UK Government on Parenting Classes

Source:

Gentleman, Amelia. "Do We Need Parenting Classes?" The Guardian. The Guardian, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

Summary:

     Gentlemen’s article talks about the introduction of after-birth parenting classes named the “Save the Children scheme” by the UK government (Gentleman). The Save the Children foundation describes themselves as, “Save the Children works in 120 countries. We save children’s lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfill their potential (“About Us”).”The UK government rolled out these parenting classes after the famous riots that happened in London in 2011 (Gentleman). Gentlemen has quoted “government-commissioned reports [that] have highlighted the need to improve parenting, and have often carried an uncomfortable subtext of blaming parents for children's failures, and sometimes a peculiar conflation of being poor with being a poor parent,” one being from Frank Field and Graham Allen, two “Labour MPs,” which stands for the Members of Parliament representing the Labour Party (Gentleman). While Gentlemen says that the UK is going through these troubles to include parenting classes into their systems, Gentlemen goes on to ask and important question, “But can good parenting be caught, or is it a bit like trying to teach someone to be a good person? (Gentleman)” She follows that question with a personal experience of how she sat through a three-hour parenting session only to remember one little thing and claims that there is no established formula for creating good parents yet. With that being said, she finds those who are convinced that good parenting can be taught, like Octavius Black, founder of Parent Gym but also find those, like Bryson from Save the Children, who define these government programs as “ less about practical parenting tips, more about improving relationships within the family, and between the family, the school and wider community (Gentleman) .”Gentleman goes on to conclude her article by an interview with Angela Edwards, who has taken one of the government course and has learned important things like spending more time with her child. Edwards says that “I know from the teachers that they have seen a change in her. The extra time I'm spending is bringing her on with her reading and writing. I've learned that it doesn't cost anything to spend time with the children; it doesn't matter if you have money or not. I wasn't a bad parent before, but I wouldn't have spent the time," providing an example that a positive for both the adult and the child can be found in parenting classes (Gentleman).


Quality:

     This article by provides good resources for both sides of the parenting classes argument. The Guardian itself is a famous and reputable news agency. The Guardian employs writers of all makes and opinions.


Issues:

     The article itself may be out-dated having being published in 2012. The author does show bias without completely explaining why she had came to that decision, like when she says, “What's interesting about the government's pilot schemes is the different approaches offered by different providers; it's clear there is no established formula for creating good parents yet (Gentleman).”


Key Words and phrases:

UK Government
Save the Children
Teaching Parenting


Works Cited:

"About Us." Save the Children UK. Save the Children UK. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.