Parent Education: Bandwagon, Bastard, or Bonafide.

Overview & Synopsis

The author emphasizes the importance of education for parenthood and recommends such education for both adolescents and adults. In recent years, parenthood education for teenagers has been emphasized at the national level by the Children's Bureau, Office of Child Development, HEW. However, this emphasis is declining and parent education is suffering the effects of a bandwagon approach. The declining emphasis on parenthood education coincides with the increasing need of parents for supportive information and assistance in child rearing. This is due to the increasing complexity of adult roles and the variety of influences from the larger society. The negative effects of children's television viewing are pervasive and require parental guidance. In conclusion, the author advocates an activist approach to generating parent education programs and views the scarce support for such programs as indicative of a society's lack of concern with human values. (Author/DOW)