As we get closer and closer to the general election, one of the “hot button issues” is sure to be education. All of the conversation is going to be how will fix education. Most Democrats will tell you that it is all about money. There isn’t enough money. Most Republicans will tell you that while money is important, there is a lot of waste and we need to find a way to incent good teachers.
Unfortunately, they are both avoiding the single largest determining factor in whether or not a child succeeds has little to do with per-pupil funding or there are 50 administrative positions for every teacher. It is parental involvement. The beauty is that parental involvement costs the taxpayers nothing. Zilch. Nada. All it takes in the time of the child’s parent. This is readily apparent in the Clark County School System. A good friend of ours teaches in a school where the parents are very involved. So many parents volunteered to help out in the classroom last year that she had to make a schedule so there weren’t too many in the classroom at once. On the other end of the spectrum, one of my neighbors works in the library at middle school that has, let’s just say, less parental involvement. The students are struggling. They work the system so as to keep progressing, but aren’t getting a solid education. That’s not to say the whole school is failing, but it is difficult to work in that environment.
While additional parental involvement may be of great assistance and is, well, cheap, it’s also something you can’t legislate. As an example, in Roland Martin’s commentary on CNN.com today, he talks about this very topic. In Chicago, the superintendent of schools was on his radio show. Parent after parent called in, livid that they did not find out until right before graduation that their child was not going to graduate. Turns out, progress reports that highlight this fact were made available to parents. They were sent reminders during every marking period that their child was at risk of not graduating – they just had to come into school and pick up the cards and warnings.
Is it any wonder that with parents abdicating their responsibilities that we are seeing issues in education?
3 comments:
This was one of the issues that Amy and I discussed at lunch. (I know light conversation =) I totally agree. I don't understand why people have kids if they are too selfish to take the time and effort needed to help raise THEIR child. Drives me nuts.
Of course here in Nevada I think another factor is the illegal immigration issue. In some schools her in Las Vegas you have teachers trying to teach 8 grade English to kids who have been in the country 2 weeks and don't speak English. The teacher has to focus on getting that kid up to grade and the other kids suffer. It is a tricky issue but one that is really making life difficult for teachers.
Jennifer, while I can totally see where you are coming from on the illegal immigration issue, I do have to disagree with you. I think parental involvement is still the key.
The situation with immigration, both documented and undocumented, really is no different than the immigration issues in the 19th and early 20th centuries when waves of immigrants were coming in from European countries when immigrants were speaking a lot more than just Spanish. You had the ethnic sections of major cities where the adults (especially the Moms) spoke little to no English. However, as involved parents, they made sure their kids stayed up on their studies.
I'm not saying that working with kids who are not fully fluent in English is easy. Quite the contrary, but if the kids had a supportive situation at home it would be a lot different.
I actually pondered this post for a couple of days, cause I avoid politics but I have strong feelings about this one.
I think your post has more to do with fixing American families more than fixing education. Parents are too busy, or they don't care, or they're just not around. It's so true that parents need to support and actively participate in their child's education. I completely agree with you.
However, I think there are so many other factors - it's more than the breakdown of the American family. As far as immigration goes... I agree with Jennifer. We're trying too hard to make everyone happy - the sensitivity to "cultural diversity". Also - the No Child Left Behind garbage is a big factor with the immigrants. Jen's point that teachers are preoccupied with that new student who can't speak English, who will bring her classroom test scores down, makes a difference.
As parents and families we are responsible for supporting our child's education if we choose not to home school. YES, we need to be involved directly with the school and YES, we need to be doing our part outside of school. BUT, we're not IN the classroom, you know? The quality of our teachers, facilities, and education system is still the real key here.
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