All parents should be required to volunteer time to their children s schools

The statement proposes to require the parents to spend some time in their ward’s schools. Parents and teachers play the most crucial role in a child’s upbringing. Undoubtedly, such a move would promote synergy between parents and teacher during a child’s education bearing multiple rewards. However, mandating all parents to volunteer in their ward’s school regardless of their background, availability and education might have its own consequences.

Admittedly, the recommendation for parents to volunteer time for their child’s school has manifold psychological advantages. Parents are a child’s first teacher and their lap is their first school where they learn their first words and early etiquettes. By the time, a child starts going school a deep mutual understanding and affection gets developed between it and its parents. Any developmental psychologists would agree that this bonding when exploited through author’s proposition in a child’s schooling, especially early years, would improve a child’s education process and render it a light hearted experience for them. In fact, a recent research in US schools revealed a 30 percent increment in academic performance when parents volunteered their time in school. Parents would me more involved in child’s education thus leaving a positive impression on a child’s psyche. They will get insights into school’s methodologies and curriculum. They will also have higher sensitivity of their child’s strength and weaknesses which could be their point of focus back home.

Apart from the psychological benefits for children, the recommendation would stand to benefit the school environment and parents themselves. It would serve to provide better safeguarding to children protecting them from bullying or harassment and even deterring them against bullying others. This, in turn, would create a safe and healthy classroom atmosphere for all the children. Moreover, parents can bring in their own expertise to the classroom learning and extracurricular activities. For example, a parent who is a finance manager might help in fund raising event whereas a doctor can give his/her insights during a biology class. Finally, volunteering in classroom would allow parents to spend more time with their child and provide a refreshing experience in their otherwise exhausting daily life routine.

However, despite these merits, the recommendation lacks pragmatism in its assertion that volunteering must be a requisition and not an option. Firstly, not all parents have time to volunteer time for school owing to their work or professional commitments. They may incur monetary loss when forced to spend time in schools thus threatening a child’s financial security. Moreover, not all parents are educated or cultured enough to abide by school’s regulations. Some may have smoking addictions, behaviour issues or even criminal records that could jeopardize the whole classroom ambience and the wellbeing of other students. Therefore, a realistic approach would be to make the recommendation as a matter of choice rather than compulsion. Furthermore, parents must not only be given some fundamental training but also be made to go through a criminal record check before being allowed to sit with children.

In conclusion, the recommendation for parents to volunteer time in their child’s schools has myriad psychological and academic benefits both for them and their child. However, making it a compulsion is not a feasible approach as neither all parents are available for volunteering nor all are fit to sit in a classroom with other children. A viable approach would be to keep it a choice for those willing to volunteer that too after training and proper forensic record checks if any.