I watched last night's NBC news during my lunch break and saw a story about the recent national report card on kid's math scores. 61% of 4th graders and 66% of 8th graders are "not proficient" in math (whatever that means) and suggesting that parents and taxpayers should be outraged that increased education spending has not lead to better results. Is anyone considering the possibility that some of the blame might actually be the parents?
Perhaps Shawn and I have just been blessed with "smart" kids but I'm not so sure that is the whole reason they get good grades. We have VERY high expectations of our kids (some would say too high) and we usually spend a good hour or more with them every weeknight going over homework and preparing for tests. I'll admit I wasn't such a big fan of doing this early on. It's certainly not my idea of fun, but I'm now convinced that it makes a big difference. When our kids come home with anything but an A on homework and tests, they know we're going to expect some additional study time and a better result the next time.
I really don't think we can expect the schools and our government to solve this problem. A big part of the solution has to start at home.
Am I alone in this thinking? Opposing viewpoints are welcome.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment