Principal bemoans threats to schools

Otago Daily Times 17 November 2017
Family First Comment: Superb (and enlightening) comments by a school Principal
“The expectations imposed upon us now as a school, to attend to and reverse the ills of our society, are completely unrealistic and they are beyond our resource capability. It seems now, the first questions about the inappropriate text message sent by a school-age person in the weekend, or the under-age young person attending a party that goes wrong, are not ‘what were the parents thinking and what will the parents do about it’? The first questions now are ‘what school does the young person go to and what is the school going to do about it’? And we’ve seen that in the national media this year … I believe it’s not our parent body who thrust these expectations upon us. It’s the media and it’s increasingly a broader societal expectation.”
Well said. Give power – and responsibility – back to the parents!
A Dunedin school principal is  increasingly  concerned  by the  social expectations imposed on schools,  and says some parents need to take more responsibility for their children’s actions.
During the recent King’s High School senior prizegiving, rector Dan Reddiex praised his present cohort of pupils for their outstanding achievements  during the year, but went on to express deep concern about the future of education in New Zealand.
He said the school’s ability to educate boys “in mind and in heart” was under threat.
“Alarmingly, in my view, we are increasingly becoming as much a social institution as we are an educational one.
“The expectations imposed upon us now as a school, to attend to and reverse the ills of our society, are completely unrealistic and they are beyond our resource capability.
“It seems now, the first questions about the inappropriate text message sent by a school-age person in the weekend, or the under-age young person attending a party that goes wrong, are not ‘what were the parents thinking and what will the parents do about it’?
READ MORE: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/principal-bemoans-threats-schools