Randy Inman
Kim K.
The education quick-fix: Parents need to be involved
June 19th 2008 18:45
Like a few articles I will post here, I wrote this a few months ago, but I felt it worthy of reposting on my new blog here at Orble.
I've been thinking about a phone call I heard on talk radio a few years ago. They were discussing education in the Philadelphia school district, which had just come under government control for being so terrible. A parent from the district called in to talk about the other parents in her school. She claimed that a very small percentage of parents showed up at the PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences. While she was preparing to leave for meetings, her neighbors were sitting on their porches smoking cigarettes and having a beer.
It has continually been proven that parental involvement in education is one of the most important factors in student success, both academically and personally. Politicians continually want to dump money into inner city school believing that it will magically solve problems like drop-out rates and school violence. The quick fix is much cheaper: parents need to have their bodies and minds in the schools from start to finish.
Students who have at least one parent involved in their education have better grades, less chance of drop-out, and significantly less behavioral problems. These rates go up even more if both the father and mother are involved, regardless of whether the parents live together.
Obama seems to understand this and wants to promote parental involvement, but of course also wants to provide money to minority schools and schools where income levels are low. The number one problem with these schools? It isn't money. A study done by the Department of Education a few years ago is very telling.
Only 27% of parents at the poverty line and below attend or volunteer at any kind of school activity, compared with 45% of those above the poverty line. About 62% of minority families across the income levels attend meetings, compared with 74% of non-minority parents. When it comes to volunteering, minorities come in at about 32% as opposed to 45% for non-minorities. Parents with a bachelor’s degree or above attend school activities 80% of the time, while those with less than high school attend 42%. Parents in general who have kids in Kindergarten are involved 90% of the time, but this decreases to 53% by twelfth grade.
So this means that the poor, uneducated, minority parents of high school students are the least likely to be involved in their child’s education. This does not bode well for these students who are already at risk given the influences around them.
I was watching one of those true crime shows a few nights ago. There was a 17 year old black boy who had been shot and killed in the street. As it turns out, at least one member of his household knew that he had left that night with a 16 year old boy who had a record and a gun on his person. The boy who had been killed had a “street name” and was known for being involved in drug deals. The mother was absolutely devastated by her loss. One part of me wanted to cry, because I can only imagine the pain of the loss of a child. The other part of me wanted to shake her and ask her why she let her son run the streets at night with friends with criminal records and guns. Why weren’t these kids in school?
Teenagers are strange creatures. They don’t want their parents being involved, but they do. I remember when I went on my senior year band trip in high school and I was super embarrassed that my parents came along as chaperones. I was so mean to them sometimes and was a little resentful that I didn’t have my “space.” Now I look back and I am grateful that they put up with my shit so that they could have a part in my life and watch out for me.
If someone can just wake these parents up and tell them how much their kids need them, maybe things will get better. No federal government agency is going to convince kids that they are important parts of society- the best source of that self-confidence comes from the people who raise them. This absolutely has to be a change that comes from when these kids are babies and needs to stay with them until they are grown, not just until they can fend for themselves.
I've been thinking about a phone call I heard on talk radio a few years ago. They were discussing education in the Philadelphia school district, which had just come under government control for being so terrible. A parent from the district called in to talk about the other parents in her school. She claimed that a very small percentage of parents showed up at the PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences. While she was preparing to leave for meetings, her neighbors were sitting on their porches smoking cigarettes and having a beer.
image provided by www.campusaccess.com
Students who have at least one parent involved in their education have better grades, less chance of drop-out, and significantly less behavioral problems. These rates go up even more if both the father and mother are involved, regardless of whether the parents live together.
Only 27% of parents at the poverty line and below attend or volunteer at any kind of school activity, compared with 45% of those above the poverty line. About 62% of minority families across the income levels attend meetings, compared with 74% of non-minority parents. When it comes to volunteering, minorities come in at about 32% as opposed to 45% for non-minorities. Parents with a bachelor’s degree or above attend school activities 80% of the time, while those with less than high school attend 42%. Parents in general who have kids in Kindergarten are involved 90% of the time, but this decreases to 53% by twelfth grade.
So this means that the poor, uneducated, minority parents of high school students are the least likely to be involved in their child’s education. This does not bode well for these students who are already at risk given the influences around them.
I was watching one of those true crime shows a few nights ago. There was a 17 year old black boy who had been shot and killed in the street. As it turns out, at least one member of his household knew that he had left that night with a 16 year old boy who had a record and a gun on his person. The boy who had been killed had a “street name” and was known for being involved in drug deals. The mother was absolutely devastated by her loss. One part of me wanted to cry, because I can only imagine the pain of the loss of a child. The other part of me wanted to shake her and ask her why she let her son run the streets at night with friends with criminal records and guns. Why weren’t these kids in school?
Teenagers are strange creatures. They don’t want their parents being involved, but they do. I remember when I went on my senior year band trip in high school and I was super embarrassed that my parents came along as chaperones. I was so mean to them sometimes and was a little resentful that I didn’t have my “space.” Now I look back and I am grateful that they put up with my shit so that they could have a part in my life and watch out for me.
If someone can just wake these parents up and tell them how much their kids need them, maybe things will get better. No federal government agency is going to convince kids that they are important parts of society- the best source of that self-confidence comes from the people who raise them. This absolutely has to be a change that comes from when these kids are babies and needs to stay with them until they are grown, not just until they can fend for themselves.
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