Last year’s ‘Commentary Corner’ was written by Jonathan Hensman then of Wanganui Collegiate School. He wrote of the need for schools to be ‘lighthouses’ in society. I wish to pursue the same theme, but from another perspective: schools not just as lighthouses but also schools themselves in the spotlight!
As I write to my own parent community from time to time, I note that it is inevitable that schools will be in the spotlight. Certainly it is quite natural for people to turn a critical eye towards their schools when they see harmful trends in their society. Schools are established to educate and attendance is compulsory for about 11 years. Of course schools will be a focus for criticism.
it needs to be understood, however, that parents, citizens generally, educationalists, and governments have never reached consensus on the nature of education, except perhaps on the one point that it is concerned with ‘betterment’. In other words, schools are intended to develop children and to be a means of ‘uplift’ for society as well; or a ‘lighthouse', in other words. Of necessity, therefore, schools are expected to uphold the highest values of their society and not succumb to downgrading pressures. I readily accept all of this, and work with the staff to ensure we practice it as well.
On the other side, to blame schools for society’s ills is both simplistic and wrong in principle. it is to expect of the schools much more than they can ever deliver. it blinds society to its own failures in carrying out its responsibilities. That is to say, and notwithstanding my rock-solid belief in the importance of schools and the educative role they perform, at the level of exposing children to influences (good or bad), the school occupies quite a mediocre position.
This is not to gainsay the enormous influence a teacher can have on individual children. One of my oft-repeated phrases in the staff room is that ‘teachers make a difference’. But in spite of the large amount of money spent on them, schools have children in their care for far less time than the home. The teaching provided in the home has such a big impact on children’s lives.
If I am correct in my statements, then this only serves to underscore one of my key education themes: the importance of partnership between the school and the home, and between the school and the community. Teachers cannot stop all hurtful exchanges in the playground, or risqué conversations between lessons. They cannot blindfold children against advertising on billboards, or bad behaviour in the next row of seats on the bus. They cannot dispel children’s observations of adult behaviour with its prevailing inconsistencies and selfishness.
In other words, there is no substitute for education in the home. But schools can and must be in the vanguard of those seeking to raise standards working alongside parents. The old-fashioned phrase, in loco parentis, is still relevant. it is a phrase used to remind teachers that their teaching is on behalf of parents. And as intimated above, education is on behalf of the community as well.
In this respect, I have been pleased t o have an association with The Willows Cricket Club. The philosophy of older and experienced adults passing on that experience to younger members of society strikes a chord with me. Of course, this is what education is about: parents and teachers and community members working together for the betterment of all.