Academic Success Begins at Home

How many times have we blamed the educational system for not providing a quality education to our children? We often find something negative in the school system to complain about when it comes to our children’s education. We complain about how teachers are not challenging children enough, the school is using old books to educate our children, our children are getting poor grades on standardized tests, the material being taught is not relevant, our children need more attention individually, the school needs better teachers and principals, the class has too many students for our children to not be able to learn, or our children have too many difficult classes in the morning, and the list goes on. Let’s stop for a minute and ask if the teacher or the school is entirely to blame for our children not receiving a good education.

We live in a society that tends to blame someone else for the problems we face in society. Yes, our schools and teachers have a responsibility to provide a good education for our children. But let’s look at some facts about who spends the most time with our children and who is our children’s first teacher. When children are born, parents have the responsibility to build their educational foundation. In other words, parents are their children’s first teachers, from the day the child is born or even while the child is still in the mother’s womb.

Some parents hope to provide a solid educational foundation for their children from day one. These parents read to their children from a young age and even before the child is born. These parents provide their children with as many educational opportunities as possible long before their children start kindergarten, and this process does not stop when children start school. These parents are involved with their children’s education throughout their academic journey. Research tells us that these children generally have a positive educational experience, with academic success almost guaranteed.

However, many parents, if not more, do not spend much time preparing their children for their future educational journey. There are many reasons why this could be happening to parents, such as busy jobs, little time in the day, and parents’ belief that school should do all of the education. Whatever the reason, these children are being misled due to a lack of preparation time and support from their parents. These parents don’t understand that children spend the first five years of their lives at home, which is one of the most important times to begin building their child’s educational foundation. If nothing is done during those years, children fall behind in their educational development, and when they enter school, they are already behind their peers. As a result, teachers have to work harder because these children require more individual attention, taking time away from students whose parents prepared them for kindergarten.

When students start kindergarten behind their peers, they are subject to developing social or behavioral problems because they are behind other children of the same age academically. This is a major problem for teachers, schools, and our educational system as a whole. As more students start behind, more resources are needed to bring them up to grade level. Getting students to their appropriate grade level is very difficult and could take several years. Who is to blame for this problem?

Instead of blaming someone, I think we as a society should try to do something about this situation. While we can’t require that all parents become more involved in their children’s education, perhaps we can start by putting together some guidelines on what successful parents do with their children and holding workshops for parents across the country to make sure they understand the importance of providing an educational foundation for their children. I think parents would do better if they knew better. Our society must make it a priority to ensure that parents are aware of the importance of parental involvement in the success of their children. Putting that information in the hands of our parents and providing them with the necessary support for their success could improve our entire educational system. The time to start is now.