As Covid-19 forces me to stay at home, one of my best resource of inspiration is Quora, an open platform for anyone to ask and answer questions in the internet.

One the answered questions that hit me hard was a response to this question What predicts success in life?

As guy who brands himself as a ‘Son of Quora’, Sean Kernan wrote of what I think a remarkable response. I directly copied and pasted his response. It may be anecdotal rather than a solid research yet it brings home the point of how parents should have the primary responsibility on ensuring that their children get the proper education not only in school but at home.

Sean had two childhood friends (brothers) who were very bright. But they didn’t get the best marks in school. Yes they were fully capable of great marks.

But it made sense to Sean now as an adult. When he went over to their house for sleepovers, both of their parents would be reclining in the living room smoking cigarettes, watching TV.

‘I don’t recall their parents ever asking about homework, them cleaning their rooms, doing anything productive. The boys never had any sort of structure.’ Sean would recall.

Both of those boys are now grown. Both dropped out of high school. They both work dismal, menial, low wage jobs on the path to nowhere.

Sean concluded his post saying ‘I’d wager, one of the great predictors of success is having strong parents, who hold their kids to a standard, with a system of rules, rewards, punishments, encouragement, all with an undercurrent of love, to help that child be the best he or she can be.’

One of the greatest tragedies in life is that of wasted potential.

Sean Kernan (2020) https://www.quora.com/What-predicts-success-in-life

Let’s heed the wisdom and admonition from the bestselling book of all times in the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it

That is a call primarily to parents, not teachers.