Parents are the key to good education

This post was published in the Wilson Times on Sept. 21, 2019.

Tuesday’s headline in the Wilson Times proclaimed, “Parents are key to student success.” A proper response to this news might be, “well, duh!”

Recent studies have shown that it is not unskilled teachers, incapable students or poor school administration that cause failures in public schools. It’s the home environment that makes the difference between student success and student failure.

America has been trying at least since the 1983 “A Nation At Risk” report to tinker with curriculum, accountability, teacher training and motivation, teaching techniques and school governance in hopes of improving public education. But the problems cited by the Reagan administration report continue to plague public schools in America.

Recent studies have found that schools whose students come from homes with incomes in the top quartile of wealth have higher success scores than schools whose students come primarily from low-income or below-poverty-level homes. You can change teachers, change principals, change curriculum, change school spending and still find the same educational results based on income.

Students from homes with well-educated parents will do better than students with less-educated, lower-income parents. Beyond simple income, there are reasons for the disparity between high-achieving schools and low-scoring schools. Teachers, the focus of much of the educational reforms over the past quarter century, have about six hours a day to alter the lives of students. Their home environments have those students for the remaining 18 hours a day.

The low income of some families often comes with additional educational handicaps: uneducated or poorly educated parents, violence in the home, lack of reading resources (each class of kindergartners might include students who have never been read to), overwhelmed, under-employed parents and unstable family relations.

I’m glad to see Wilson County Schools is paying attention to students’ home environments. The school system is offering a Parents Academy to teach parents how to help their children be more successful in school. Some tips are quite simple: Be in school, be on time, set a routine for school days and ensure children follow the routine, make school a priority.

Unlike most possessions, children do not come with instruction manuals, and some parents have had little guidance or negative influences in how to care for children and help them grow into successful adults. A parent might have had a bad school experience and dropped out. Such a parent might transfer her distaste for education to her children, perpetuating an unfortunate experience to another generation.

A Parents Academy cannot compensate for poverty, a lack of reading materials in the home, absent fathers or other difficulties. The academy can teach parents how to improve their children’s behavior and help them be more successful in school. It can change attitudes, ambitions, goals and values. Children need to experience unconditional love and a stable home. A school system cannot provide that, but schools can show parents how to help their children succeed.

The rest is up to the parents — and the student.