Parents: get involved in education

There’s magic about the beginning of a new school year. True, it means the need of lazy summer days, the return to a school routine that starts and closes each day with a bell. It means meeting new friends and missing some that have moved away. It is truly a time of mixed emotions.

I was fortunate to have two parent educators. Besides being mom and dad they were my first teachers. They were aware of what was being taught at my school. Discussions at the dinner table and about everyday chores and duties were stimulating. They questioned the whys, whats, and whos. They were there to send me off in the morning before the tardy bell rang, and there in the afternoon to ask me about homework, what I had learned that day. My earliest recollections are of having my parents read to me and of hunting for books in libraries and bookstores in nearly every city we visited.

This all came to mind as I read an article in the Wall Street Journal citing the need for parent involvement in education. Despite increased spending on education, stiffer requirements, and better teachers, the conclusion was you can’t have better schools and better results without parents being partners in education.

“Parental interest in school is one of the building blocks of success,” the article said. Using information gained from a survey of 24,600 eighth-graders in 1,000 public and private schools, information reveals that most parents show interest in primary grades, but interest decreases as the students move into middle schools. Students may watch TV as much as 21.4 hours per week, but only spend 5.6 hours doing homework and as little as 1.8 hours on outside reading. Most parents rarely limit the amount of TV children watch.

Societal changes such as increased numbers of working mothers, increased numbers of single parents and economic stresses have resulted in parents having less time to spend with their children. These parents expect schools to close the gap. Fortunately, things are beginning to change. Realizing that teachers and parents need to communicate, some schools are installing telephones in teacher’s rooms, and some states are building schools closer to factories and office buildings to make them more accessible.

In our own area, school districts have always encouraged parental involvement, through the Parent Teacher Association, classroom visits, parent conferences, seminars and workshops, Adopt-A-School program, Alive Volunteers. Baylor University encourages parents to make college plans for their children as they enter middle school instead of waiting until they are about to graduate from high school. And high schools have developed varied graduation plans with many options, asking parents to sign and examine them.

Samuel Sava, executive director of the National Association for Elementary School Principals, said, “It’s not better teachers, texts or curricula that our children need most; it’s better childhoods, and we will never see lasting reform until we first see parent reform.”

Parents need to be there before the bell sounds in the morning and after the bell in the afternoon. Our children deserve our interest and our involvement in their education.