Parent-shaming tsar flunks on kids’ education
WE’VE all heard the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child”, and the idea of the community having a part to play in helping to successfully bring up young people.
But someone who seems to have a different idea is the Government’s new social mobility tsar.
Katharine Birbalsingh gets lots of attention because she’s a strict headteacher with an Olympic gold medal in dishing out detentions.
She’s used her first interview in the role to declare schooling is not the job of the state. I had to read that several times for it to sink in. “This idea that the state should look after your child’s schooling is ridiculous,” she said. Wow.
Then she took the opportunity to take a swipe at bad parents. If you’re not back home every evening reading to your little darlings then you are a terrible parent who had no business having children in the first place. What utter nonsense.
Nowhere does she talk about poverty, inequality, where people live, or lack of opportunity as factors that hold many young people back.
In a dream world parents would all have shelves groaning under the weight of books and would listen to reading after the youngsters get home from violin lessons, rugby and chess club.
But we’re not in an ideal world. Parents are working multiple jobs to put food on the table and pay rising bills at home.
They should not be parentshamed because they can’t help with homework.
And what about parents for whom English isn’t their first language or struggle with reading, writing and maths themselves?
I grew up with my grandmother – she was born in West Africa before Ghana was even a country.
She’s an incredible woman who speaks about seven languages including several regional dialects, but she never once helped me with my schoolwork because she was out working one of her many jobs, and she didn’t have the right skills to help. So school was very much the place I received all of my academic education. She may not have been able to help with schoolwork but she made sure I had respect for school and teachers.
She drilled into me what a privilege education is and it’s something I’ve never taken for granted. If there were any issues they immediately flagged them with her, it was very much a two-pronged approach.
But under Birbalsingh everyone is on their own.
Rather than being demonised, the parents that she has been hired to help should be at the centre of getting all the support they can in raising their children so they can make useful contributions to our society.
Sorry but you get an F from me. Must do better.
Those she’s been hired to help should be supported not demonised