By Bouwe van der Eems on Saturday, 02 May 2015
Category: Blog

Education - A shared responsibility?

 

Education is often described as a shared responsibility. President Obama said in a speech in 2011.  “That’s why reforming education is the responsibility of every American – every parent, every teacher, every business leader, every public official, and every student.” This idea is also often articulated in a popular slogan : “It takes a village to educate a child.”

The parties that are usually mentioned to share this responsibility are parents, the state teachers and business. These parties have different strengths and weaknesses and motivations:

 

 

According to the South African constitution the child’s best interest are of paramount importance in all matters concerning a child. If this is indeed the case, then parents are the only people who can make any decision concerning their children, because they are the only ones who understand the needs of their children and have the best interest of their children at heart. Not the state that views a child as a pawn in a game of politics. Not business that views the child as a source of profit. Not teacher unions that view children as instruments to create jobs .

The only way in which parents, the state, teachers and business can share the responsibility is when all parties acknowledge that only the parents understand the best interest of their children, and that any party involved in education is there to serve the parents. Parents must be acknowledged as the highest authority when it comes to making educational choices. Parents do not need to justify their educational decisions to any of the other parties, nor even inform them.

Although the state claims that education is a shared responsibility, it seldom accepts responsibility when things get tough. When a child does not fit into the school system, does the state adapt the school system in order to meet the needs of an individual child? When a child commits a crime, does the department of education take responsibility for this, because children learn values from their peers at school? When a child is injured at school, does the department of education take full responsibility of the medical costs? When a child gest addicted to drugs sold at school, does the school take responsibility for the consequences and treatment costs?

The state only becomes responsible for the education of a child, once it has been proven in court that a parents are neglecting their responsibility to provide their children with an education that is at least the same standard as the education provided by the state in public schools. The legal principle that citizens are considered innocent unless proven guilty also applies to education. Therefore, it must be assumed that parents are providing their children with an education, unless objective prove is provided that this is not the case. Any policy that requires parents to provide proof that they are educating their children before they are allowed to homeschool, is in conflict with the constitutional principle of innocent until proven guilty.

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