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The ESL Times / Spring, 2004

Education and Parents
By: Pascal Bekububo, SX
(The Congo)

Education is one of the main concerns of our society, and it is a parent’s most important task. The pluralism and liberty that our society favors seem to take young people away from their parents. It seems that parents are failing in their responsibilities.

Parents are the first people responsible for their children’s education. This education begins at home during early childhood. Parents give their children their fundamental education concerning morals, religion, and society. The influence of parents on their children is really great. Children not just follow the examples of their parents, they imitate them. They try to identify themselves with their father or their mother. An orphan who has grown up in the street, without any good education, is different from a child who has grown up with both parents alive and taking care of her/him. Indeed, no one else can take the role of parents. Parents are the best teachers. With advice, encouragement, reproach, punishment, open talks, and listening, parents accompany and guide their children from the womb to a happy maturity. They need to use their authority and their experience to control and help their children grow up and live responsibly. A tree is known and recognized by tasting its fruit.

However, there are parents who have failed at their mission. Some have lost their authority over their children. They can say nothing to their children. Instead, they seem to be controlled by their children’s will. Others have used their authority to destroy their children. Instead of building, they destroy. Also, the media, such as the TV and the Internet, friends, and school have taken the place of parents often today. Children are exposed to people or milieu that considers parents as their enemies. An environment of violence, drugs, and poverty makes getting an education sometimes very hard.

In conclusion, education is the best gift that parents can give to their children. Parents should be authoritative, but also the best friends of their children, caring for them as the “apples of their eyes”. Society cannot educate better than parents can. Their parents, along with their education, form a child’s background and personality. What comes from school and friends is just additional to what parents should do.

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