Are teachers or parents more important in a child’s education?
I look at it like this: a student is swept along on the influence of a parent much like a river flowing towards maturity. Sprinkled throughout this river are teachers who, like rocks, divert the flow. Sometimes they cause small eddies of current, sometimes they create a new channel, and always they make turbulence. Overall, the influence of the parent is stronger and more consistent, but a motivating educator can cause the student to see new patterns, consider new options, and develop new interests. The worst they can cause the child to react and think differently and as the child prepares for their life’s journey on a seldom placid ocean.
In the early, formative years, the parent is the most important influence on a child’s education. There is no more important time in a person’s life than the early years when a parent’s love for reading and sharing make life long learning a possibility. As the child gets older the parent continues to dominate as the most important element in a child’s attitude and thus learning. Especially since most children spend less than ten percent of a calendar year in school. (That is 180 days times six hours per day.) Parents also can motivate their children more easily than teachers on a daily basis just based on the fact that the teacher has so many more children to care for. This motivation reaches beyond the basic curriculum. A parent can influence a child’s life by teaching proper eating and health care. Obese children have a much higher incidence of medical problems and few teachers can make much headway in expressing their concern without being accused of bias and even self-esteem issues.
In the teen years peers become a dominating force that must be dealt with. However, when the subject matter becomes sophisticated and the parent or peers do not have the resources