The Catholic Parent: Needed Co-operation With the School

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 9, 11 March 1925, Page 41

The Catholic Parent : Needed Co-operation With the School

It is a complaint by no means uncommon among Catholic teachers (says an exchange) that the best efforts of the school are often checked, or even destroyed, by the influences which exist at home. This complaint, generally made with good reason, is found among teachers in -all institutions from the primary grades to' the college. Once the child is entrusted to the Catholic school, there need be no fear that the teachers will fail to do their duty. They are teachers, but 'they are also, for the most part r religious, whose work and institute have been approved by the Church. Yet they must be able to count upon the sustained and intelligent interest of the parents of their pupils. This lacking, they cannot hope to, succeed. They understand, as many parents do not, that a school-year does not consist of twelve months, but of fewer than 200 four-hour days. About 800 hours only are controlled by the school; during the remaining 7960 hours of the year the child is, or should be, under the supervision of the home. If the influence there exercised leinforces the plan and purposes of the school, success is almost certain. If it does not, failure can hardly be avoided. The man who invests £loowithout careful consideration, or who is not concerned to guard his investment once made, has only himself to blame in the day of disaster. Were the same principle to be applied to the school-disasters we must occasionally <Dploio the burden of blame and responsibility would be lifted from the school and placed where it belongs, namely,- upon careless. and negligent parents. By legal assumption,. the child is the father’s most precious possession. Actual fact usually verifies the assumption. But the exception which may prove fatal is the parent’s lack of interest in the schoollife of his child. , These are obvious reflections, but it is the obvious which too often is neglected or altogether forgotten. Not the least important resolution for* every father and mother at the beginning of the new year is to know the school to which they have entrusted their child, and to co-operate with-it. I