Rockridge High School
Taylor Ridge, Illinois
Teacher: Barbara Downey
Parenting and Education
By Desiree Johnson
Grade 12
When we begin to grow as children, our perspective changes, as well as direction. We either begin to realize and appreciate what we have, or we dwell over the things that we cannot change. As adults, we tend to look back on our past and wonder what we could have become. Our job as individuals and parents should be to prevent this question from ever arising in our child’s mind. We need to be providing our children with the proper parental support and start focusing on giving our children a valuable education. As the value of our educational system dwindles, our need for better parenting and effective education becomes more crucial. This will not only improve their quality of life, but it will also lead our children to having prominent and successful careers in the future.
The first issue that needs to be dealt with is a child’s welfare. This aspect of a child’s life reflects the probability of that child actually leading a successful life. When a child receives proper emotional support in the home, we call that adequate welfare. When a child is neglected and not given a real chance to succeed, we call that meager, or inadequate welfare. In today’s society, not enough emphasis is put on parental support in the home, as well as the education that these children are receiving both in the home and at school. These are the mere aspects that determine who we are, and these are also the aspects that society no longer accentuates.
When a child is not receiving proper education either from their parents or at school, he or she begins to develop meager learning skills. The learning skills that we acquire throughout childhood are the same skills that we demonstrate as adults. A child missing these skills will not only be behind in learning capabilities, but they will also be behind on an emotional level.
So what should we be teaching our children, both in the home and in school? The answer: everything-values, morals, ethics, and principles. Our schools need to work together with the parents to ensure that their children are learning these values, in addition to their academic work. It is becoming more and more common that our adolescents, no longer our babies, are getting swallowed whole by their own carelessness and pity. So where does this stem from? Childhood. When we are kids, we are supposed to embrace the issues of self-esteem, individualism, and confidence. But what if a child has never been offered that kind of emotional support? They become lost in the hysteria and are constantly searching for a way out.
We can change this. All it takes is individual and community effort. We need to expand our educational programs and support our youth. We can increase our child’s learning abilities by simply providing the extra support in the home. This means becoming active in a child’s education. Parents need to start evaluating the educational programs that are available in the community. Realize as parents, that we always have a say in what learning programs our children are utilizing. Maybe those individuals on the opposite end of my spectrum just do not realize how detrimental they can be in a child’s life. By not supporting our children in the home or in their education, we are sealing their fate for a definite long-term struggle.
So as we step back and gain a new perspective, what comes to mind? Hopefully thoughts of new and innovative ways to improve our educational programs. In a country where education is not valued enough, changes have to be made. Our children are suffering from our ignorance and neglect. As technology expands and business grows, there is and will be no room for those without ambition.
Education is the most vital part of a child’s life, excluding parental support. As we get older, we begin to realize how much emphasis is actually put on the education that we received as a child. With education comes opportunity, and with opportunity comes experience.
Mandatory tests are the logical first step in this process. By doing this, our children will begin to value and understand the importance of their education. Testing our children’s capabilities is the best way to learn about the skills they acquire, both in the home and in school. Upon review of the tests, we should be able to determine what level our children are on. We can then begin to invest in educational programs that help our children progress in their learning skills and help better their education.
As a nation we should make it our personal responsibility to improve the education that our future entrepreneurs can attain. By providing for our children in the best way possible, we will be able to see the effects of our perseverance. Our efforts for increased improvements and better policies have proven to be successful in the past. It is time to start making changes now, so that we can guarantee the success of our future generations.
Essay Questions
1. We place social stigmas on marriage by expecting a couple to be married if they are having children. Society believes as a whole, marriage is extremely important. We also invest industrially and economically in marriage because we feel that individuals in stable marriages generate better workers. Manus invests in marriages that primarily increase our economic success and contribute to greater prestige in the market.
2. The following quotes are the answers that I received after asking married people what takes to have a happy and long relationship.
15 years 1st marriage- "Respect your spouse and be willing to be friends."
29 years 2nd marriage- "Love and honesty is the key."
11 years 1st marriage- "Tell your partner how much they mean to you and never take them for granted."
21 years 1st marriage- "Cherish then every waking hour."
7 years 1st marriage- "Be happy and loyal."
23 years 2nd marriage- "Love them as if there were no tomorrow."
13 years 1st marriage- "Make strength and emotional support your goal."
17 years 1st marriage- "Tell them that you love them everyday."
20 years 1st marriage- "Show them that you are soulmates."
3 years 1st marriage- "Provide grounds for improvement."
3. Richard Eckersley believes that our collective goal should be to improve our quality of life without straying from economic progress and personal happiness. I think that we could easily decrease the current divorce rate if we were to start with support in the home. We have to provide an emotional as well as an educational background for our youth. If we were to educate them better, maybe they would be able to make better transitions throughout adolescence. People can make a larger impact if they were to show people their capabilities, rather than talk about them. Educated people are less likely to get divorced.
4. I think that investing in more children’s educational programs is great goal for any community.
5. In "Tomorrow’s Child" they say that a doll may provide the human connection that children need. In no way can a doll ever be a substitute for a mother. When children need support, that has to come from a parent. A toy designed to preoccupy children will never come close to the presence of a mother.
6. Since the United States is a democracy, it creates more jobs for lawyers. There are more rights that can be violated and more laws that can be broken, this allows lawyers to touch base with all levels of society. Lawyers should be thankful that problems are not assigned to a certain class.
7. Personally I prefer regulations rather than punitive damages. I would rather see problems being addressed as soon as they occur rather seeing them put on a back burner. I believe that if we had stricter laws and policies, it would decrease the number of problems that we have as a society.
8. Society can benefit from baby boomers by having them start up their own businesses. This generation can hire retirees to work for them, thus establishing a ‘gray business’ made of older workers. All of this in turn will make older workers highly competitive.
9. President Clinton will most likely gain the needed support. Even though there are not enough people that care about politics, he should most likely succeed. There are various institutions that have been established to help those living below the poverty line, minority-owned businesses are growing at a rate above average, and their policies are fundamentally better than those in the past.
10. Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis are two individuals that were both active in religion, determined, and achieved their collective goal.