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Health & Fitness

Choosing a School: What Should Parents Really Be Looking For?

  From the day our child is born, we very zealous parents almost immediately begin to think about options for education.  In our “over the top” parenting world, there are stories of applications submitted to prestigious schools after sonograms!  Though maybe not that soon, parents should accept their responsibility, as well as exercise their freedom, to be an active agent in finding the best place for their child’s training.
    
     When the common choice is made for children to get training outside the four walls of the home, what needs to be considered?  Should parents investigate whether a chosen school may undermine their own values?

     Well, many do not.  Perhaps based on some of these beliefs:
    
1) Our home values are so strong; a school could never alter them.
2) School curriculums are not designed to question values, just teach facts.
3) Teachers don’t have an agenda to change minds; they just prepare kids for exams.
4) Even if a like-minded school existed, we couldn’t afford it.
5) My kids being happy with their friends is more important than values.

     Because of some or all of this thinking, parents default to convenient schooling, or maybe reject all options and choose to homeschool.  But just in case we don’t buy those beliefs, there are options. Good decisions are never made by ignorance of other possibilities.

     To find a school that matches your home values, embraces your view of what education should include, and practices your preferred way of how things should be taught is a challenge.  Parents should visit all types of schools, observe the teaching, the atmosphere, and ask a lot of questions.

     Choices can be driven by curriculum content, teacher credentials, variety of teaching methodology, expectations of behavior, and schedules of instruction. But, these questions actually tell you more about a school:

1) Does the class size allow close relationships?
2) Do all children play freely outside every day?
3) Are meetings for parents well attended?
4) Is learning accomplished by pressure and bribery, or inspiration and encouragement?
5) Are test scores the primary measure of school success?
6) Is the integrity and character of teachers obvious?
7) Do students feast on great books, historical truths and profound ideas?
8) Do teachers have ample time to teach and listen, plus margin to build relationships?
9) Are parents’ ideas and suggestions embraced or simply tolerated?

     In researching these answers, I think you will find more often that those private and parochial schools, with an intentional focus on the hearts as well as the minds of students, will rise to the top.  But in any school, where a student is seen as a unique and gifted person, not a product to be manipulated, most parents will be relieved to delegate confidently the learning and care of their most precious responsibility.

     We need all types of schools and schooling, plus every school is not best for every child.  May God grant us wisdom in making this important choice.


    Bobby Scott, headmaster of Perimeter School in Johns Creek, Georgia, and director of the ChildLight Schools Association, has over 30 years of educational experience.   He is a co-author of When Children Love to Learn (Crossway Books), a Charlotte Mason education book for school educators. Bobby has been the headmaster of Perimeter School in Johns Creek, GA (a 500+ student school of grades K-8) for 26 years. Since 2004, he has annually led teacher training teams to the Punchmi Christian Academy in Karanse, Tanzania, East Africa, as well as been an adjunct instructor at the Joshua Teacher Training College, also in Tanzania. He holds a Master of Education in Counseling and a Master of Education in School Administration. He and his wife, Valerie, have a son and two daughters.

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