Some people believe that professional educators, government officials, and the public education system as a whole are best positioned to make educational decisions for children. This belief is typically based on respect for the expertise, training, and understanding of pedagogy and social change held by education professionals. However, parents are often best positioned to make educational decisions for their children.
The fact that parents devote so much of their lives, energy, and resources to rearing their children implies, on the whole, a powerful parental desire to do what is in their children’s best interest. Parents are also the adults closest to children, and, in almost all cases, know their children better than anyone else.
Respect for parents comes, in part, from an understanding that families are the basic unit of society. For society to be healthy, families must be strong, and for families to be strong, other units of society – including the government and schools – must respect and support their independence.
