Peter Inson – Parents and education and schools – published in Nanotechnology Perceptions
Abstract. When compulsory education was first under consideration in Britain in the 19th century,
there was much concern about the infringement of parents’ rights. T.H. Green, professor of moral
philosophy at Oxford, solved this conundrum by claiming that compulsion would be a justifiable
intrusion, necessary for only one generation of children. Parents who had themselves been to school
would naturally come to appreciate education and desire education for their children. Several
generations on, we still await that happy dawn. Now, in the 21st century, there is much new
discussion about the nature and purpose of schools: independent, local authority controlled, free
schools set up by parents, schools sponsored by other bodies such as religious groups, and academies,
often grouped under a sponsoring foundation. Amid all this, however, we should not forget from
where our students come—from homes and families—and it is these young people, the students, who
are the concern and purpose of schools and of education. I mention both education and school here,
deliberately, for we should keep in mind the distinction between the two things. Education may occur
in a school, but it can take place elsewhere: in the home, while travelling or while listening to
someone—whenever someone is brought to appreciate and understand something for the first time.
Schools may well provide opportunities for this to happen, but attending school does not guarantee
that it will happen unless a pupil can be brought to engage with teachers there, and with the business
of learning. In the UK, the law requires parents to provide an efficient education for their children. It
does not require children to attend a school but, for most parents, sending their children to a school is
the easiest way to meet this obligation. Behind all this, of course, is the assumption that if children
attend school they will be educated. In this article I want to look at parental responsibility more
widely, at confusion and uncertainty about our expectations for young people and of young people,
and at a better relationship between parents, children and teachers. The article has in mind a greater
consistency in our approach to parenting, to young people and to the way children are brought up and
educated. It is mainly UK focused.
Nanotechnology Perceptions 13 (2017) 190–202
doi: 10.4024/N21IN17A.ntp.13.03
To obtain the full article (7,000 words) got to http://www.nano-ntp.com/abstracts.html