Parents' involvement betters education

I'm being an optimist in believing that if parents realized their schools were not preparing their children to succeed in today's global marketplace they would start doing something about it.

They were warned that, "If schools gave tests (that) measured students' reading, writing and math skills against employers' requirements, parents would see the problem and demand solutions" (Murnane and Levy, "Teaching the New Basic Skills"). That was nine years ago. Now, students will have to compete for jobs with students around the world who have — thanks to the World Wide Web — access to the same information as your student. Parents believe that schools worked for them and now see their child learning many of the same skills they learned in school. But during the past 30 years, the skills required in the new economy have changed radically, while the skills taught in schools have changed very little. Parents need to realize that, for the first time in America, the next generation — our kids and grandkids — will not be better off than the last. Yet, they fail to heed the warnings.

Today, many parents are stressed just trying to make ends meet. As a consequence, they want to believe the policymakers who keep telling them the schools are making progress and all they need is more money, more research, and better teacher training. In addition, the new code word is the "education gap" which, of course, calls for more data and more research. Some in education say that as professionals they know best and if they say, "schools are doing better," then that's all we need to know. Not only do some professionals intimidate parents, but also some school boards and school personnel often give the impression that it is their school, rather than the parents' (the real stakeholders). Try to make change through school-board meetings where parents have three minutes to make their case. The only response is a courtesy: "Thank you."

We applauded the millions of dollars given by businesses that rallied to promote economic development during the Olympics. Yet, they fail to realize the greatest investment they can make is to invest in their future workforce sitting in today's classrooms eager to learn. Some in the business community seem content to sit back, and would rather blame teachers with 39 students in a classroom, who have to buy pencils out of their own pockets, for our faltering schools. When we rush to pay for an Olympic caldron but are reluctant to pay for education, it speaks volumes about our state's values — what we say and what we actually do.