A good education begins in the home

The expression “blue-collar” worker doesn’t resonate like it used to, but I understand the term because I grew up in a blue-collar town.

Our parents didn’t drive new cars nor did we. We were expected to use our manners and to respect the older people in our community.

The worst offense we could commit was having a teacher call home to report we’d misbehaved in class. Not only did you get in trouble from your mom, but your grandparents, aunts and cousins joined in because you brought shame to the family. Let’s not even talk about when dad got home.

It didn’t matter your race, creed, color or religion – parents expected their children to behave and the kids who didn’t listen were the minority. They did, however, keep us entertained while we finished our work.

Kids today are still entertained by the class clown, but instead of getting in trouble with the school and then at home, troublemakers get a slap on the wrist and society makes excuses for their poor behavior.

And that’s when the trouble really starts.

When out-of-control students are allowed to have their way, good educators fear for their safety and decide to leave before they lose their desire to teach.

Eventually mediocre ones take their place, and students who want to learn are forced to do so on their own amidst disrespect, chaos and boorish behavior. Worse than that, they are left behind because no one’s there to encourage them in the classroom.

            There are hundreds of theories about how to change behavior, but one theory is absolutely true -- the reality of dollars and cents.  

If you run off good educators, you’re stuck with ones who are in the classroom for the paycheck. Students only learn the basics, if that, and graduate from high school at the bottom of the educational ladder.

            They try and get a good job but they can’t because they don’t have the basics. Remember, the bullies ran the good teachers off. These students are left to scrape by all their lives at jobs they hate because they didn’t get an education during their formative years.

            On the flip side, at schools where parents teach their children to respect teachers, respect each other and respect themselves, learning takes place. The household paycheck has nothing to do with the ability to learn respect.

Good manners are the responsibility of the parent to teach the child and then hold that child accountable. It should not be the school’s job to teach your child to sit in their seat, stop talking and learn something.

Mom and dad, that’s your job.

            Parents, put down the remote and the cell phone. Teach your children at every opportunity. Have conversations at the dinner table, even if that’s over take-out burgers. Teach them to wait their turn, to use words instead of fists and to have a thirst for knowledge.  

            Teach them to respect their elders and, if they don’t like the rules, learn effective ways to change them. Until then, respect the law, respect society and respect themselves enough to know they need a good education to get ahead in life. The class clowns and thugs are robbing them of the most important intangible they’ll ever have access to – an education.

            No matter the color of your skin, your home address or your ethnicity, having high expectations and constantly reaching for them is what separates the educated from the ignorant.

If you want the best chance for your child to be successful, tell them that the only sure-fire way out of a situation they don’t like is an education.

And that education begins at home.

 This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.