Some people think that parents should teach children how to be good members of society. Others, however, believe that school is the place to learn this. Discuss both these views and give your own opinions.

People have always been debating the issue about whether the responsibility of teaching children to be good members of society should be placed on schooling or parenting. In fact, both these education are essential in cultivating children’s sense of moral ideals. The essay will elaborate on these two aspects below.

Regarding parenting’s influence on children, it is common knowledge that parents stay longer time with their children in their daily lives and before children attending school, their basic outlooks and values of the world are imparted and affected by parents. Therefore, what their parents do will set an example of children’s behaviors. For example, parents who are willing to give hands to their neighbors and friends will develop a conception in their children’s minds that helping people is a great thing and right behavior in life, so children are inclined to share their hands when other people are confronted with difficulties, which enhances harmony of society. On the other hand, parents who indulge in smoking and alcoholic drinking as well as violent behaviors will distort children’s personalities in their growth, simply because children are exposed to wrong behaviors every day and gradually take these behaviors as granted in society. As a result, they are likely to commit crimes after growing up and pose great risks to the society. Hence, it is apparent that parenting plays a vital role in fostering children.

In terms of schooling’s duty of teaching children to be good civil of society, it is recognized that school is the main place where children not only learn basic principles, such as language, but also form a picture of the world in their minds. Thus, teachers should impart correct moral ideals in their classes by diverse means, like videos, articles and so on. Also, children spend much of their spare time with their classmates, so it is of significance to create good atmosphere among students and avoid contacts with bad guys.

From where I stand, although both educations are required in encouraging children to be good members of society, I tend to believe that parenting should be given priority to children’s moral education, since parents spend more time with their children and their each behavior is likely to be rooted in children’s minds. Whereas, schools usually lay more emphasis on courses’ impartment and can only intensify correct behaviors and minimize wrong conducts.