The school wall is demolished, but hearts can't fly out? Why does family-school-community co-education always get stuck at this step?

School education is no longer just a matter of closing the doors and doing it ourselves. Although students still sit in classrooms every day listening to lessons, their world has long extended beyond the campus through phones and the internet. In the past, it was believed that keeping children inside school gates and under teacher supervision was enough, but who still believes that now? When browsing online, all kinds of information and temptations flood in, and children’s minds have already flown away. If schools still cling to the old walls and rely only on a few classroom lessons to educate students, it will be hard to keep up with the times.

Think about those big recess activities; now almost every school has to make them lively. Some places require homeroom teachers to clear all students out of the classrooms so that surveillance cameras can be turned on and inspected. What are the cameras filming in an empty classroom? To prove everyone is moving? Or to avoid responsibility if something happens? Actually, parents care less about who is watching the cameras and more about whether they can see how their own children are doing at school. If the school connects surveillance to parents’ phones or smartwatches, so they can instantly see their children in class, during breaks, or playing, wouldn’t that be more practical? It not only records teacher-student interactions but also allows parents to truly participate and see what their children encounter as they grow.

Ultimately, education has never been just the school’s business. If home, school, and community can truly work together as one, children will take fewer detours. But in reality, after-school services are often stuck in place. After school, children are kept at school to do homework or participate in activities, but teachers are exhausted after a long day—who wants to work overtime? Parents pay but feel the tutoring isn’t serious, and children still stay up late doing homework at home. Some schools simply hire outside agencies to manage it, but problems persist. Parents complain, and teachers feel wronged.

Actually, letting go isn’t as scary as it seems. Schools can delegate some responsibilities they can’t handle to community organizations like after-school care centers, youth centers, or libraries—these are all part of the education chain. Children there are not only cared for but also exposed to more people and experiences, broadening their horizons and developing healthier mindsets. Schools lighten their load, social resources are utilized, and everyone does their part—what’s not to like?

Recently, some places have achieved high coverage of after-school services, but quality varies. Wealthier areas receive more government subsidies and offer richer activities; less developed regions mainly provide basic care, and parents have to pay extra. After several years of the “double reduction” policy, extracurricular academic tutoring has decreased, but parents’ anxiety hasn’t fully gone away. Early dismissals, difficulty for working parents to pick up children, and unsatisfactory after-school services keep this conflict ongoing.

In the end, children belong to everyone. No matter how hard schools try, they can’t replace the warmth of family or the social experience. More understanding from parents, more support from society, and bolder actions from schools—only through the combined efforts of all three can education be improved. The best reward is seeing children’s smiling faces. What do you think? If it were you, how would you truly bring schools, families, and society together?