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Another Program .. I Disagree

By Laraine Rose

"Blaming teachers for low test scores, poor graduation rates and the other ills of American schools has been popular lately, but a new survey wags a finger closer to home. " These were the words written by a reporter for Associated Press in Seattle, Washington recently.

I read the article with much interest saying to myself, "Yes, I agree." until I came to the quote by
Joyce L. Epstein, research professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, who focuses on school, family and community partnerships. "Without programs to educate parents, everyone is working in some stage of ignorance." Much of the rest of the article I agreed with, but THIS seemed, to me, to be an ignorant statement for her to make.

Perhaps it is because I spent most of my adult life working at public schools in close association with children, teachers and parents that I felt that this was not necessarily so. I say, "perhaps" again. Perhaps with some parents, but for the most part - parents are very well aware of the problems of their school children and another program, another responsibility, is NOT what the parents need.

ONE educational organization in the United States challenges high school students: “Show your willingness to push yourself to the limit.”

Driven to reach their goals, some young people go beyond the limit of their stamina. Between accelerated academic courses, multiple extracurricular activities, premature preparation for high school or college, special coaches and tutors engaged to wring the last bit of performance out of them, many children find themselves scheduled to within an inch of their lives. Students in that position can suffer physical and emotional harm.

If you are concerned about the problems your child faces in school, the last thing you need is a program to teach you how to handle this. Go to the school yourself. Talk with the teachers, counsellors, and administrators. Tell them what you observe. Most schools will encourage you to do this and you have the right to do so.

The Bible encourages parents to pay close attention to their children’s development. Moses told parents in the nation of Israel: “You must inculcate them (God’s laws in this case) in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.”—Deuteronomy 6:7.

Intense interest in your child’s education is not an intrusion. It shows that your child has your loving support. And that can go a long way in reducing your young one’s problems at school.

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I no longer have kids in school but your conclusion makes sense. It seems to me that parents who visit the school personally and establish a relationship with the educators are undoubtedly a step ahead of those who do not.

"counselors"
In this one word you encapsulate the whole area of failure that has been imposed upon children and parents alike.
There was a time a family would sit together, talk together and solve problems together.
Then the star-struck, loony left of the social engineering fraternity struck.
Childless experts were created to show parents how to destroy their children's attitudes.
Continual lowering of expectations of our children allows them to obtain passes at school that are little more than paper.
Children were granted rights that they neither knew how to exercise nor how to perform the associated responsibilities.
Counselors were invented so that they could prevent wounds from healing, so that they could apportion blame to everybody else and so that some otherwise unemployable people became employed.
Social engineering has destroyed the family. It has caused the demise of common sense and has introduced a whole new layer of guilt upon each and every family member.
It has abolished personal responsibility.

Yes, we need to be personally responsible.
Thank you for commenting.

I have to say that I totally agree that most parents are fully aware of their responsibilities and also that of their children. They don't need anything else to tell them what they should be doing. Parents in the UK generally know their role, but don't always accept it and choose the easy option of blaming the teachers.

From what I have observed, some teachers ARE to blame but usually the kiddies survive and go on to better teachers. I do believe though, those parents who choose the easy way out are missing a grand opportunity to ease their children's way to a better life.

As June so rightly said, parents who visit the school and take the time to get to know their childrens' teachers personally, are giving their children a big advantage over those who do not get involved with their kids education. We need to show an interest in our childrens' education, keeping the lines of communication open so that the family can sit down together, discuss any problems, and sort things out together; that would be more effective than sending our child to a "counsellor".

I have known many "school" counsellors, very excellent, learned people who have helped some children immensely. The children's parents "dropped the ball" in most of these cases. But it is so true, children who have the support of their parents really do have an advantage sorting out difficulties they may have in school. It's called team-work (child, parents, teachers) I really don't think we need another program .. someone to teach the parents. Next they'll want to have a program to teach the counsellors who are to teach the parents.
Thank you for your comment, Barb.

It is the parents responsibility to teach their children from the time they are born. That is when their young minds are developing.

Maybe all "soon to be" parents should have to attend a program on parenting just like many do before getting married.

But you know, we used to manage all this. Think of "March of the Penguins" and similar creatures in the animal kingdom, they just know what to do.

Humans have intuitive feelings, the problem is getting them to just listen to them!

Rosemary, I agree that children should be taught from the time they are born. I have heard it said that children learn more between the age of 1 - 4 years old than all the rest of their lives. Think of it .. language, mobility skills to name a couple. (Some of us never get beyond that..Ha Ha)

I must agree with you. You need to involve yourself firsthand rather some one size fits all group. Every child is an individual and needs some personal attention. Obviously the teachers can't do it on their own, but parents can connect with the teachers to discover whats best for their children.

My thoughts, exactly! Thanks for commenting.

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