| Show Doing the education and parenting thing the haves laves and have nots are what we make of them PERHAPS Andy Rooney got it right when he said that the problem with public education is not about a need to restructure structure and revolutionize ze schools The problem is with kids What weve we've got said Rooney are area a bunch of dumb kids kids dumb b kids who are a product of dumb parenting The haves and nd have nots in education are not necessarily necessarily necessarily divided between the economically advantaged and disadvantaged The great divide occurs between children who have parents interested ted in parenting and those children whose parents are too busy to be bothered bothered- or who are informed ill-informed about how to parent Even children of wealthy children who offered offered offered of of- parents parents children are the most expensive educations available fail available fail in school when they do donot not have requisite parental parent ll guidance Our national heritage includes includes includes in in- many inspiring stories of courageous em emigrant an t families who moved to this country to take advantage of our abundant opportunities Not the least among these are educational opportunities These are stories of mothers and fathers who cared about the educational outcome of their offspring offspring- parents who invested their time love and persistence to ensure a meaningful school experience Such stories are about sitting around the kitchen table in the evening studying together discussing world events and working out personal problems as a family team All the things that people need to be haves in education education duca- duca tion are low cost or free What this means is that whether you have money or not it is up to you the parent to take it upon yourself yourself yourself your your- self to make your child one of the haves of education There are several ways parents can do this First and foremost is by modeling academic values for your children by being informed on national events and discussing discussing dis dis- cussing them by voting by taking part in community community- through political soc social al or and/or religious activism by offering your YOU child a variety of learning experiences experiences- going to museums sporting events the ballet pretend- pretend playing with your child reading reading reading read read- ing to your child and by bys s striving t r fv i n g tog together e the r wit with h teachers to promote your childs child's progress in school The good news is that students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents may still have a chance to make it But times time's wast a-wast- ing The way things are going in this country you may be aiming your children toward a lifetime career as a hamburger hamburger hamburger ham ham- burger flipper at Mr Ds D's in drive-in dive A better idea is to get involved involved involved in in- in the education and parenting thing thing parent parent yourself if yo you have to Find out olt how to do a better job of parenting and educating now before its it's too late |
