Parents' role crucial to child's success in school

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Parents' role crucial to child's success in school

Posted by

Mark Beardsley

in Opinions

Friday, August 8. 2008

Comments (4)

Okay, parents, the 2008-09 school year starts Thursday. You’ve heard a lot about test scores, AYP and the No Child Left Behind Act. You’ve wondered if the schools are good enough for your child.

Here’s the scoop: the single factor that will most influence your child’s success is you. Not the schools, not the curriculum, but your attentive involvement in your child’s mental and physical health as he or she heads to school.

If you want your child to have a successful school year, be a successful parent. Expect your child to succeed, pay attention to how and what he or she is doing in school, make sure he or she completes assignments, send the child to school adequately nourished and clothed and well rested and let it be known your child or children are loved and valued. Produce for your child a stable home free from domestic disputes, substance abuse and physical violence. Teach your children to be disciplined and to show respect for their parents, their classmates and teachers. Provide them with reading materials, take them to the library, talk to them.

Today’s schools face myriad problems, but the greatest challenge is to educate children burdened with dysfunctional or semi-functional parents and homes. A hungry child is not ready to learn; a child traumatized by domestic violence is ill equipped for success. Factors beyond the control of teachers and schools have more impact on a child’s chances of success than most anything likely to occur in the classroom. Teachers and schools are not infallible, but most of the problems associated with the educational systems would disappear if every parent did his or her job.

The job of educating children begins in the home. Teachers have the children seven hours a day, 180 days a year. What happens during the other 17 hours of the school days and the other 185 days a year can have a positive or negative effect on the child’s chance of success in school. Nothing will help schools succeed more than parents who provide a safe and loving environment, who take care of their kids’ physical and emotional needs.

Good teachers are important to students, but good parents are crucial. If you want your child to succeed, remember that educational success starts in the home.

For all of the columns and opinions, see the Aug. 6 issue of The Commerce News.

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#1 Anonymous on 08/08/08 at 06:27 PM [Reply]

You are so right!!
All parents should read (and heed) this advice!

#1.1 tckg on 08/14/08 at 10:33 AM [Reply]

I believeMike is right when he says that education begins at home. We read to our child every night and practice ABC's, and 123's. I also encourage her to watch educational programming and am adament that she should learn spanish. We try to have her in bed at a decent time and are very particular whom she spends tiem with. I belive that it is as important what she learns at home as what she learns in school. I belive we should raise our children in well rounded homes, with all the love and eduaction we can provide. I do understand that is not always the case. I often confronted with that when I see me step neices and nephews who have lived in several different locations over the last year and neither parent works. The two oldest children are in school are exceptionally intelligent children, I am amzed when they do so well in school and their home life is far from functional. In thier case I belive school is their saving grace. It is a place where everyday is filled with normalcy and assurance. They are feed breakfast and lunch and they have a chance to be taken care of. I hope that they will continue on their path to good grades and hopefully will go on to college and becaome something that their parents are not. The truth is that my biggest fear is they will fall thru the cracks like so many gifted students do. They have less than desirable parents, they have no money, their lives are filled with choas, beiong shifted from one couch to another and my biggest fear is that they will grow up thinking that is normal, and pass it along to a future generation. Defax seems not to care as complaints have been made but nothing resolved. These are the types of children that need the extra attention not only because they are excellent students but because they do have a truly misreable home life. Don't get me wrong I do belive their parents love them and they are proud of their children, they just don't see a rpoblem with how they are raising them. That scares me to think these children are on their own to figure out what is a nromal home enviroment.

#2 Anonymous on 08/08/08 at 06:30 PM [Reply]

Mike, how about posting this on all of the sister sites? There will not be a more important issue as the kids go back to school.

#3 Anonymous on 08/13/08 at 09:19 PM [Reply]

Great Comments Mark.

I should add that my wife and I are somewhat concerned that the NCLB program may have inadvertently caused an imbalance in the needs of students. The Commerce school system should make sure it addresses the needs of the academically-challenged students, but it should also make sure it addresses the needs of the academically-gifted students. With the increased competition for college admissions, teachers should make sure that our students have every opportunity to excel to their greatest capacity.

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