SCHOOL: To-do list for education

I am responding to Sunday’s editorial about education. I do agree that there is much work to be done. We must improve the public education system as these kids are the future leaders of tomorrow and our future work force.

The most important teacher in a child’s life is their parents. Parents have the most influence and need to be teaching their children. They can teach their children so much that the school does not have time to teach. Parents in the U.S. don’t see themselves as educators but they should and that image and perspective needs to be changed. Parents need to take ownership of their child’s education.

Here are a few of the problems that I see with the public school system and why I have opted out of the public system for my children.

1. Lack of discipline in the classrooms and our culture: We are losing the work hard and the can-do attitude. We have a generation that wants something for nothing.

2. Lack of study discipline among students: Many students do not want difficult and challenging classes. Many students just want the easy way out of school. These students do not realize that we all must be lifelong learners and that school is just the beginning of our learning process.

3. Lack of parents taking responsibility for the child’s education and blaming teachers for their children’s failure: Look at the Asian culture; if their children are failing the parents blame themselves and not the teacher. The child’s role is to be the best student — that’s the student’s job.

I have found in Idaho that many of the preschools around here and eastern Washington say children are not developmentally ready to read by age 4. I disagree and studies have shown this is just not the case. I have three girls, all of whom were reading by age 4. At Classical Christian Academy, I have worked to start a K-4 class. This year will be the third year for its K4 program and the 4-year-olds are reading by mid-year. Studies show that children who read early stay ahead of their counterparts who learn to read later. It is difficult to convince people in Idaho that children are capable of learning so much prior to starting Kindergarten. Parents who wait until kindergarten to start their children’s learning are putting their children at a disadvantage. (Good resource is “What Your Preschooler Needs to Know” by E. D. Hirsch)

4. Lack of respect for teachers by students and parents.

5. Lack of values and manners being taught in schools and by parents as well.

Those are just a few of the problems I see with public education that you may want to consider addressing and/or pointing out.

Thank you for addressing these topics. It really needs to be a community discussion.

JOLEEN NORCINI

Post Falls