The question of whether recycling and reducing waste lessons should be educated at school or at home has sparked a considerable debate among people. While schools educate students how to dispose of waste via structured education and hands on activities, parents are children’s role models and they ought to encourage their offspring to reduce waste pollution at home through real life situations. From my point of view both schools and parents have crucial roles in shaping children’s habits, therefore they should align with each other.
Perhaps the most compelling reason why schools are responsible for children’s habits is that they follow a structured education. Students spend most of their time at school and educated about everything in the world by teachers, which means students gain the same level education. When teachers explain how plastic pollution affects marine life or how landfills contribute to climate change, students will think about impacts and try to find solution to environmental problems. To help them, schools can organize separate recycling bins for plastic, paper, and organic waste, student learn to apply environmental principles in real situations. For example, activities such as “zero-waste weeks”, recycling competitions, or environmental clubs make learning process more engaging for students.
On the other hand, parents play an important role in children’s life. Learning at home allows children to see how waste is disposed of or how recycling fits into real, continuous situation. Homes provide daily opportunities: managing kitchen waste after dinner which helps children to differentiate organic and plastic waste, organizing recyclables, or choosing reusable containers. These real-life situations show children the consequences of waste, how to recycle waste, which strengthens their understanding.
In conclusion, I believe that the most effective system is collaboration of schools and parents. While schools offer structured education and help students to mitigate waste pollution, parent teach their children how to manage waste at home and helps them to reduce plastic waste by reusing bags or containers.