It makes better sense to discuss this question directly with parents. The discussion that follows could be directly shared with parents, without any need to edit.
Would you ever board a flight that promises 99% air safety standards? Would you get operated for knee replacement if the declared success rate of the surgeon is 90%? Would you buy the next smart phone if there is just a six months warranty on its battery? No, you would not pick any of these. 99%, 90% and 6 – month warranty are not good at all.
But you accept ‘0% results’ for your child after 14 years of school education (under-confident child with poor board results). In fact, you accept any result and blame your child or curse your fate! This is not an acceptable behaviour on your part.
Do not expect anything less than 100% educational achievement for your child. Schools must guarantee overall development of your children, without any riders. You read it right – without any riders.
Your child’s educational progress calls for a team play between the school and you both (parents) and the one who slips in living up to the promised role, gets the kick. The second year of consecutive weaker performance of your child must be followed by either of the two actions – you withdraw your child from the school because the school failed the child despite your best attention and effort or the school asks you to de-admit your child because the school tried its level best for your child.
You must also remember – the child never fails (to excel), it is either the school or the parents who fail. The school fails to ‘punish’ the parents for dereliction of parental responsibility (for the sake of fee revenue) and not ask them to take back their child or the parents fail to force the school to work extra hard on their child before it is too late (the parents do not want to get ‘too involved’ in their child.)
More specifically, here is a set of ‘must have’ expectations from your child’s school –
- That the school continuously promotes and manages to inculcate a rigorous reading habit in students, to enable self-learning capability in all students by Class VI.
- That the school prepares actionable, continuous, micro-progress analysis and reporting for its own use in effective remedial and complementing the educational efforts of parents at home
- That the school has an inventive approach towards teaching maths and science such that ‘No child is conceptually left behind in maths and science education’
- That the school ensures widest and continuous career guidance and preparation from class VI onwards
- That the school oversees overall development and also supports your efforts in the same direction.
To be fair to schools, you must also know what NOT to expect of schools –
- That a teacher’s teaching = ‘Learning’ by students
- That teachers are superior mortals, role models, uncompromised professionals who could be blindly trusted with your child’s development
- That schools really know every student and have a plan for every student’s development
- That ‘smart content’ can do any good to students or teachers
- That swimming pools, shooting ranges, music labs etc. in schools are necessary as well as sufficient conditions for the overall development of children.
Schools are effective only when the education at school is most effectively complemented at home. And your child’s education is at its best when the education at home is well supervised and backed up by the school.
Live up to your part of the deal in the education of your child and ask for the moon from the school! Don not compromise, you have already done two parts of the deal – pledged your current earnings and pledged your future contentment to the school (by entrusting your child to the school).
