Values Parents Take for Granted

What do people take for granted that they should be more skeptical about?
Paulina Diaz
Mr. Reshef
IB TOK
16-10-10

Parents take for granted that by sending their children to school they will receive a good values education, when really values are acquired by children at home first during their early years of life.

Values are beliefs that are important to an individual, a family, a society and civilization. A family or society without a value system has no direction. A good definition is provided by the United States Air Force Academy, stating that character is made of “qualities of moral excellence which compel a person to do the right thing despite pressure or temptations to the contrary”. (2) Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, etc. They answer the question why people do what they do. They become important in people’s day-to-day lives.

Examples of values are; ambition, competency, individuality, equality, integrity, service, responsibility, accuracy, respect, dedication, diversity, improvement, enjoyment/fun, loyalty, credibility, honesty, innovativeness, teamwork, excellence, accountability, empowerment, quality, efficiency, dignity, collaboration, stewardship, empathy, accomplishment, courage, wisdom, independence, security, challenge, influence, learning, compassion, friendliness, discipline/order, generosity, persistency, optimism, dependability, flexibility

Some parents do not pay enough attention in conveying the right values to their children, assuming that they will receive them at school. But, while in today’s world it is important that schools support good values in their programs it is absolutely essential that the basics are taught at home first.

Family is the main value provider. Your values are made up of everything that has happened to you in your life and they start with influences from your parents and family. Values are conveyted since birth and a good transmission in the first years of children’s life is critical. As Plato said in his Republic, "You know that the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression is more readily taken..." (1). Therefore, as values are first conceded at early ages, schools and teachers expect children to arrive with a minimum set of values.

Even if values can be passed at school only, teacher’s main objective is to convey academic knowledge. As they are assigned by academic subjects, each one of them is responsible for teaching only one subject like math, science, history, etc. Even though these courses include some basic values, they are to general to be useful on an individual basis. However values are important inside a classroom and within the student body such as respect, responsibility, dedication and honesty so teachers expect children to have them already. Therefore while teachers have the responsibility to reinforce these values in class, parents cannot expect them to teach them at school.

Even if teaching values is defined as an objective for teachers, as classrooms are big, they do not have the time to teach them to each student. Values need time to be acquired and students do not spend enough time inside a classroom in order for a teacher to convey them properly. Furthermore as there are a lot of students in a class, a teacher does not have time to dedicate attention to each one of them.

In modern families usually both parents work, so they do not have time to teach values to their children, there is no continuity in education to make values a habit and there is little communication with their children. This is no excuse to make sure that the little time they have with their children is spent with quality and used to teach proper values. Additionally values are conveyed by example. Parents have to demonstrate values in action in their personal and work behaviors, decision-making and interpersonal interaction. They have to use the little time they have at home when children are around to again teach them good values.

Parents cannot take for granted that by sending their children to school they will receive a good value education. It is their responsibility to do it as early in childhood and at home. Even if values can be passed at school, teacher’s main objective is to convey academic knowledge. Additionally as classrooms are big, teachers do not have the time to attend each student as needed to convey values. Finally family is the main value provider. While school and teachers play an important role in reinforcing these values, it is the parent’s responsibility to provide them in the first place.

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(personal_and_cultural) http://finance.yahoo.com/how-to-guide/family-home/12820 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homework http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/list-of-values.htm http://humanresources.about.com/od/success/qt/values_s7.htm http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-86231593.html (1) - "Teaching Values and Respect to a Young Child." HubPages. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. <http://hubpages.com/hub/Teaching-Values-and-Respect-to-a-Young-Child>. (2) "Air Force Reserves - Definition." Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - WordIQ Dictionary. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. <http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Air_Force_Reserves>.

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(personal_and_cultural) http://finance.yahoo.com/how-to-guide/family-home/12820 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homework http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/list-of-values.htm http://humanresources.about.com/od/success/qt/values_s7.htm http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-86231593.html (1) - "Teaching Values and Respect to a Young Child." HubPages. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. &lt;http://hubpages.com/hub/Teaching-Values-and-Respect-to-a-Young-Child&gt;. (2) "Air Force Reserves - Definition." Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - WordIQ Dictionary. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. &lt;http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Air_Force_Reserves&gt;.