by Lowell Frederick

Created on: June 18, 2008

Government, parents, educators, and administrators have all offered there fair share to the problems that face public education. The hurdles are many and it is time for a group effort to develop. Parents must allow the educators and administrators the opportunity to do their jobs with the student's best interest at the fore front. The government must allow for adequate funding and proper standards for success.

First and foremost, teachers must be allowed to demand the respect needed to successfully educate children. Over time, our teachers have become very poor babysitters. This is understandable because babysitting is not their job. Our teachers more and more look forward to just "making it to the end of the day" instead of teaching. The first time a teacher tries to invoke respect; they are accused of abusive or unacceptable behavior. Lawsuits then follow and valuable money for education is spent in litigation. Agreeably, this respect must not be misused and that is where administrators must step in when an educator crosses the line.

Lack of respect for our teachers causes less people to migrate to that profession. Furthermore, less people available makes more of a demand for teachers. The high demand makes for more job opportunities for people who don't have a love for teaching, they just need employment. Recently there have been very sad cases of unqualified teachers who have misused what little authority they have and became involved emotionally with students. Furthermore it is not out of the ordinary to read about teachers getting minors alcohol, drugs or participating in other illegal activities with our children.

The number one issue for administrators today is not the quality of staff they have educating our children. Instead they are constantly trying to acquire enough funding to be able to run their corporations or districts at a high level. Administrators must look at children's grades in each school in their district and adjust the enrollment so each school can qualify for its government funding. Additionally, administrators have had to go to other sources outside of government for income. The soft drink industry has become a major contributor to school corporations across the country. The time involved in negotiating a contract with an outside source takes away from time administrators should be spending in other areas that directly affect the quality of education.

How many times have we heard "my son would never do that!"? Parents must start trusting our teachers. If a child will misbehave at home, why wouldn't that same child misbehave at school? In addition, parents must take the time to help with their child's education. Homework is a very good time to bond with your children. With the advent of e-mail, communication with teachers is much easier than any other time in history. Parents must make it clear to their children that the teacher is expected to demand respect in the classroom and yet be respectful to the student. Success will be measured by how much the parent and the teacher become a team in the educational development of the student.

The educational system cannot be fixed quickly. It will take a high commitment of time, talent, perseverance, and patience from parents, teachers, administrators, and the government to succeed in allowing our children the opportunity for a well rounded education. The level of education our children receive determines the direction of our country as a whole. Our students of today are the leaders of tomorrow.

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