Archbishop of Barcelona: Teachers not substitutes for parents

Barcelona, Spain, Sep 18, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Archbishop Luis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona reminded parents this week that the education of their children is their primordial right and that teachers complement them in that task but are not substitutes.

“Parents cannot transfer to teachers and to schools their own unique responsibility of educating their children.  This also means that teachers cannot substitute for the parents, but rather they must help them and complement them in their educational task,” the archbishop wrote in a letter entitled, “Parents and the School.”

Archbishop Martinez Sistach explained that parents “entrust the education of their children to the school and its teachers without renouncing their principal responsibility,” which they have as a “logical consequence of their fatherhood and motherhood.”  

For this reason, he added, parents should choose a school whose values “coincide with those of their own family.”

The archbishop also said harmonious relations between parents and schools are necessary for excellence in education, and he warned that when there are conflicts between teachers and students, serious problems arise when parents automatically take the side of their child against the teacher.

“The beginning of a new school year is an invitation to all of society to turn its gaze towards schools, to appreciate them and give them the support they deserve for the role they have in providing formation,” the archbishop said in conclusion.