Real Solutions for Real People -- Education, Part 2

It shouldn't take a Ph.D. in education to understand why parental influence is more important to a child's academic success than any billion-dollar government program.

For one thing, most parents know their children better than any teacher could. They know what interests their children, what motivates them, what discourages them. They know their children's dreams as well as their limitations.

Educated parents who understand the importance of education will encourage their children to learn -- not just in school but from life itself. They will be there to teach their children, to guide them through homework assignments the kids don't understand, to explain difficult concepts in ways the teachers couldn't. They will whet their children's appetite for learning by reading and discussing books with them, by taking them to museums and historic sites, by watching and discussing television with them, etc.

The flip side is the parent who has limited education and doesn't understand the importance of a high school diploma, much less a college degree. They can't help their children with difficult homework assignments, putting their children at a disadvantage. If the parents have limited English abilities, they can't talk to their children's teachers or read the notes about registering their children for extracurricular activities that could ignite their children's interest in education.

I'm reminded of Roy, a Hispanic teenager I knew years ago. Even though his parents weren't truly migrants, Roy grew up in the federal migrant education program and participated in several other well-intentioned government education projects aimed at ethnic students. Roy wanted to be the first in his family to graduate from high school. He even started to think he could go to college. But when Roy turned 16, his father, a dropout himself, literally browbeat him into leaving school. The father told Roy repeatedly, "You're nothing but a dumb Mexican, and that's all you're ever going to be." Eventually, Roy believed his dad, dropped out of school and began working in the fields, giving his paycheck to his dad. Roy got married young, had children young and ended up in jail -- young.

In Roy's case, the influence of his father far outweighed any positive feedback he got from government education programs. Had the government wanted to save Roy, it should have focused on educating his father instead.

More on that tomorrow.