Education for Sale

This week my husband and I were having some repair work done on our motor home in San Antonio.  We could not be in the Monaco while it was, “in the shop” so we had to take our meals out.  As a result, we had both breakfast and lunch at two separate diners.  Nothing fancy, just food.  In both cases we ended up sitting at a booth next to a young mother, her toddler and two older women who could have been siblings or friends.  One child was a boy, the other a girl.  Both were clean and well cared for.  Both were about the same age, and both were Hispanic.  In both cases, we were eating in blue collar neighborhoods.  Money was not missing, but dear. 

            As both meals progressed, it became evident that the two children were surrounded by two entirely different types of parents.  The baby girl (at breakfast) was talked to and played with by the women with her.  She smiled and interacted with all of them.  The boy (at lunch) received food and minimal attention, but the women were busy talking among themselves in some of the coarsest, rudest, most common language I have heard.  The, “f” word seemed to be used as a regular mark of punctuation.  The women had no regard for the people around them, or the impression they were making on the young mind at the table.   

            Being a member of a minority or being poor had nothing to do with how these women behaved, or how their children were being raised.  It was simply a matter of choice.  One parent was choosing to be an attentive and well-behaved role model; the other parent was choosing to behave like a slut.  This is timely information because Texas is facing an amendment in the next election which would transfer money from a permanent fund to a temporary one to help provide extra income for education.  First of all, I have never voted against a school tax in my life and don’t intend to, but I wish the people wanting more money for education would be equally as willing to tell voters the truth about education.  Schools can’t put in what parents have left out—at least not in a timely fashion.  Too many liberals want to blame lack of funds for lack of educational success.  They refuse to tell parents that what they do with their children during the first 5 years of their child’s life make school success or failure almost a given. 

                 In too many homes the conditions of a rich learning environment are not available.  People blame this problem on lack of money, lack of education, lack of social will, and all the rest of the usual suspects.  But the problem is that when all of the reasons are rounded up and the appropriate blame placed on each of their shoulders the prime suspect is still standing, surrounded by a polite politically correct silence. The key part of the equation is the child’s parents.  It is the responsibility of all parents to raise their child! 

            On one day I saw two Texas mothers treat their children in two very different ways.  We have an obligation to support good schools.  Why don’t we have an obligation to tell mothers the truth about how they are raising their children? 

            Speak up for education and keep the faith.