.4 School as Babysitter

Let's face it folks, school is a babysitter. Without schools, parents would have to find other places for their children during the work day. American society, with it s capitalism and its eight hour work day only runs as smoothly as it does because the children are tucked away neatly in school while their parents are at work. I am not saying that this is a conspiracy and schools are only there to look after kids. I am just saying that the way things have worked out, one of the tasks we expect from schools is to free parents during the day

If we are not denying this reality and we freely admit the truth that schools are a convenient disposal of children, then we should adjust things so that it works that way even more smoothly. As it stands now, with schools ending before the work day, we are stuck with the terrible problem of latch key kids (kids who let themselves in at home sometime between 2:30 and 4:00 pm and hang around until a parent arrives at six). What we ought to do is extend the school day so that kids don t go home until their parents are there. That way we are honest and efficient about the reality that parents need schools so they can get other things done.

I am not saying that the children need academic study all day I think that the structure of the day can be organized so that part of the time at school students are doing things like homework, arts and crafts, extended PE, school projects, theatre class, etc. It would give the school the time to begin introducing the types of education which we anticipate we are going to need in the future.

Another assumption that is made regarding the relationship between schools and parents is that families love while schools discipline. This assumption is unfortunate and needs to be changed. It leads to a whole lot of problems when families don t discipline and schools don t love. Love and discipline need to be used by both parents and schools. Parents and teachers just need to be clear with each other
about what each is doing, so that they don t step on each other's toes.

What we need to set up is a new understanding between parents and schools, so that these two forces, the greatest forces involved in molding the lives of our children, can work together and reinforce each other. Schools need what they do in the classrooms to be backed up at home, and what parents do at home needs to be supported in the classroom. Having the two players complete separate
tasks is inefficient and often contradicting.


Why is it important for parents and teachers to work together and understand one another?
Mr. Andrews teaches third grade in a large city and notices that many of his students are latch-key children. He is a young teacher and is not married and has no children, but he still worries about what could happen to these children once they leave his classroom at 3:00 and go home to a house that is empty until 6:00. Mr. Andrews decides that he would be willing to give up some of his after-school planning time in order to prevent this problem, and is clueless as to where to begin. How can he form an after-school program that is beneficial to all of his students and their parents?