Everyone has ideas about how to improve education. Some will say the public schools just need more money. Some folks will advocate private schools and homeschooling.
But none of this matters if fathers are not around.
Fathers are the key to their children’s education. Regardless of where a child is schooled, his or her father plays a major role in education. This is because a father is the leader of his family.
Fathers Are Educators
So let me restate it because it is just that important—a father is the leader of his family. And if this is the case, then a father leads his family when it comes to education. How?
First, fathers choose where their children will be educated. Yes, parents do have a choice. Parents can send their children to a private school or choose to homeschool. And though both father and mother make this decision together, a father leads in making such a decision. And such a decision will impact where and how their children spend 35 hours per week for 13 years of their lives (and more if they go to college).
Second, fathers educate their children. Education is not limited to schooling. Even if a child goes off to a school for seven hours per day, he or she still has another seven or so waking hours. Children will be educated during this time one way or another—either by parents or another source.
Parents have the opportunity to eat family meals with their children, have family-time and discussions together.
Parents also teach their children with their conduct, setting an example for their children by how they treat others—and one another.
While both parents educate their children, this responsibility is especially given to fathers. If parents do not spend time with their children and teach them, they will be educated by someone else. This someone else is often peers, internet and/or television—not exactly the best substitutes for parental guidance and affection. The importance of fathers in education cannot be stressed enough.
Tom Watson
The Good Curriculum is a comprehensive video-based, self-taught, self-paced, reading-intensive, writing-intensive, systematic online K-12 curriculum. [Enroll Today]