but childhood is not a rehearsal. Your children are living their lives now with their own feelings, thoughts, and relationships. Education has to engage with them in the here and now, just as you do as a parent. Who your children become and what they go on to do in the future has everything to do with the experiences they have in the present. If your children have a narrow education, they may not discover the talents and interests that could enrich their lives in the present and inspire their futures beyond school.

How Can This Book Help?

So how can this book help you? I hope it will be useful in three ways. The first is by looking at the sort of education your children need these days and how it relates to your roles as a parent. Parents often think their children need the same sort of education they had themselves. It depends on what sort of education they did have, but in general that's probably not true. The world is changing so quickly now that education has to change too. The second is by looking at the challenges you face in helping them get that education. Some of those challenges have to do with public policies for education and some more generally with the times we live in. The third is by looking at your options and power as a parent to overcome these challenges. Let me enter some caveats right away.

To begin with, this is not a manual on how to be a good parent. I wouldn't have the nerve. I'm sure this comes as a relief, because seemingly everyone else does. From Dr. Spock to the Tiger Moms, you already face a fire hose of advice on how to raise your children. Apart from the unsought advice of friends, relatives, and probably your children...

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Verlag
Viking
Erscheinungsdatum
2018
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0670016721
ISBN 13 
9780670016723
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
304
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Zeitfracht Medien GmbH
info-medien@zeitfracht.de

Ferdinand-Jühlke-Straße 7
Erfurt
99095
Deutschland

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