Parents' Crucial Role in Education

It seems obvious to most of us that parents play the most important role in a child's education, more important than an individual teacher. In this article, Thomas Friedman examines new evidence from an international survey reported about parents' involvement in their children's education. It comes as no surprise that the more a parent reads to their young children or asks them about their schoolwork, the better that child will perform down the road.

While our lower performing schools and teachers do need major improvements in qualifications, curriculum and facilities, the professional improvements are continuously pursued, at least incrementally. What is more difficult to determine is how to fundamentally change the attitudes of uninvolved parents. My assertion is that this issue is an exponentially worsening problem. A parent that had little education and zero reinforcement from their parents is highly unlikely to pass good school/study habits on to their children.

In reality, it is probably too late to change the behavior of many parents to make them better academic coaches. So what truly can be done to counteract the lack of reinforcement at home? Many teachers have tried to provide a pseudo-parent role, but they realistically don't have the time or energy. Nor is it their job to be a stand-in parent for up to dozens of kids. Short of some miracle solution to turn public schools into genius-producing boarding schools, there is little that institutions can do to address this specific problem. Instead, it falls upon society at large and individual communities to hold parents accountable. There must be a cultural shift to not just say that we value education, but to actually follow through on that declaration. Relatives and friends must step in to help reinforce educational attainment. Those more fortunate in the upper socioeconomic strata can give their time to tutoring and mentoring and their money to organizations that assist children.

There are a couple things I think our schools can do: raise expectations and elongate the school year. Many charter schools for troubled or disadvantaged children succeed because they simply raise the level of seriousness, responsibility and expected achievement levels. Also, many other higher-performing countries have longer school years. There is really no purpose to the extended summer break, other than tradition. American students have less time in the classroom and less time for mental stimulation than our foreign competitors.

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers. While the book was released three years ago and received heaps of praise, I just now got around to reading it. The book is an easy read, yet fascinating examination, of how circumstances, cultural/societal traditions and family values contribute to an individual's success. The insights in Outliers are certainly complementary to Friedman's article and this subject matter in general, and I highly recommend reading it.