Parental choice in education: Why are we still talking about this?
Ritika Shah highlights the importance of making space for parental rights in choosing the kind of education for a child.
She explains that there is no single accepted view on goals and means of education. It means different things to different people. Some educate their children to work, some see it as a solution to social ills, and some revere it as a means for liberation. In the midst of such pluralistic views, her article attempts to shift the debate from what is best, to who is to decide what is best — parents, experts, or the state — and, what is the role of each?
What is education? The word means different things to different people. To me, personally, it means learning about the world we live in, about the self, and the relationship between the two. I see education as an endless process that serves my restless mind; only a portion of which is ensuring economic well-being.
For the reader, education could hold an entirely different connotation. Capturing well this idea of variegated nature of education, Sugarman (1980) writes:
‘’…some would teach children to work, others to loaf; many exalt education for ‘life’, others for the after-life. Some say education is for responsibility and self-control, others for fun. Some hope to abolish schools altogether, others only state or only private schools. Some propose career education, others classical.’’
Education is not only different for each one of us but it changes as the nature of the society in which it is conducted changes. It’s utility, purpose and goal varies according to time, situation and place. One could be educated under a tree, in a small house in the Himalayas, or in a modern space with all the latest technological equipment.
This brings us to the question: Is there any one single accepted view on education? Library shelves groan under the weight of books on appropriate ways and methods of teaching and the world is full of intellectuals and subject experts. However, one could argue there are so many of these experts, to which one of them should we give primacy?
The way I see it, the solution lies in shifting the angle of vision from what is best for a child, to who is to decide what is best. And here comes the idea of parental choice. Often we regard parents to be in the best position to decide for a child’s welfare in all fields including health and personal development, but not for education. While one may agree in theory about the natural rights of parents over a child and his upbringing, in practice, doubt often creeps in about the outcome of parental choice. Questions arise: What does parental choice lead to? Are all parents capable of exercising this right well? Or is granting a family the right to choose the kind of education they want a value worth pursuing, irrespective of its outcomes? Let’s say our immediate concern is literacy: what does the evidence say about parental choice and quality of education? A study in Pakistan (2008) examined parents’ perception against objective test scores in English, and it was discerned that ‘’when parents say a school is good, it usually is.’’ It is possible that schools were judged only from observable factors. However, the study noted that ‘’the relationship between household ranking and test scores of children remain significant after controlling for all observable characteristics of the school.’’ Also, you would be surprised to know: illiterate parents were noted to be equally adept as literate ones in assessing a school. This questions the conventional assumption about poor parents’ ability to measure a schools’ quality.
As long as the personal goals of education are not detrimental to public welfare, parents should play a predominant role in the choosing the education for their child. I am not undermining the role of experts in supporting this right. The exercise of this right should certainly be supported through adequate mechanisms for parent consulting, developing portals to inform parents on school characteristics and quality, and creating awareness about schooling options for children.
I cannot deny that families would, at times, make mistakes in choosing the right school but who is to argue that experts do not? In the last ten years, millions of students have passed out from elementary schools without even acquiring basic reading and arithmetic skills.
In most cases, parents care about the child and understand various aspects of his personality better than an impersonal administrator for whom a child is just a number among many others. The state cannot eclipse the responsibility of education of a child. The state cannot be a parent. The final decision about a child’s education should rest with the parents. The state should focus on regulation and supervision of schools and ensure that we are not just doing lip service to the right to education but give each parent and child access to quality schools of choice.
Works Cited
Sugarman, Stephen D. “Family Choice in Education.” Oxford Review of Education, 1980: 31–40.
Andrabi, Tahir, Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Tara Vishwanath, and Tristan Zajonc. Pakistan — Learning and Educational Achievements in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) : insights to inform the education policy debate. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008. Accessed March 3, 2017. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/997531468090281061/Pakistan-Learning-and-Educational-Achievements-in-Punjab-Schools-LEAPS-insights-to-inform-the-education-policy-debate.
About the Author
Ritika has bachelors in Economics (honours) from Delhi University. Before joining CCS, she worked as a research analyst with Cians Analytics and Rocsearch for over two years. She developed an inclination for the social sector during her college years, when she interned with various organisations including Teach for India, Becoming I and Centre for Equity Studies.
