Irked Teacher Posts Message to Parents: Teaching Manners Begins ‘at Home,’ and It Goes Viral

(Illustration - Shutterstock)

A child learns so much about life and social conduct from their family before entering the school system.

One school adopted this sentiment and turned it into a poster for parents and guardians with a firm, heartfelt message: take more responsibility for your children’s behavior, because education begins at home.

Paulo Gandra, a retired guitar and computer teacher at the Stockholm School of Culture in Sweden, uploaded a copy of the now-infamous poster on Facebook. Upward of 35,000 people shared the post.

The content of the Swedish poster was “freely translated” from a poster seen in a school in Portugal, Gandra said.

The poster began, translated from Swedish into English from its original Portuguese: “Dear parents, We would like to remind you that magic words such as hello, please, you’re welcome, I’m sorry, and thank you, all begin to be learned at home.”

Intimating that impolite students may have partially motivated the original author, the poster urged parents to invest in preparing their children with good manners for school for the sake of their peers and teachers.

Illustration - Pixabay | Victoria_Borodinova

“It’s also at home that children learn to be honest,” the poster continued, “to be on time, diligent, show friends their sympathy, as well as show utmost respect for their elders and all teachers.”

The poster’s third point read: “Home is where they learn to be clean, not talk with their mouths full, and how/where to properly dispose of garbage.”

Illustration - Shutterstock | PAKULA PIOTR

The author continued, “Home is also where they learn to be organized, to take good care of their belongings, and that it’s not okay to touch others.”

Finally, the poster concluded with a clarification. “Here at school, on the other hand, we teach language, math, history, geography, physics, sciences, and physical education,” it read. “We only reinforce the education that children receive at home from their parents.”

Illustration - Shutterstock | Syda Productions

Lobbying for all students to be treated equally, Gandra attached a disclaimer: “I take for granted that this is not aimed at parents who have children with special needs,” he said, referring to the aim of the original text.

“It should be, of course,” he added, “even if it does not appear in the original text.”

Illustration - Shutterstock | Rawpixel.com

Svenska Dagbladet, a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden, interviewed Gandra after his post went viral. According to the Swedish paper, Gandra first saw the poster in a Portuguese Facebook friend’s stream and was inspired to share it.

The retired teacher moved to Sweden from Portugal in 1966 but was unpleasantly surprised by the low level of teaching. “There is a lot of talk about raising teacher salaries in Sweden,” Gandra said, “but I do not think that is the problem. I think the teacher has lost her position of power in the class.”

Illustration - Shutterstock | Pressmaster

He added that a clear majority of people who commented on his viral Facebook post agreed with the idea that parents need to take more responsibility for their children’s behavior. “The school and the parents should cooperate more,” Gandra asserted.

“They have different assignments,” the retired teacher continued. “The parents raise children without asking the school, who will then take care of them; the children should already have preparation from home.”

Illustration - Shutterstock | JPC-PROD

“What if you could put this up in all schools in Sweden?” Gandra asked his Facebook community on Jan. 16, 2017.

Fast-forward two years and what do we all think; should posters like this one go up in every school in America?