It is easy to sit back and judge the education system in our society. We hear so many negative things about what is going on in schools—from curriculums focused on competency testing to troubled teens wielding guns—that it becomes difficult to form educated opinions about the education system. Most people form their opinions based on personal experiences, which vary greatly depending on location. Someone who lives just 50 miles from you may have an entirely different experience, influenced by sociological factors beyond anyone’s control.
There have been countless studies in the United States about the deficiencies and regulation issues within the education system. Teachers today are often portrayed as corrupt, and mainstream media seems intent on highlighting the negative aspects of education during prime-time television. Of course, there are also the financial challenges schools face, leading them to cut enrichment programs—thus greatly limiting each child’s ability to succeed.
Parental Involvement: The Key to Success
Bottom line: You could read, study, and research for millions of hours, dissecting the fine points and fine print that critique our education system. But this mom’s opinion on the matter is simple:
You get out of it what you put into it! The largest factor in childhood success—academically and otherwise—is parental involvement. Not the school system.
The school system today is being designed to act as both teacher and parent. Ask any teacher, and they will tell you that there are dozens of smart kids in their classes who don’t succeed simply because there is no parent involvement. Society has placed far too much responsibility on the education system and not enough on parents. As a result, today’s education system has become a scapegoat, a highly visible public target for people to blame and shame for their child’s—and their own—failure to parent.
Today, parents can drop their kids off at school as early as 6 a.m. and not pick them up until the evening hours. Children—even very young ones—are expected to spend as much time away from home in a learning environment as adults spend at work. Parents rely on school systems to provide breakfast, administer medications if the child is sick, offer physical education (PE) for exercise, and largely “parent” when it comes to teaching self-control and behavior. School systems are engaging in grant programs and taking out giant loans to offer behavioral programs while cutting music and fine arts from the curriculum. The actions (or inactions) of a few, along with soft societal thinking that everything must be fair, are ruining the success of schooling in general. Children who excel are often labeled as privileged, when the truth is that there is likely simply more parental involvement at home.
Worse, when a student fails or performs poorly on a standardized test, the school system is blamed. In some states across the U.S., test scores are so crucial that teachers are literally “teaching the test.” Some states even link teacher raises and bonuses to their students’ test scores. Teachers can also be fired if too many students fail these competency tests each year. This shift in accountability has completely removed the responsibility from the parent and child and placed it squarely on the teacher—who, by the way, is not a counselor. Tragically, this has reduced the number of qualified individuals pursuing teaching as a profession.
As school systems remove accountability from the child-parent duo, conditions within schools worsen. Schools are now trying to operate on an equal platform but often lack the support from parents to make this work. The truth is, no matter how you look at it, there will always be students who excel in school and those who excel in trades. But today’s school system does little to encourage or nurture the latter group, contributing to increasing dropout rates and a lack of self-discipline. What will the world do when there are no more mechanics, electricians, or hairdressers? Valuing these skills—and enriching children’s passions and talents, sometimes over test scores—is an important but lost art in today’s education system.
Education is being disrupted by cries for equality from every segment of society. The working parent feels the school must provide for their child in their absence. Parents from lower-income backgrounds demand that schools provide basic necessities, such as childcare, food, and tutoring, due to their financial struggles. The general consensus from those benefiting from entitlement programs, like food stamps and welfare, is that the school system “owes” them something, even though it has been proven that low-income parents often give little parental involvement in return.
School systems that perform well are “teaching the test” and lack the loose curriculums that promote the long-term success of every student. Teachers, administrators, and school systems as a whole are overwhelmed by the political correctness that is expected of them, which drains financial resources. Parents and children are left believing that it is the responsibility of the school system to teach children what they need to know, to develop their character, and to ensure success—whether or not there is parental influence or involvement. But this is not going to happen!
This mom says all of that is nonsense! If you want your child to succeed in school, get involved. Make them do their homework at home. Provide consequences. Work on your own living situation to improve your circumstances. Talk to your children. Communicate with their teachers to show you are involved. Make academics an expectation. Stop buying into entitlement programs and quit playing the blame game for your child’s lack of achievement. The school system is not responsible for 80% of the things they provide for a child—the parent is. When the ball is thrown back into the parent’s court, and school systems are allowed to focus on learning and education, things will improve. But until then, schools, administrators, and teachers will be bogged down by the immense red tape that serves lazy parents who are not getting involved.
Instilling the value of education, developing respect for learning, and fostering success starts at home first and foremost. If parents shrug off their responsibilities, the child will be the one to suffer.
You get out of it what you put into it! The largest factor in childhood success—academically and otherwise—is parenting success. Not school systems. If you put garbage in, you get garbage out.
