by Nachisha Lightsey

Created on: November 10, 2009   Last Updated: December 14, 2009

I often baffle at the sight of kids playing outside fifteen minutes after the school bus has dropped them off at home. I wonder where the hell their parents are and why are they not yelling out the screen door telling them, "Come inside and do your homework." This is a light-hearted example of how people lack in parenting their children, which leads me to my first point;

The importance of good home training can never be important enough.

I am the mother of three little boys, and I constantly think about what tools do my husband and I need to equip them with to succeed in this world. We are stern about education and set high standards which must be met in order for them not be in the hot seat. At times, I feel like we are being too hard on our sons, but then I soon after remember that setting high expectations yield high results. We expect the honor roll every quarter from our children and we get it. In my house, the decision to attend college is not left up to them. When the time comes to pick a college the only choice given will be which school and what major. My oldest boy is nine years old, and we as his parents have begun sometime ago assigning him chores and stressing that they are done to the best of his ability. He does not like it. He would love to watch TV and play all day, but that is not aloud. He has responsibilities and they must be fulfilled. My other two are five and four years old. They have minimal chores like cleaning their room, but TV is restricted to certain programs and times, etc. They will go on to lead productive lives because not only do we enforce it, but we also lead by example. If African Americans want more students in colleges we must start with building more strong families'.

My second point is that African Americans must learn the system and use it to our benefit. We are not recognizing our power in society which is the key cause of the school system being sub-par in predominantly African American communities. Politicians care about votes, plain and simple. If people in a community as a greater whole do not go to town meetings and vote in local politics than politicians aren't going to fight for better funding and/or resources in those communities' schools? How can we get more African American college students if we in our own communities do not make education an issue worth fighting for? People within the community need to take responsibility for their own place of residence. It is not anyone's job to fight for us, especially

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