School as child care

[Differentforgirls]

From another thread.

A poster said that state schools are there for helping parents to work. Therefore teachers are childminders. Teachers!

I think schools are there to educate our children and, though the staff go above and beyond these days, that is their primary function.

AIBU?

What are people saying that’s unhinged?

My OP clearly stated that someone on another thread views schools as a tool to help working parents.

They don’t value education.

The people personally attacking me clearly feel the same but aren’t very good at reading comprehension.

Now they are making up scenarios about my life because they didn’t understand plain English.

Maybe if they valued education, they would be able to.

The made up scenarios about my life.

An educated person should have the skills to elaborate on any points posters feel are unclear and answer any questions about their statement.

You seem to be the one failing at reading comprehension. Many people have made it clear that, whilst they value teachers as educators, they do also provide childcare.

I can't see anyone stating that they don't value education.

Why can’t someone value education AND value the fact it allows them to work?

OP you're saying other people have comprehension issues but it's you who can't seem to comprehend that whilst children are at school being educated they are also being cared for.

Some things can be more than one thing as once and serve different purposes. Saying schools enable you to work is not the same as saying “I don’t value education “.

How is that going to increase my holiday allowance?

My OP clearly stated that someone on another thread views schools as a tool to help working parents.
They don’t value education.

Why can school not be both things??? I value my children's education and always knew that once they were 5 they'd be in school 9-3 Monday to Friday and so this would enable me to work away from the home,

If the teachers and staff are not caring for my child while they are being educated should I also be paying the after school childminder to sit next to them in the classroom to ensure they are cared for while being educated by the teacher? Should I also make sure that I do 0 educating of them at home in case that undermines the teachers roles as educators too?

Schools, particually primary schools, serve both functions. This is just a fact. If my kids weren't at school for 6.5 hours a day, I couldn't work.

You have a very black and white way of thinking, school is not either education or childcare, it fulfils both purposes. Those of us who work are enabled to do this, in part because our children are at school all day, that doesn’t mean that every working parent only sees school as a place to stash our children.

I work full time and always have, prior to school DD went to nursery, then she went to school, now she’s old enough that she doesn’t need childcare. I also value her education, I do homework with her, engage with the school, encourage and facilitate extra-curricular activities and help her broaden her interests and explore topics she wants to explore.

Being a SAHP doesn’t mean that you place a higher value on education either.

I wasn’t a stay at home parent.

Well, no. I am a teacher. I know the value of my role. I take educating children very seriously. I also care for them whilst they are in my classroom and my school.

Do you think my approach should be simply to talk at them? To impart knowledge without considering their individual needs? To remain cold and distant when they fall and get hurt or have a dispute with a friend? After all, I shouldn’t be caring for them, only educating them.

For what it’s worth, I work in one of the most deprived areas in my northern city. I ‘teach’ children who truly have very little outside of school. On a regular basis, I feed children, I clothe them, I regulate them emotionally. I do a lot of things that their parents should but are unable to do for them.

No this isn’t right. The system is broken. Yes we as a school constantly reach out for support but on the ground, this is the reality.

I agree. I said so in my op.

It's self fulfilling. People who don't value education are likely to have poor reading comprehension!

As can be evidenced here!

I don't think it is posters reading comprehension that is the problem. What did you mean by this post for example, given that further updates show you were a working parent during school hours and it is the childcare DURING school hours that we are discussing here.

'Did the working parents think “I’ll have a child and let other people bring them up “?'

I haven’t says otherwise. Me being a person who apparently worked very few hours and relied on “a man” for money.

The explanation is actually a text book level of exactly what school is.

School hours at secondary level in the state sector are very different to those when I was at school in the 1970s. School started at 8:45 am with 15 mins registration in form rooms, lunch break was an hour, school ended at 4pm. DS starts at 9 and ends at 3.15pm with shorter lunch break.

I'd love to know the comment the OP is discussing here and what that posters actual views on education are.

In my area secondary schools all now have different hours. Some long days, some shorter days and some close at lunchtime on a Friday.

But that fact it allows parents to work means it is actually childcare. That doesn’t mean people think teachers are babysitters but part of the deal is that they are caring for your children in addition to educating them.