America’s school system is in a mess. It would be difficult to find someone who would disagree. The difference lies in the solution. The Heritage Foundation regularly points out that spending on education has sky-rocketed over the past three decades while scores have flat-lined. More money is not the problem.

          From my experience in school as well as a parent, America has great teachers and superb equipment and facilities. I did have some teachers that should have chosen a different profession but overall the teachers were (and are) great. They love their students and love to teach. They will go out of their way to help any and every student move forward. A major hindrance is the federal department of education with its dubious mandates and testing. All that does is add stress to the teachers and their students.

          But I am convinced that America’s schools are suffering more than anything else from delinquent parents. Speak to a school administrator and he or she will relate something to the effect that many parents tell the schools: “You’ve got my kid eight hours a day. Make them behave!” Too many parents have turned the discipline and instruction of their children over to the school system. But that’s not what the school system is for!

          Back in the day when our educators were preparing students to land on the moon, very little time was taken up with disciplinary matters. Most of the time was devoted to instruction time. Today, the opposite is true. Teachers have to consistently discipline those who are disruptive which takes away from instructional time with the well-behaved.

          That suggests that the biggest cause of our failing schools are parents who are failing. They don’t teach the children to sit down and listen. They don’t teach the children to want to improve themselves. They don’t teach the children to respect authority. They don’t teach the children to listen twice as much as they talk.

          Dads are too busy working to spend time with their children at home. Dads may be well disciplined with their jobs but fail to pass that self-discipline on to their kids. And, if they are at home, too often they’re not involved in their kids’ education. Moms are too busy working as well. Or, for whatever reason, they aren’t teaching their children to respect their teachers and listen attentively.

          In an article on National Review Online entitled “We have a Parenting Problem, Not a Poverty Problem,” Michael Petrilli, executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute addresses this very problem. We need young people who have children after marriage and then get jobs and then raise their children. Will America ever wake up?

          Proverbs 19:18 – “Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.”

–Paul Holland