Friday, September 14, 2007
Written by: Uncle Charley

As one who frequently writes critically of teachers unions, I often find myself refuting the myth of helplessness embodied in colorful quotes like this one:

�Standardized tests are very effective at measuring the size of the homes in the neighbourhood - and that's about all they measure.�
- Frank Bruseker, president of the Alberta Teachers Association

A vast body of research belies assertions that a school's success is dictated strictly by the socioeconomic status and family backgrounds of its students. Factors like school environment, curriculum effectiveness, and most importantly, teacher quality, are variables that can have a significant impact on student academic growth.

That being said, there is no doubt the job of American education today has in some ways been made tougher by the state of parenting. Exceptions aside, the broad trends are captured in an insightful Washington Post column this week by therapist Patricia Dalton (H/T Joanne Jacobs):

In my office, I have seen small children call their parents names and tell them how stupid they are; I have heard adolescents use strings of expletives toward them; and I remember one 6-year-old whose parents told me he refused to obey, debated them ad nauseam and sometimes even lashed out. As if on cue, the boy kicked his father right there in the office. When I asked the father how he reacts at home, he told me that he runs to another room!

It came to me like a lightning bolt: Not only are the kids unafraid of their parents, parents are afraid of their kids!

The entire piece is a worthwhile read, and one that left me wondering: in the efforts by some to portray the school's role as helpless in overcoming poverty and other obstacles, have we also come to accept the parents' role as helpless in overcoming damaging cultural trends? (The debate about root causes is important in itself.)

Despite the obstacles, the schools are capable of yielding more positive change than some critics claim, but schools also would benefit from more widespread effective parenting. Community and religious institutions, along with a heaping dose of personal responsibility, can and should play an important role in such transformations. But what about the schools themselves?

In considering how to refashion our public education system, are there characteristics to be infused that would aid and reinforce, rather than weaken and undercut, efforts to improve parenting? Can schools play no real role in this discussion? Or should we just throw our hands up and surrender to the oncoming tide of helplessness? Food for thought.

2 Responses to Of school success, parenting and hopelessness�

1. Jeff Miller Says:
   September 14th, 2007 at 10:45 am

I'm surprised at you, Uncle Charley! Are you actually suggesting that schools try to teach parents how to parent? That your tax dollars should be used to modify the behavior of tax-paying citizens? That schools should go beyond their mission (which, of course, would either cost more or require reallocation of existing funds) and identify bad parents so that those parents can be re-educated to raise kids who are more respectful of the authority of those lousy union-supporting teachers who make their living at the public trough?

I would think you would ridicule this as some sort of liberal government-is-the-answer-to-everything suggestion.

2. Uncle Charley Says:
   September 14th, 2007 at 11:46 am

Jeff writes: I'm surprised at you, Uncle Charley! Are you actually suggesting that schools try to teach parents how to parent? That your tax dollars should be used to modify the behavior of tax-paying citizens? That schools should go beyond their mission (which, of course, would either cost more or require reallocation of existing funds) and identify bad parents so that those parents can be re-educated to raise kids who are more respectful of the authority of those lousy union-supporting teachers who make their living at the public trough?�

No.

I would think you would ridicule this as some sort of liberal government-is-the-answer-to-everything suggestion.�

I am ridiculing it right now.

I expected that some readers might read their world view into my open questions and assume something as absurd as Jeff wrote. Especially since our current education system is so imbued with the same basic philosophy of child-centered self-esteem, such a program obviously would only make the situation worse.

Yet even were the philosophy in the system drastically different, it would still be a misplaced public priority to impose a top-down re-education program on parents.

Short of such absurd draconian measures, is there NO way to contribute to improving the problem? I suggest there might be another way, and it goes like this: If we empower parents with greater choice, arm them with the tools education consumers need, and thus create a system directly accountable to them, would we create more incentives for parents to take charge again? In so doing, would we help some parents find their way out of being trapped in a mentality of fixed dependence on government to solve all their problems?

It's somewhat of a pipe dream, I confess, as I wrestle with the question of whether the culture has to change before the system can change or whether the inverse can take place. With so many people programmed to depend on government to make decisions for them, I have to fight a pessimistic view of helplessness, too.

Please think outside the box a bit, Jeff. But meanwhile, thanks for helping to answer part of my question.

Real men teach kids?