Parent-teacher relationships benefit three groups: parents, students, and teachers.
Parents benefit by gaining ideas from teachers on how to support their children’s education, becoming more comfortable in the school environment, and feeling more confident in their parenting skills. They are also more likely to continue their own education.
Students benefit from increased motivation, improved behavior, better grades and test scores, regular attendance, and a positive attitude towards homework and school.
Teachers benefit by having more contact with parents, which allows them to learn about students’ needs and home environment, focus more on teaching, and improve their morale. Additionally, a school’s reputation in the community can be enhanced through strong parental involvement.
Integrity
Our school, Boriyad Youth Academy believes that, if children do not learn proper values and behavior when they are very young, problems can develop. These problems can mushroom with serious consequences as children grow older.
“Intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character. That is the goal of true education.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Character is a set of qualities, or values, that shape our thoughts, actions reactions and feelings.
Just as children must be taught to tie shoes, read and write, solve math problems, and understand science concepts and events in history, so they must be guided in developing the qualities of CHARACTER that are valued by their families and by the communities in which they live.
The character trait for the month of February is Integrity. Integrity is one of the qualities you need in order to have a fulfilling life. Having integrity means having moral uprightness, honesty, and strong moral principles. No matter how attractive an offer seems, or how grand the prize is, if what’s being asked of you goes against your values of honesty… you can turn your back on this offer when you have integrity.
Lessons on integrity can be better understood using stories.
For example, we tell the students story of The Woodcutter and the Axe A hardworking woodcutter lived in a small village. Apart from being industrious, he was also very sincere and honest. Every day, he would go to the forest and cut trees using his trusty iron axe. Whatever he felled, he would then chop up and bring to the market in town, where he would sell to a merchant.
One day, he was cutting a tree near a river. Suddenly, his hand slipped from the handle, sending the axe down to the bottom of the river. The woodcutter was devastated. Without his axe, he couldn’t work to earn a living. All he could do was pray to the Goddess.
With his fervent prayers, the Goddess appeared before him, asking what he needed help with. The woodcutter immediately went to explain the situation. The Goddess reached down deep to the bottom of the river and pulled up a silver axe, and then a golden axe. The woodcutter said no to both axes.
The Goddess asked the woodcutter to check again. “It’s a very valuable axe,” she said. But the woodcutter was firm. “No, it’s not mine. My axe is an iron one. I can’t cut trees with a golden axe.”
The Goddess was pleased. She reached into the river one more time and, finally, brought up the woodcutter’s axe. “That’s my axe!” The woodcutter excitedly exclaimed. Because of the honesty that the woodcutter displayed, the Goddess rewarded him with both the silver and golden axes as well.
The Moral:
Honesty is always rewarded, so be honest at all times. It can be tempting to lie to get something better out of the situation, but that can come with complications. Keep it simple, stay honest, and you will be rewarded.
As simple as they are, however, it’s somewhat ironic to find that the simple things are the hardest to do. I guess that is the challenge of it all: to live an upright life with honesty, sincerity, and genuineness.
Collected by Mr. Tolessa D.