We Need Good Teachers, However How
About Better Parents?
Over the last several years, we all have seen news broadcasts and articles about
how we need better teachers in our public school system. There’s no question
that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a student’s academic
achievement and we need to recruit, train and reward more such teachers.
However, is it the sole responsibility of our teachers to make sure our
students achieve academic success?
Every three years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, or O.E.C.D., conducts exams as part of the Program for
International Student Assessment, or PISA, which tests 15-year-olds in the
world’s leading industrialized nations on their reading comprehension and ability
to use what they’ve learned in math and science to solve real problems, which
are the most important skills for succeeding in college and life. According to the
exams, America’s 15-year-olds have NOT been distinguishing themselves in the
PISA exams compared with students in Singapore, Finland and Shanghai.
Can parental involvement into the student’s education make a
difference?
A study called “Back to School: How Parent Involvement Affects Student
Achievement,” found parents can make a huge difference in the academic
success of our students. Other studies are also showing, parents that are more
focused on their children’s education can make a live changing difference in a
student’s academic achievement.
Patte Barth, in a resent issue of The American School Board Journal, found
something somewhat surprising. She wrote: “Parent involvement can take
many forms, but only a few of them relate to higher student performance.
Of those that work, parental actions that support children’s learning at
home are most likely to have an impact on academic achievement at
school. Monitoring homework; making sure children get to school;
rewarding their efforts and talking up the idea of going to college. These
parent actions are linked to better attendance, grades, test scores, and
preparation for college. Getting parents involved with their children’s
learning at home is a more powerful driver of achievement than parents
attending P.T.A. and school board meetings, volunteering in classrooms,
participating in fund-raising, and showing up at back-to-school nights.”
Most of us know there is no substitute for a good teacher. However, we should
not put the whole burden on teachers. Parents need to do their part as well.
Involved parents can make every teacher more effective.
Every parent with an ounce of common sense knows they need to be involved in
the education of their students. The problem is not that parents don't know this,
the problem is that in today’s social and economic climate, two parent income
families are the norm, rather than the exception and many families are divorced
or separated. Many families are struggling economically, which causes raising
children in any meaningful way is often transferred to 2nd or 3rd place in
importance in running the family.
Another major force on academic achievement of our students, is our consumeroriented society. The increasing tendency of the student’s parents to allow their
children to essentially raise themselves in front of the TV and participating (to the
extreme) in social networking can be extremely destructive in the student’s
academic achievement. In order to solve these problems, parents and students
need to completely adjust their economic and social priorities.
The public school system of every community has the responsibility to teach
every student, regardless of the quality of the home life. Every teacher needs to
have the skills to teach every student that comes into his or her classroom, not
just the ones who have all the parental support we would wish for every child.
Yes, good teachers are necessary, but they can't overcome poor learning
attitudes that children have learned at home.
Over the past several years, the general public has the impression that the failure
of not educating our students is the fault of the teachers. This attitude is also
being promoted by our colleges when they blame the high schools of not
producing college ready students. It is my opinion, the worst teacher in the world
CANNOT stand in the way of someone wanting to learn and the best teacher
CANNOT help students who refuse to learn.
Too many parents are sending their student to school and feel relaxed about
their responsibilities as parents, (especially when it comes to education of their
student.) Too many parents believe that it is the responsibility of teachers and
school to do EVERYTHING related for their children’s studies. Many times,
parents even feel burdened when children are given home assignments. This
attitude of parents is not only true for less educated parents but highly educated
parents as well.
Many parents of children that do not perform well in school will blamed the
teachers and schools for not doing their job. Many times, children who do not
perform well in school have difficulty concentrating due to other family related
issues and problems. Many parents overlook the fact that teachers and the
school are human as well and they are not only responsible for their child, but
many other children in the class of mixed abilities and different backgrounds.
Parents must understand they need to be equally responsible for their children’s
education and the education of their student is NOT the sole responsibility of the
teachers. However, teachers CANNOT simply fault parents for the failure of
students' educational achievement as well.
If we as a society want our educational results to improve, we must not only
support and improve our teachers, we need to call on parents to do more. I also
believe we must provide parents with educational information and support when
it comes to addressing financial literacy issues. By educating the parents about
the importance of education and the value of learning financial literacy issues
could enable and encourages the parents active involvement in their children’s'
education.