Education Issues and Parents

Education issues such as year round school and improving the workplace for teachers are important, but students are, of course, the reason for all debate. Students arrive in a kindergarten classroom one day and leave thirteen years later. Teachers and the time spent in school influence students, but what happens those first five years of life are the foundation for those teachers to build walls, doorways and hallways. Early childhood and preschool education receive government grants, but without parental education concerning their important role in child development, children will not benefit from these programs.

Information for parents about their children is everywhere. Pediatricians, pamphlets and magazines echo with cliches concerning infants to preschool students. Research says parents are children's first teachers. Teach children during every day activities so they become life-long learners. Read to young children, identify shapes, colors and letters with preschoolers and make homework a priority with school-aged children. It is better to get help early than too late. Parents can recite these, but unless they envision the causes and effects of miniscule or dismal preschool years on the rest of a child's life, they may not take action.

Education must not be done to parents and children- they must be engaged. The United States Department of Education's Early Childhood Initiative stresses, "The years before a child reaches kindergarten are among the most critical in his or her life to influence learning." To assure that children receive quality early educations, the Obama administration is setting new standards and improving the early education workforce. The administration is also providing lessons for parents to address this education issue. Hopefully, the message is straightforward. Too often, parents receive convoluted research muddled with advertisements and sponsorships from businesses concerning their children's health and brain development. Pediatricians and education, political and health leaders must clarify developmental information, as now they deliver information worried about "not hurting parents' feelings." Withholding research and facts tell parents they cannot handle the truth, something that should hurt their feelings more.

The government can control aspects of preschool life, but they cannot stop parents from propping a nine-month old in front of the television. Simply "encouraging" parents is not enough; educating parents calls for a bigger campaign. Unless parents take the time to implement these proven practices, higher standards and improved preschool teachers may not be enough. Parents need to put the remote controls and cell phones down and talk, read and work with their children. Addressing the two extremes of the parent continuum is not enough either, because somewhere in the middle of the parent-spectrum sits parents who try, but somehow lose focus of what they are to do with their offspring. These parents often balance several jobs or raise children alone. All preschool students and their parents need different tools. Education is circular and the preschoolers who do not receive a fair start in life today become the parents who start behind tomorrow.

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