Teach Your Children Well,… and Feed Them on Your Dreams (CSN&Y)

Education in the U.S. is beginning to move up in the priority list. With the “Race to the Top” funding for certain states, the much-acclaimed documentary, Waiting for “Superman” out this week, and numerous reports of our miserable drop out rate, education may be finally getting some attention from all of us.

Most people I know will say they received a decent education; that they had to work fairly hard for good grades, and had no major complaints. Today it is different. Students are different with different distractions and goals. Teachers are overworked in many cases, and that is only getting worse with the drastic cuts in education as a result of the Great Recession.

The sad part is that Education, from pre-school on, is really is the great equalizer. It may not make everyone as equal as others, but it surely will open more doors from high school graduates than for high school dropouts. Teachers take the hit, sometime deservedly, for the bad showing and the unions need to back off from protecting even the bad teachers.

But even more fundamental are the parents. Or parent, singular, in many cases. If parents do not value school by ensuring their children’s attendance, creating an environment conductive to homework, and an unwavering commitment to getting their child to that stage to walk across, then even the best teachers are severely handicapped. Short of taking on the role of individual mentors for those kids whose parents have essentially “checked out”, the kids will be lost. And so will the children of the children, and on and on.

Parents are often intimidated by the school, maybe even by the homework, but they can still make sure their kids respect the school and its teachers, set aside study time and take away the electronics, and keep in touch with the school in some way. It really is the key.

Parents who are in contact with the teachers as educational partners will serve as a force multiplier for the learning their kids need. Parents who send their kids off to school thinking it is the school’s responsibility to babysit and teach their children well will reap very little. Kids learn by example. Good modeling sets the tone. Parents really do not need to know how to do the algebra problem, or know the capital of Sri Lanka. They just need to encourage the child to study deeper, and ask for help from those who are just waiting to give it.

Finally (for now), kids must also be taught to value education and not do just enough to get by. The real world WILL demand a basic knowledge of algebra and will require that we pay attention to geography. Adults will need to have some basic knowledge of history to know what has been tried, what worked, and more important, what didn’t. Kids need to be welcomed into schools, fed nutritious food if need be, and made to feel challenged each day. “Good enough” is not good enough. The U.S. is not even in the top 15 of developed nations for rankings in math and science. That cannot stand any longer.