Parents need a vision for children — Cast

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 563, 22 November 1994, Page 6

Parents need a vision for children — Cast

Parents have to have a Vision for their children and not be an obstacle to a child' s learning. That was one message to parents, and pupils, at the Ruapehu College prizegiving last Wednesday. Principal Harry Cast once again told parents they have to work with schools to help children try harder. Following is Mr Cast's speech from the prizegiving: A prizegiving is an opportunity to celebrate success, both at an individual level, a group level or at a school wide level. It also is an opportunity to acknowledge the assistance this college receives from our wider community, both in terms of moral support and encouragement and assistance with things like our sports and cultural programmes. Ruapehu College has achieved much this year in the academic, cultural, social and sporting arenas and the Education Review Office (ERO) visit confirms this. To all who have helped us achieve our goals thank you. However we cannot rest on our laurels and must look at ways we can improve the opportunities offered to students. Success in education is based on a partnership between three groups - the home, the school and the student. Take any one of these groups out and you have the risk of failure. A school needs to look at the obstacles to learning and the community and the school needs to find solutions to those problems. I can see a number of obstacles we need to address. Lack of parental pressure or parental expectation for success is a major hurdle to be overcome. Imagine the success some students could achieve if they were encouraged academically to the degree they are encouraged to succeed in a sports game. Rugby games for instance are analysed in detail and the moves discussed at length - this interest, if translated to study skills could bring a new breed of student, and a new breed of parent. Imagine parents in a group not discussing the try on Saturday, but rather how they could get their child to try harder. The future should be exciting and new, but the horizons and expectations of the students are sometimes limited by the lack of vision shown by family members. The cycle of educational under achievement needs to be broken. The parents who draw on their own educational background and transfer their perhaps unhappy experience with schools to their children need to give positi ve, not negative messages. Schools of today are totally different to the schools we as parents went to and we as parents should be

encouraging students to take the many opportunities offered. Parents need a vision for their children and their expectations to be discussed and worked towards as a family. The easiest obstacle to learning to overcome is poor attendance. In reading reports and then writing a comment often the comment made is "attendance and attainment are closely linked" or "attainment does not come without attendance". On occasions parents conspire with their children to avoid schooling, writing false reasons for absence and encouraging further absences. We have students who have at least one day ' s "illness" a week - these illnesses tend to fall on Mondays or Fridays (or days when tests are held). Some reasons given for absence are not acceptable under the terms of the Education Act and with the number of sick days some students have, I am sure, an employer would not consider them suitable employees. Who is going to employ a person who appears to be chronically ill? The parents who encourage absences are the same ones whose expectations.are limited by a lack of vision and want nothing more for their children than they themselves have. Education is the key to breaking that negative cycle and attendance is the first step in gaining an education. I am not parent bashing or putting the blame on parents, as being a parent in the 1990's is not an easy task - and being the parent of a teenager can be even harder. Teenagers are so knowledgeable and parents so ignorant the gulf between the two can be substantial. The gulf is not helped by some recent legislation - an example being the Children & Young Persons Act which has some admirable features, but it has also created difficulties for parents. The emphasis is placed on the rights - but once again it is assuming young adults are responsible enough to use those rights in an adult manner. - I feel sorry for parents who are faced with a child who utilises this legislation available to leave home at age 16 or 17 often under a flimsy excuse. Secondary principals (not from our area) can quote cases when 16/17 year olds leave home without any discussion or counselling occurring with the parents. Too often students in this category are those who need the support of parents and family, yet those are the ones gaining independence at an early age,

Legislation has been misused by students to remove themselves from parental control. The legislation was intended to help protect students at risk, now it is used in some cases to avoid parents exerting rightful control over their children. There are over 3000 students nationally in this category that have the independent youth allowance. Let us return to a situation where parents are supported in their efforts to be good caring parents without the "opting out" that some students try. Friends or the peer group can make or break an educational opportunity. A key factor in academic success is the peer group that the student belongs to. It can be supportive and encourage competition towards success or it can hinder progress by denigrating those who work. Fortunately this negative group is a very small one at Ruapehu College and steadily becoming smaller. How many students here will look back at their school life and regret the influence their friends had in their lack of progress? How many adults here can remember students who disrupted their classes when they were at school? It is interesting to observe class dynamics and the way in which staff have to move students around to ensure the progress of other students is not affected. Because we are a small college students forget they are competing against everyone in their age group in New Zealand. They are victims of the "big fish in the small pond" syndrome and must look at gaining success on a national level, not just at the local level. The peer group must be a supportive one and the students must work together to achieve success in the wider world. Are there any easy answers to the problems raised? I think finding solutions is going to be an ongoing task but the easiest start would be for everyone to make the commitment to do better this coming year. As parents letus try to be more encouraging, as teachers try and improve further our endeavours for our students and as students realise the extra effort is worth it and we have to do something to help ourselves. Three groups working together is the only way the valuable opportunity education offers can be taken advantage of. Ruapehu College is a good school, it is producing students we can all be proud of, and parents can be assured that advances made in the last few years will continue. H Cast Principal