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At
the recent entrance ceremony for Tokyo University the award-winning architect,
Mr. Tadao Ando, chided the parents of the freshmen for attending the ceremony. I
admire Mr. Ando’s career and his architectural work. I have heard him lecture
in person and found his ideas entertaining and quite down-to-earth. But, I
couldn’t disagree more with his admonition to the parents on that day. As a
teacher of long years I know that one of the most important factors in any
child’s education is their parents’ attitude. Children whose parents are not
interested in their education are seldom the best students. It really takes a
family to educate a child; to teach a child academics and discipline inside and
outside the home. I understand if university professors remind parents that
their children should be on their own from
now on,
but to tell them their presence at an entrance ceremony is indicative of their
child’s immaturity is nonsense.
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At my graduation from Harvard there were about
8,000 students from the combined university schools who received degrees.
However, there were at least 33,000 relatives and friends who also attended
(including the entire small village of one student from the South Pacific!)
Unlike the professors at Tokyo University, the President of Harvard praised
everyone for caring about “their student’s” education enough to attend and
celebrate.
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