How much resposibilty should parents have in terms of their children's ability to read?

Question

Are schools utterly responsible or do parents have a part to play? I am interested in your answers as a teaching assistant who works with struggling readers every day.

Answer 1

Hey,

What I think is that it is nice to go to school and learn new words and how to read but also i feel that at home the teaching should never stop the parents are teaches too in their own way. Just because a child isn't at school anymore the teaching shouldn't stop. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Parents can't just rely on the teachers. As a parent, we have a responsibility to be our child's teacher too. We must re-enforce, at home,what is being taught in class. Reading is hard on some kids and need all the help they can get at home as well as in class.

Answer 3

Parents - I think - have the major responsibility for their children's reading ability, but most parents do not accept this responsibility, and leave it to the teacher(s). Which is very sad because years later when the kid grows up, his lack of interest in reading and inability to comprehend written material are crippling disadvantages for the balance of his life on this planet.

Answer 4

At the end of the day parents must take 100% responsibility for their kids. Parents should monitor  their children as they grow and if they are not making progress in whatever areas they should discuss the matter with their child, the teachers or if necessary a doctor. There are may reasons why a child may not be making progress - medical,personal, lack of ability,etc.

Answer 5

It should be a joint effort between teacher and parent. The teacher can't do one on one so that's up to the parent, although to many parents don't take the time to sit down and read with their children. Some don't have time to, also we shouldn't assume their parents know how to read. Sad but true.

Answer 6

Parents have a very big role to play when it comes to teaching their children how to read. Even if the kid hasn't started school yet, the parents should coax their kids into reading at an earlier age. They're supposed to give the kids the most basic of the basics and whatever they feel they must add on to their kids' knowledge. I don't believe the teacher should have to start from scratch.

Answer 7

I believe that it's best to leave the technical side of reading to schools. Even though I have training in phonics, I try not to interfere because it's taught in a  very specific way these days. However, parents should show an interest in what their child's learning, and support them by encouraging them to read as much as possible. There's lots of research to suggest that children do better if their parents take a close interest in their learning.

Answer 8

Fortunately my parents taught me to read before I went to school.  Considering that the average American reads at about an eighth grade level, the responsibility lies heavily upon the parent.  The schools are too busy with discipline,  which they manage very poorly.  

The American public school administrators and teachers are overwhelmed with the dual tasks of clutching their retirment in one hand and covering their butts with the other.  Any parents even remotely concerned about their child's education should look elsewhere than our public schools.

Answer 9

I believe parents should  teach their child to be familier with reading. This means reading to them, showing the pages to the child  as they read along and after a while the child  learns the words.  This also goes for the alphabet and numbers. Parents should spend time with their children   to teach them a few basics before the child goes to school. I always read to my children . They were more prepared for school and to this day each one of them  reads everything they can get their hands on and they have passed on the love of reading to their children by reading to them.

Answer 10

Parents should take a huge part in helping their children learn to read, I think its part of what being a parent is about!!! Of course schools need to take a big part also as that is why children go to school (among other things).  One should compliment the other.  Unfortunately, there are parents who cant be bothered and schools nowadays are so intent on getting thingslooking good on paper (not their fault I know but the governments!!)that the basics are failing to be met.  I do think however, that if you have children you should ultimately take responsibility and if youre not sure how to there is always help out there, you just need to go looking for it, because its not going to come to you.

Answer 11

Parents should take full responsibility. As a parent , my son's teacher's are there to reinforce what I teach my child at home and vice versa . I sent my child to Kindergarten reading. Everyday we go over his homework together and then he has my homework to do. We should love our children more than we expect their teachers to care about them, in terms of their education.

Answer 12

Of course parents have a huge part to play!  Too many parents think that as soon as their children go off to school it isn;t up to them to teach them anything else ever again.  Learning should be a joint effort between the child, the school and the parents.  It's well documented that children with parents who take an interest in their education do better in school anyway.

Answer 13

Parents have a huge responsibility in their children's ability to read. We can 't just send our children at school and leave it up the teachers to do all the work. We have to teach our children to read while they were toddlers. I can understand your predicament with struggling readers. I do volunteer at my son's school since he was in kindergarten and I spend an hour helping 1 student to read. It is very sad that some parents don't take time to read with their children. I know that most of them have to work as I do but my number 1 priority is my son. I read to him since he was a baby and until now that he's in the 5th grade, we still read together. By the way, my son's reading level is of a 10th grade level.

Answer 14

My mother taught me to read BEFORE I went to school....she was a good mother.

Answer 15

Parents should play a big part in their child's ability to read, at the school my 5yr old son goes to the teachers encourage the parents to work with the children at home. I work with my son every day on reading and his teacher says that its a big help and he is one of the smartest kids in his class, parents should get involved more with their child's education, it makes a big difference .I was teaching my son to read before he started pre school.

Answer 16

My daughter is 3 1/2 years old and has been going to afternoon nursery,and as the only evidence of learning i can see is that of nursery rhymes.I definitely believe that it is my job to teach her how to read.I do read books each night and use my finger as a guide to where the words are.And i have got a few ABC books that we look at together.One of them is a plastic type material with a pen and eraser,so that she can go over the shape of each letter.

Answer 17

Parents should definitely play a part in their child's learning experience. They should read and assist them every night.

Answer 18

Parents should help out at home, reading with their child, reading to them page by page and letting them copy to pick up words and phrases. Parents have to be active as well in their childrens' education because the child's not going to learn a thing if their parents aren't helping out as well!

Answer 19

Parents should have a part to play! Kids are big-time at mimicking their parents moves. If they see them read, they might want to read. Parents can read to their kid once a day. I remember I used to read to my mom when I was 5 once a day. I started to read when I was 3 and half.

Answer 20

When learning to read the individual needs to practice. Where do you get that practice? At home preferably, with their parents.

So to answer your question.....the parent needs to take an active part in their child/children's learning to read.  That is why most schools are now insisting that the child/children read for anywhere between 15 to 30 min a day at home.  So encourage your parents to participate in the education of their child/children.

Answer 21

I'm not a parent, teacher or TA myself, but my mum's a headteacher.  Based on that and my own experiences, I think it's often the parents who make or break a kid's reading.

My parents read stories to me from a very young age and took me to the library too.  They also started teaching me to read and write which was a great foundation to start school on.  Once I was there, they still encouraged me by taking me to the library each week and helping me with my reading books.

I think the fact that my parents made books part of my life when I was very small really set me up well.  It was good for my vocabulary too, I remember stopping them to ask what words meant.

I had a friend in my street whose parents said "It's the teacher's job to teach them, not ours".  I think it's really sad when parents take that attitude.  That's like saying their child's health is entirely the doctor's responsibility.  In reality, it's a parent's responsibility to help the child in every way possible.  

Maybe some parents are unsure about what they should do to help their kids, but that has a simple solution - ask the school staff.

I have the utmost admiration for you guys because I've seen and heard about the struggles you have every day.  Kids need consistent encouragement from school AND home and sadly, some kids just don't get that.

Answer 22

A parent should have a huge resposability to teach there children everything, school or no school.