More Than One to Blame « Life Would Be More Interesting If Everyone Was Animated!
This reaffirms the position that success starts at home. Parents who take an active role in their child’s education and stimulates them with the proper activity will see results in the school building. What kills me is when we want to place blame on just the schools.

Wow…do you think there is a real educator out there anywhere that didn’t already know this?!  Why can’t the powers that be ever accept that schools cannot be held totally liable for the failure of so many students to perform at high levels.  I live and teach in a rural area where poverty is the norm for the greatest majority of people.  About 85% of the students in my school are free or reduced price lunch.  Many kids live up hollows accessible only by dirt roads and live in dwellings that are often not fit for animals to occupy.  Many of our parents have not completed high school and work at minimum wage, if at all.  Public assistance is everywhere…and it’s not that these folks don’t want to work…..we just live in an economically depressed area where jobs are few and far between, and most are just minimum wage.  How do we break this cycle?  For sure, schools cannot alone.  It would require a complete change in the local infrastructure and many years to overcome many political hurdles.  Chances are our town will never flourish again….its goldens days are long past…..kinda of sad…..but it is happening to small town America everywhere.  How can education overcome this?  I wish I had an answer…….