How true is this?
My daughter (17) has had many days out of school with me.
I assert and always WILL assert, these days have taught her more about ‘life’ than she would ever learn in the rarefied atmosphere of any classroom.
Assuring myself that my daughter can handle herself in any situation, with many and varied people from all ‘walks of life’ has been a driving influence on the way I have chosen to bring my own children up.
Hence, her social skills etc are excellent.
Her learning skills funnily enough, are even better.
She is very good listener and deciphers pretty well what is important and what I not.
Children learn every day of their lives.
Whether it be in a classroom or in the supermarket;children learn
<until they finally realise they know it all about 16!?>
By qualification, I am a School Teacher.
Suz

Good article.

Vicarious natures will try to buy their kids this sort of thing with $20k a yr private school fees. Hoping that rubbing shoulders with the blue-bloods will make a difference. It doesnt seem to do much else than instil feelings of inadequacy and status envy for those kids of the wrong pedigree whose parents are basically scraping together that annual fee and teaching their kids how to be a pretender in this life... if you cant make it, fake it.

In the meantime the parents seem to abdicate any real sense of parental responsibility in the basics of imparting character, instead feeling as if they are unqualified and that $20k a yr will do the job.

Drive will always trump intellect. Universities are full of superior intellects enjoying the cloistered filter of beautifully manicured university grounds. Whilst the driven actually shape society thru their deeds. Those who can... do.

Back in the bad old days, parents who failed their offspring had those offspring removed, put in homes and often the children were abused.
Today's bad parents, druggies, crims,sadists,every kind of no hoper are left to bring their children up in ,sometimes, horrendous circumstances because of all the 'stolen children' affairs.
Either way the kids lost, still lose, will lose until a decent and wise way is found to give the poor children security and the sense of belonging they need.
How can a child grow up to be a good and caring parent when they do not know what good and caring means?

mickijo,
Mate is there another side to you, who can give praise, encouragement and positive comment?

Which side of the railway tracks you are born on has always, and will remain the single biggest factor in accuring wealth in monetry terms. I however teach my daughter principles, strength, confidence in herself. This way money will matter little, achievement will be the motivator, as it should be, she will grow to be a rich woman one day, perhaps living in poverty, however still rich.

Jamie Packer became in instant billionaire when father Kerry died, I feel sad for Jamie, he will never know the joy attached to a hard day's work. The achievement of a goal other than a monetry one. What a terrible legacy to leave a son.

My daughter will know the joy of saving money to buy something, instead of putting it on a card. Through adversity can come strength of character, a richness money can't buy.

A thought provoking article. My then wife and I took our two daughters out of school for six months in 1991 to travel Australia. They were in year 5 and 6 respectively.
We asked of their teachers what they needed to undertake during that period to catch up and I will always remember what the teacher advised. She said "What do you want a syllabus for, they will learn so much more out there than they will in a classroom." The following year they returned to school and resumed as though the break had hardly occured. They have grown to be wonderful people on both sides of the globe.
How much can we attribute to those months of travel and experience? I have no idea but it was no small thing to give children their parents for six months away from what we percieve important.
I always feel blessed that the long service leave I had accrued allowed me to do things that others only dream of but it does exemplify what is written in the article. The role of the parents is easily undervalued in a society that, it seems, is growing in its expectation that the parents role should be alleviated by state obligations to child fostering and childcare.

This article hit home for me. Here is a brief synopsis of my first eighteen years. Mother drug addict, child beater, with no sense of her own worth as a human being. Father convicted felon, alcoholic, racist. I went to thirteen different schools in three states. I quit school in my 11th year. There was no stability in my life, no values, beyond the selfish one of what's in it for me. I was 32yrs old when I developed a conscience. Imagine what that felt like. I am grateful for that moment. I still remember the event.

I realized I have a choice. I create my life based on the choices I make. It has been a long hard road. I'm still alive, but not for the lack of trying to die.

Early intervention, perhaps a mentor, or a teacher, anyone who cared may have made a difference. I now have a value system that I never had before. I wanted better for myself. I didn't settle for things that I was told like how I was no good, that I'd never amount to anything, that everything that happened to me was all my fault. The beatings, the sexual abuse, the abandonment. I learned to recognize what I am responsible for and let go of what is not my fault. I'm lucky I don't have police record like my father, I'm lucky I'm not a drug addict, and I'm grateful that I recognized that I had choices.

Ultimately it is the individual themselves that makes the difference in their own life. They must at some point ask themselves the question, what do you value?