The fierce competition in modern society has sparked debate between family education and school education. Some prioritize family values over knowledge and skills acquired at school in terms of future success. I partly agree with this view but think that school learning is equally important for personal flourishing.
It is undeniable that family play an essential role in shaping behavior and cultivating personalities. Some familial merits, including carefulness, industriousness, and persistence, are not indoctrinated but cultivated via everyday communication and interactions. They are beneficial for kids entering adulthood as they will be encumbered with unexpected challenges such as financial difficulties and then navigate through them. Despite this, family traditions are not sufficient to support a promising future. Most of the family members are short of cutting-edge knowledge and expertise in childcare, thus lacking a comprehensive perspective in nurturing their kids. As a result, this partiality of raising a child will contribute to potential failure in the future. For example, it is common that parents set practical and utilitarian goals for their children such as receiving a prestigious education and entering a satisfactory workforce, but they are oblivious about life-long purposes such as continuous self-improvement and a better community for mankind.
Additionally, the knowledge and skills are imperative to ensure individual prosperity. To begin with the subject matter knowledge taught at schools prepares students to enter future careers. To become a doctor, for instance, necessitates the systematic training involving disciplines from theoretical ones such as biochemistry to practical ones such as clinical medicine, surgical operation. Furthermore, though frequently contested, meritocracy, which is still pervasive in modern society, requires students to outperform their peers in examinations. Despite degree inflation, the relationship between educational qualifications and successful job position remains proportional. This means that certain knowledge still ensures future thriving though not applicable in real-life situations.
Ultimately, school teaching content transcend the concrete knowledge. It is clearly stated in most of the national syllabuses that schools should aim to promote essential skills to cultivate personal individual, including critical thinking, problem-solving skills and responsibility. Some families, especially the disadvantaged ones, are not capable of systematically developing these virtues due to their limited knowledge. Noticeably, schools also teach important values that maintain social sustainability and prosperity. Citizenship education teach kids to be grown-ups of morality and integrity and law-abidment, without which our society would be of turmoil, not to mention to become successful.
To conclude, while family values are crucial to future success, school education have significant implications on individual development. Therefore, I believe that both of them will co-ordinate in cultivating a mature, honesty, and righteous individual.