As children grow older, inevitably, they will become distracted by all kinds of harmful and harmless temptations in life. They will be tempted to engage in all kinds of dishonest, immoral, and unethical practices. (Some of these undesirable and harmful temptations are depicted in the top and bottom graphics contained on the Education Hub page of this website. See link above.) One of the purposes of education is to teach children how to detect and avoid succumbing to all kinds of undesirable temptations, self-destructive habits, and regressive behaviors. The number one priority of students should be to obey their parents. The number two priority of students should be to obtain a good education by listening to and obeying their teachers. The number three priority of students should be to engage in wholesome, clean-cut extracurricular kinds of activities. Extracurricular activities not only involve school-sponsored ones (such as joining the choir or debate club) but they also involve age-appropriate, community-sponsored ones.
Education traditionally is hailed as the chief mechanism for achieving upward socioeconomic mobility in civil society. It has been noted that the first three years of primary school, or grades 1 through 3, are the most critical ones. Grades 1 through 3 are when children typically master the three R's, that is, Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. It has been noted that those students who do not master the three R's during these early school years are the ones most at risk for engaging in undesirable activities such as truancy and dropping out of school later in life. At a bare minimum, schools should redouble their efforts to make certain that all children master the three R's during grades 1 through 3.