No matter whether you are on the right-left, or center, there is an assumption that parents are being irresponsible in raising their children when basic education is on call. The worst thing, there’s nothing policymakers can do about it. Yeah alright!
Some may think that we’ll never reach
100 percent parental responsibility, just like we’ll never reach
100 percent proficiency in reading and math.
Perhaps President Obama can get parents to show up for their job as their child’s first and most important teacher. Barack Obama, when campaigning back in May, first introduced his now broad concept of
"mutual responsibility in education", he said:
There is no program and no policy that can substitute for a parent who is involved in their child’s education from day one. There is no substitute for a parent who will make sure their children are in school on time and help them with their homework after dinner and attend those parent-teacher conferences... And I have no doubt that we will still be talking about these problems in the next century if we do not have parents who are willing to turn off the TV once in awhile and put away the video games and read to their child. Responsibility for our children’s education has to start at home. We have to set high standards for them and spend time with them and love them. We have to hold ourselves accountable.
What can we do to support him in this cause of volunteering our time and aim our responsibilities? Should we accept that there’s nothing policymakers can do to encourage parents to take more responsibility for their children’s education? Mike Petrilli of
Flypaper brings up this dilemma: "If KIPP schools can get 10,000 parents to sign a contract promising to be full partners in the learning process,
what can all of our schools do to make 100 million parents do the same?"
Comments open for more ideas.
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