Posted by
mrsbooks on Saturday, June 21, 2008 9:34:19 PM
I recently read an interesting article afrom the Washington Post by Maria Glod entitled, "Mandated Tutoring Not Helping Maryland, Virginia Scores." The focus of the article centers around how tutoring is not helping students with test scores in math and reading. While I agree with some parts of the article, such as some students may be so far behind that it's not reflected in their test scores, it goes back to folks again relying on the government to get them out of trouble. Overall, I don't have a problem with Bush's "Leave No Child Behind," except in areas where Kindergartners and first graders are coming home with an exorbinant amount of homework. Yet, I don't believe giving families free tutoring after school will help the problem. And here's why.
I was a tutor for close to 15 years. I met all kinds of families, and even participated in a government-funded program that reimbursed parents for tutoring by me. The kids whose grades improved were always the ones whose parents supported my efforts at helping their kids and followed up on any remedial help that I gave them to do at home. The parents who ignored my ideas or didn't support me often had kids who continued to do poorly at school.
So, when I read an article like this one, I still place the responsibility on the parents' shoulders--they are ultimately responsible for their children's success in school. Homeschooling's a case in point where those students are often way ahead of the curve in test scores. And, it's because of their parents' vast involvement and investment in their education.
I can hear some social justice folks saying, "Well, what about the poor single mom, whose working three jobs, just to put food on the table?" Well, while I sympathize with the stress-load of these people,I have two counter points to make against that argument. First, look at Dr. Ben Carson's story. His mom, who was undereducated, illiterate, and worked two to three jobs to keep her family going, still maintained that her sons had to read a book a week and give a written report on what they read after they started on a deep slide toward failure. Dr. Carson credits his illiterate mother's involvement in his teen years to his successful career today as a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University. Second, I encourage these moms, dads, grandmothers, and aunts to teach the next generation to do things in the right order: get married, have children, and stay married to the same person. Dr. Walter Williams says that this is a surefire way to stay out of poverty. And I add on to allow more time for parents to stay involved in their kids' education.