專四晨讀美文：Sending Children to School

Sending Children to School
Sending a child to school in England is a step
which many parents do not find easy to take.
In theory, at least, the problem is
that there are very many choices to make.
Let us try to list some of the alternatives
between which parents are forced to decide.
To begin with, they may ask themselves
whether they would like their child to go to a single-sex school
or a co-educational school.
They may also consider whether he should go to a school
which is connected to a particular church or religious group,
or whether the school should have no such connections.
Another decision is whether the school should be
one of the vast majority financed by the State
or one of the very small
but influential minority of private schools,
though this choice is, of course,
only available to the small number of those who can pay.
Also connected with the question of money
is whether the child should go to a boarding school
or live at home.
Then there is the question of what the child should do at school.
Should it be a school whose curriculum lays emphasis,
for instance, on necessary skills,
such as reading, writing and mathematics,
or one which pays more attention to
developing the child's personality,
morally, emotionally and socially.
Finally, with dissatisfaction with conventional education
as great as it is in some circles in England
and certainly in the USA,
the question might even arise in the parents' minds
as to whether the child
should be compelled to go to school at all.
Although in practice,
some parents may not think twice about any of these choices
and send their child to the only school
available in the immediate neighbourhood,
any parent who is interested enough can insist
that as many choices as possible be made open to him,
and the system is theoretically supposed to provide them.