Abstract:
P.T.A's are very important because they bring together
the most outstanding influences of the parents and teachers
on the child's personality. In the first chapter, I present a survey of the P.T.A's
in the United States and how the National Congress of Parents
and Teachers was born and has developed ~through the years. The
P.T.A, being a well-organized association, has officers and Committees that carry through the main pol1cies of the organization which are found in the by-laws. In the first chapter too, I tell in what ways the American P.T.A's can be Useful (closer relationships between parents and teachers; educating the public; promoting laws for protecting children; caring for individual differences~ such as the gifted or the handicapped child) and how the cooperation between parents and teachers comes about through lectures, ind1vidual conferences, group meetings, and so on … In the second chapter, I describe the situation in Lebanon. There are no formal organizations in Lebanon but some parent teacher relationships in certain schools. In the third chapter, I give some of the factors that hinder the development of P.T.A's in Lebanon. Those factors are the ignorance of parents and their non-cooperation with teachers due to their lack of interest and their ignorance in the educational aims of the schools where they send their ch1ld.
Also many teachers do not care enough to maintain relations with parents; they are not interested enough in the students they teach. I conclude that P.T.A's could only be feasible in Lebanon in some near future when the public would be better prepared for and oriented towards cooperation between parents and teachers and would come to realize that the education of children is not only the job of the school but of the home as well. Some suggestions such as lectures in colloquial Arabic and individual conferences and the putting aside of the prejudices of parents and teachers may help in bringing parents and teachers together in a formal organization such as the P.T.A.
