reflection

Why do i believe parents should be a parent? Why do i think parents should be involved in their child's life, available and working along with the staff and the student throughout their education? why do i stand for the reggio emilia approach? After working in classrooms for the past two years, i have come across children of all ages and from all backgrounds. Even though i am not from a "troubled" neighborhood and i was not working in a "troubled" classroom, the majority of the kids are still ....troubled. Fights, stealing, lying, cautiousness. Four years old. Nine years old. I'm not talking about teenagers or a juvenile home. These are elementary school classrooms in a middle class, relatively safe, suburban city. The problem? lack of parental involvement. the solution? additional parental involvement. I was recently involved in a program that introduced alcohol, drugs, "bad touches", eating healthy, and a variety of issues young society faces today. when told i had to talk about beer and various other inappropriate things i was stunned. How do you look an innocent five year old in the eye and tell them they are to never drink beer or wine or any other alcohol until they are 21, and then they have a choice to drink, but they don't have to. I refused. I didn't want to open up the evil parts of the world to these precious little babies. It was then explained that parents are no longer doing their part. As astonishing as it is at the age of 5, it is important to teach these lessons in case mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa or babysitter is not. Even though i understood, i was still exploding with the idea that the government was requiring us to teach this to the students. When hearing about the cooperative work plan between parent and teacher in the reggio emilia approach to teaching, i was enlightened.  Ethics and morals are no longer being taught at home within the family and even though i do not agree that the teacher and the school should be taking on this responsibility, i still realize the school is quite capable of helping. With more parent involvement and cooperation in the classroom and in the child's education, i think america is looking at a whole new generation. With encouragement for a cooperative work relationship in the classroom, i think these important ethical lessons will be led back into home.