Some people think that it is parents who are responsible for teaching children to be good members of society. However, some people believe that it is the responsibility of schools and teachers.
Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Teaching children to become good members of society is extremely important because children will become adults that influence our society in future. Initially, the responsibility for teaching children falls primarily on parents as they spend a great deal of time with children and are important role models. As children grow older and attend school the influence of parents diminishes and schools become an important part of children’s learning not just in academic areas, but also in social behaviour. In this essay, the role of parents and teachers in teaching children will be discussed.
The influence of parents on their children should not be underestimated. Children spend the first years of their life almost exclusively with parents and therefore parents have a profound influence on the development of children. Throughout our lives people learn mostly by observing and listening to others, so time spent with a child and influence are dependent. This teaching extends across many areas including basic manners, showing respect and care for others, teaching culture and convention and teaching skills including those that are not taught in schools but are essential to succeeding in society such as managing time, personal finances, using tools and even driving cars. Although the influence of parents diminishes over time, it is profound and is reflected in the fact that people can often see mannerisms and behaviours in themselves that they observe in their parents or children.
Teachers also play an important role in teaching children because children also spend many hours in the care of teachers. The role of teaching children extends far beyond teaching them subject material because school is the beginning of independence and teachers guide students through that process. School can be viewed as a small society, where students must navigate relationships without the oversight of parents, and teachers, other students and the school environment support this process. A key part of schooling is that students are not just exposed to their parents but many teachers with different experiences and views and this helps children broaden their worldview and become better members of society. The influence of teachers can be measured by the large number of people who can reflect upon their school days and remember a teacher who helped change their lives for the better.
In summary, although in most cases parents exert the greatest influence on children in becoming good members of society, teachers also play an extremely important role. In fact, it is the responsibility of all members of society to support the learning and care of children as they represent our future.
Essay Notes
The question invites the reader to choose who is responsible for educating children, teachers or parents. The question is presented as binary (either/or); however, both play roles in educating children and a good response must describe the different roles that parents and teachers play in educating children. This essay is divided into two logical parts and is supported by two long body paragraphs describing the roles of parents and teachers, respectively.
The opening sentence of the essay describes both the topic and the reason that it is important to teach children to become good members of society (today’s children will influence society in future). The introduction has two ideas sentences; the first focuses on the role of parents. The role of parents is described in the first ideas sentence because they are the most important influence on a child and by doing so also allows the ideas to be presented in chronological (time) order as a child grows. It points out that very young children spend their time in the care of their family who provide their early education. The second ideas sentence focuses on the role of teachers and their role in teaching behaviour and academic subjects. The thesis statement states that the aim of the essay is to describe the different roles that teachers and parents play.
The first paragraph focuses on the role that parents play and focuses heavily on early childhood learning. The first part of the paragraph states that very young children learn from observation and experience. This idea is developed further to explain that the role of parents is very broad because children must learn many different skills outside of school to succeed in society. The influence of parents is also supported at the end of the paragraph with a simple example regarding behaviour patterns.
The second body paragraph focuses on the ways in which teachers play important roles in children’s education. The paragraph is broken into two logical parts that cover the two main roles that teachers play. The first part covers the role that teachers play in teaching various subjects, while the second part covers the role of teachers and schools in providing a social learning environment. The paragraph is also supported by an example of teachers that were influential in people’s lives.
The conclusion is two sentences and gives the opinion that although both parents and teachers play important roles in children’s lives, it is parents that have the greatest influence. In the conclusion the key ideas are not restated.
Essay Vocabulary
Primarily – This is a more formal way of saying main.
Diminishes – Diminishes is a very more formal way of saying reduces or become smaller. It is usually used with people’s character or influence. It can be used with “amounts” or “numbers” but sometimes this is inappropriate and should only be used if the user is confident that the usage is correct. For example, it is standard to write that “the number of animals in the wild has diminished” but it is not standard to write that “the number of cars on the road has diminished” in this case use “reduced”. The general way that diminished should be used with numbers is with objects that are rare such as endangered animals, historical sites, indigenous languages etc.
Profound – Profound means very deep or very important and is mainly used to describe ideas or influences.
Navigate – Navigate usually refers to finding a suitable for path for a vehicle but can also be used as a metaphor. People can navigate their way through problems, the education system and life. It can be used for any process that has a long path.
Oversight – Oversight has two meanings, the first is an “oversight” is something that is neglected or forgotten to be included. For example, “It was a serious oversight for the student not to study physics as well as chemistry.” The second meaning, which is used in this is essay, is that someone who has responsibility for something “oversees” it. “Oversight” is a noun and is the name of the process of overseeing something.