11 of 33

Nurturing

Write now Article Tools

I firmly believe school should be a combination of both rigorous training and nurturing the student emotionally. A school is simply a place for a formal education. The teachers we hire spend about six hours a day with our children. It is in the best interest of our children for the people who spend the most time during the day to be nurturing individuals.

School should be a place to challenge the mind, not the spirit. All too often school is more about controlling the child, and breaking their spirit than nurturing their curiosity. Teachers are forced to be more demanding and unable to give a child a chance or find out where the child needs more help in learning.

I have watched the evolution of what used to be the best educational system in the country crumble to its knees over just a few decades. The difference between schools when I was a child compared to schools during my children's lives is unreal. I spend more time with my children's teachers, especially during the later part of their education, defending their rights as a human being. That hardly ever happened as I was growing up.

What happened to allowing a child to be a child? All too soon the real world comes and all that is hard about life is upon us before we know it. School is supposed to teach more than just arithmetic and grammar, it is supposed to teach you how to deal with the hard stuff. Kindergarten used to be about learning to play with others. The primary education is more about learning to deal with people that may be difficult.

The pace at which children learn is amazing, yet we have the highest dropout rate in the country. Children have been forced to go to pre-school, and by sophomore year in high school are bored with going to school. Rules have come into place requiring no student to be left behind in class, so children suffer no recourse for not passing classes. So what is it that these students learn? These students learn that it doesn't matter if they don't do well in school, they will get to the next grade anyway.

Nurturing students should be the major focus of our teachers, while still providing some sort of standard of education. The varying education receives depending on what part of the country one lives in is not beneficial to our children and their future.

Learn more about this author, Trisha Clark.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Is it better for schools to be rigorous or nurturing??
We want to hear your view. Write now!