Parents are our most influential teachers (Letter in a single box with pic)

The federal government is finally going to act to redress curriculum overcrowding and return to basics. Given that schools have taken on “responsibilities traditionally handled by parents”, the government’s vow (SHS,8/12) must be accompanied by parents accepting their responsibilities in having children.

Over recent decades with both parents increasingly working full-time or part-time to “have it all” and provide their kids with all the latest whizz-bang technology and material possessions, parents have been willing accomplices in falling educational standards now manifest across this country.

They seemingly have been happy, if not eager, to assign their parental duties to schools.

Teachers alone should not be criticised for classroom failure, and with schools hopefully re-empasising the significance of reading, writing and arithmetic, parents must return to their roles as family teachers too.

It is time they put down their phones, turned off Netflix and stopped worrying about keeping up appearances, and engage in meaningful and constructive conversation with their kids.