Parental Involvement with Education
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:41 pm
Bored Teachers and/or educational experts can correct me if I am wrong, but I recall seeing stories and reports detailing how one of the leading factors, if not the leading factor, in improving the educational achievement of a child is parental involvement/interest in that education.
After last night, I was surprised to see that it seems to be an issue in arguably one of the best, most affluent school districts in my state.
As you may recall, my wife was working on a committee for our school's "Show What You Know" learning fair, acting as a secondary co-chair. Despite extending the deadline to sign up, there still was a disapppointing number of entries. Maybe 25% of the students participated, and that is including the fact that an entire Kindergarten class had one project, an entire 1st Grade class had a project, and 5th graders were being graded and had to particpate. Otherwise, it would have been maybe 5-10% participation.
We were disappointed because it is such a well-attended, highly-participated activity at our son's former school. [Shockingly, very few of the kids and parents from the aforementioned K and 1st classes even attended to see their projects and the other projects.] I always liked the event becuase there are so many kids who have interests and "expertise" in areas outside of normal academic subjects, and this is an opportunity for them to shine.
Not surprisingly, there were several projects where it appeared that a paent did most, if not all, of the project, and the student was fairly clueless on what "his" project was. They did not seem to learn as much as they could have about "how airplanes fly", for example.[hey, what second grader doesn't know all about Bernoulli and aerodynamics? }
The Boy was a bit miffed because some people thought that his project was a little "gross". (You may recall that his project centered around the plastic surgeries performed on his baby sister, including before/after photos and his Q & A session with the doctor.)
On the positive(?) side, my wife now is convinced that she needs to be in chartge of the event next year, and see if it can reach its potential as a fun, educational event.
After last night, I was surprised to see that it seems to be an issue in arguably one of the best, most affluent school districts in my state.
As you may recall, my wife was working on a committee for our school's "Show What You Know" learning fair, acting as a secondary co-chair. Despite extending the deadline to sign up, there still was a disapppointing number of entries. Maybe 25% of the students participated, and that is including the fact that an entire Kindergarten class had one project, an entire 1st Grade class had a project, and 5th graders were being graded and had to particpate. Otherwise, it would have been maybe 5-10% participation.
We were disappointed because it is such a well-attended, highly-participated activity at our son's former school. [Shockingly, very few of the kids and parents from the aforementioned K and 1st classes even attended to see their projects and the other projects.] I always liked the event becuase there are so many kids who have interests and "expertise" in areas outside of normal academic subjects, and this is an opportunity for them to shine.
Not surprisingly, there were several projects where it appeared that a paent did most, if not all, of the project, and the student was fairly clueless on what "his" project was. They did not seem to learn as much as they could have about "how airplanes fly", for example.[hey, what second grader doesn't know all about Bernoulli and aerodynamics? }
The Boy was a bit miffed because some people thought that his project was a little "gross". (You may recall that his project centered around the plastic surgeries performed on his baby sister, including before/after photos and his Q & A session with the doctor.)
On the positive(?) side, my wife now is convinced that she needs to be in chartge of the event next year, and see if it can reach its potential as a fun, educational event.