I often hear the Bush administration taking a great deal of flack about the failure of the No Child Left Behind Act.  This criticism is extremely valid, as the initiative has not accomplished the goals that it set for itself.  Instead we face the decline of school systems in many different places around the country.  The reason that this subject hits particularly close to home is because I am home from college and taking a look at what my younger brother and sister are doing in their classes.  It is blatantly obvious that the school is not doing a good job teaching the material that I think all children should learn at some point.  My hometown’s school system is no joke, and was rated among the top school districts in the state while I was attending.  However, many changes to curriculum have diluted the great teaching.  Specifically, elementary schoolers are no longer broken up into classes on the basis of ability.  Instead of grouping the faster learners together so that they can continue to learn new material at the same rate that they are able to absorb it, we see these children lumped with those who need to spend more time trying to learn something.  This strongly inhibits learning, and all because it hurts the pride of parents whose children need more help grasping subject matter.  Despite all of this, I do not blame the government or the schools for the decline of education in America.  Rather, I blame parents.

Let’s face it.  Learning should occur in the home as well as the school.  When the schools begin to slack in the quality of the educations they provide, it is the responsibility of the parents to pick up that lost slack.  When your child is having difficulty reading or spelling, you should be working with them every night.  When your child is not able to understand math, you should drill them over and over.  Education is the single most important thing that one can possess in this world.  It affects everything from your own future, to that of your country as a whole.  An educated work force is proven to increase productivity greatly.  Parents need to embrace their role as their child’s primary teacher.  I look back on my success in school, and immediately remember my parents letting me read to them each night, helping me with math problems, making flash cards for spelling words, and forcing me to do homework.  They always encouraged education, fostered it, and allowed me to grow into it.  Before parents go blaming the Bush administration and the school systems for the failure of their children, they should first remember that education begins in the home.

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