Right attitudes help kids' ability to learn

WASHINGTON — Dorothy Rich has rescued me again. A recent column recounting an interview with Secretary of Education Rod Paige angered a number of teachers who thought Paige and I were accusing them of not caring about their students — at least not believing in their students' ability to learn.

Of course they believe their children can learn, several told me; it's just that getting them to learn under the circumstances can be difficult beyond belief. The complicating circumstances can include anything from low pay (translated as lack of respect) for teachers, out-of-whack pupil-teacher ratios and the imposition of too many non-teaching tasks to the distractions of violent neighborhoods, an unchecked culture of anti-intellectualism and the daunting consequences of poor parenting practices.

Frankly, I thought that's what the secretary and I were saying: that teachers often find themselves setting low standards for their students because they think some of them, though not born stupid, have too many problems to overcome.

Rich, president of the Washington-based Home and School Institute, helped me to see that what I thought I said was not necessarily what many teachers thought they heard. They thought they heard another put-down in a dismaying string of put-downs, and they were tired of it.

"What gets overlooked," she told me, "is that education is a very human enterprise. To a greater degree than most people realize, successful education depends on how teachers and parents feel about one another. Yes, we understand that we have to meet the needs of children in order to make our schools work. But we also have to help parents and teachers meet each other's needs as adults."

So while Paige and I were recalling the old days when teachers cared enough to set high standards, she said, we were really remembering a time when teacher-parent partnership was taken for granted. The way we talked about it put too much focus on the school as an institution — and too little on the partnership.

Edubabble? Far from it. Rich reminded me of how her MegaSkills approach has helped thousands of poorly educated parents boost their children's readiness for school learning. A gifted educator herself, Rich years ago developed courses to teach parents how to instill in children the attitudes necessary for learning — confidence, motivation, perservance, problem-solving, focus.