School teachers are more responsible for social and intellectual development of students than parents

Topic:

School teachers are more responsible for social and intellectual development of students than parents. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

My essay:

It is widely thought that children’s development in regards to intelligence and social skills is the responsibility of educators alone. While I agree that teachers have a vital responsibility in supporting the cognitive development of their students, parents have far more influence on the social development of their offspring.

In terms of intellectual growth, teachers play a paramount role in guiding students to acquire academic achievement. It is because, although parents are the first to teach children to learn the basic knowledge, educating them just at home does not mean leading them to a bright future. Teachers are professionally trained to impart their knowledge to their students not only through informative lessons but also by encouraging and inspiring skill and learning techniques. Students, therefore, develop their critical and logical thinking and reasoning ability in the conducive learning environment under the support and monitoring of their teachers. Besides, teachers professionally update their skills constantly to ensure that their students be able to keep pace with any technological advancement. Parents, of course, can do the same, but most of them do not have enough time, energy and resources to do as good a job as teachers do at schools.

Regarding the social aspect, parents exert a greater impact on nurturing their offspring’s social skills compared to educators. Normally, parents provide role models in a wide range of social situations, such as communicating with neighbours, interacting with friends, contacting relatives or having a chit chat with strangers at the bus stop. Thanks to those experiences, children gradually aware of how to establish and maintain a strong relationship with others. Moreover, unlike at school, where teachers are in charge of teaching numerous of students at the same time, parents can focus their attention on the behaviour, attitudes, and values of their offspring only. Any children’s misbehaviour, as a result, may be adjusted in time by their parent.

In conclusion, despite different aspects which teachers and parents having more influence on children, I believe that both of them are two crucial influences in the upbringing of any child.