It has been said that the very first public school began in 459BC. It was the ‘house of the book’ or the ‘house of the teacher’, and it was established in Jerusalem by a Jewish scribe and priest, known as Ezra. The purpose of his school was to provide education for fatherless boys, aged sixteen and upward. The Jewish community continued to take the lead, and determined that all children, regardless of class, were entitled to an education. The result: the beginnings of what we now know as elementary or primary schools.
During the middle ages, monasteries and the Roman Catholic Church were centres of education. So were the town squares, where cul- ture was passed on to groups of people who gathered there to read, or listen. Anyone could open a school and present a curriculum offering. In that way parents could choose the right school for their children, based on what they wanted them to learn and the fee that they could afford.
Centuries later, between the 1870s and 1950s, the segregation laws in the Southern United States extended to public schools. Government support for Black education was poor, so parents turned to churches, which became not only places of worship but also places of learning and teaching.
The First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788. The law of the day had made no provision for education, so it was left to convict women and the wives of the marines, to tutor the children.
These are brief glimpses into some of the many historical accounts that place parents at the centre of the schooling and life-long education of their children. Selecting the right school for your child is the first step towards taking a central role. If your child is already in school, there is no harm in re-evaluating your choice.
Copyright © 2017 Cheryl Lacey
An excerpt from The Ultimate Parent Teacher Interview – A Guide for Parents
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ultimate-parent-teacher-interview-cheryl-lacey/1127583016
