Everybody seems to be talking about our public school system these days. People from all corners of the nation are weighing in on the conversation, including governmental officials (who couldn't teach second grade to save their lives) and documentary producers (whose job it is to provoke and sell movies).
Many believe they have fabulous solutions to the ills that permeate education, ranging from teacher merit pay, which is tragically based on students' performance on standardized tests, to extending the school year.
But there's a blatant omission in the national conversation that has become the elephant in the classroom. No one seems to be talking about the parents. Educators are under constant scrutiny, while a child's home life remains filed under "nobody's gosh darn business."
The role of the parent cannot be overemphasized, even though it is astonishingly overlooked. We parents cannot expect the school system to cover our weaknesses. The stakes are simply too high.
There was a day when parents would teach children their colors, numbers, ABCs and body parts before sending them to school. Such knowledge is a rare find in today's kindergarten classroom. I'll never forget the parent who, when confronted with the fact that her son didn't know the difference between his shoulder and his neck, indignantly responded, "That's what the schools are for! That's what my tax dollars pay the teachers to do!"
Uh ... wrong answer.
After all, if we cannot teach our children the basics when, on average, there are only two or three of them, how can we expect our teachers to instruct them when they have thirty or more?
It is imperative that we parents evaluate our family life and ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to prepare children to learn. Do we read, talk, laugh and learn with them? Are we eating meals together and engaging them in meaningful conversation? Are we getting them to think?
If the research is correct, most parents believe they just don't have the energy. Family time is often frenetic and disjointed. Consequently, American children escape by spending a preposterous seven hours a day in front of a screen. That equates to just about every waking moment that the child is not in the classroom.
How in the world can we expect a teacher, who is faced with the difficult task of teaching cerebral subjects like algebra, history, literature and chemistry, to compete with the continual stream of unfiltered entertainment that a child is exposed to outside of the classroom?
In addition, research tells us our children are not getting the right nutrition or rest. If most meals are processed or come from drive-through windows, our children are not getting the food their brains need to succeed.
As for rest, young children require 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night. Teens require 8 to 10. They're not getting it. Today's parents not only permit kids to over-schedule themselves, they allow them to sleep with their cell phones, making it possible for their insomniac friends to text and interrupt their much-needed sleep.
And we wonder why they can't keep awake in class?
I realize all this sounds terribly condemning, and it should. But there is hope to redeem our families – and the public school system – if we're willing to evaluate our home life and refuse to let modern culture dictate family time. Our children's futures are begging us to live counter-culturally.
If we make the necessary changes at home and our children still don't succeed in class, then we can take a harder look at our educators and public school system. But parents cannot do this until we've upheld our end of the deal.
Eileen Button's column appears weekly in The Flint Journal community papers and is the author of the forthcoming book The Waiting Place. Reach her by email, buttonhouse@juno.com.