If your kids don't succeed in school, it's probably your fault

There are exceptions. Children can get sick or experience trauma that hinders their learning. They can have miserable social experiences that mar them for life. Anything can happen.

Still, for all the cuts in school funding, the concerns over school test scores, AYP, individual educators and disciplinary policies, the primary responsibility for a child’s success in school rests with Mom and Dad.

So, suck it up parents and do right by your kids. Don’t drop your kid off at the school or the bus stop and assume that the teachers will do the rest.

The vast majority of our teachers will give it their best shot, but they have your kids only seven hours a day and what happens the other 17 hours has a huge affect on the kids. If you’re not doing your job during those hours, don’t blame the teachers and the schools when your child flunks the CRCT.

Most parents are responsible, but for too many, their job in the education of their children ends at enrolling the child in school. At the risk of sounding simplistic, here are some of the things you must do.

•Make sure the kid goes to school every day when he or she is not sick, whether or not the child wants to go. You’re (supposedly) the boss. Got it?

•Make sure the child gets adequate sleep and has a decent breakfast. Don’t let your children set their own bedtimes and diets. Show some backbone.

•Make sure homework is done. There’s a reason kids have homework, and if kids don’t do it, they don’t gain the skills the homework is designed to teach. If your child repeatedly insists he or she has no homework, confirm that with the school.

•Impress on your children that you expect them to be diligent, well-behaved and that success is mandatory. Kids need to understand that the family thinks education is important. You do, right?

•Support the schools. If your child has issues and your response is to angrily confront a teacher, calm down enough to have a polite, rational discussion.

•Be adults. Job One during those 17 hours is to provide a stable, safe, loving environment for the child. If you’re too intoxicated to fix meals, too busy fighting with your spouse to listen to your child read, if your child is scared, emotionally traumatized or worried, you need to resolve those issues for your child to have a chance to succeed. Part of your job is to be a positive role model for your child, which means keeping your bad habits under control.

If parents create a good atmosphere at home, the odds of a child succeeding in school are much better. Give your kids the best odds you can.

Mark Beardsley is the editor of The Commerce News. He lives in Commerce.