Teachers know, and studies have shown, that parental involvement is a key factor in student success. Now all that remains to be done is to find a way to get all parents involved.
A series of stories by staff writers Ron Shawgo and Mark Di Vincenzo in Sunday’s Daily Press detailed several programs that school systems around the country have implemented to encourage parental involvement. In New Jersey and Illinois parents have been required to attend school with their chronically truant children. A South Carolina school division lets parents choose between attending school with their child or having the child expelled. Just the threat of having a parent sitting next to them in class would cause most children to behave.
The Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill that would allow the courts to fine a parent whose child has a behavior problem. Gov. George Allen is expected to sign the bill. No one knows whether the new law will correct the serious behavior problems that teachers must deal with every day. But every one seems to agree that the schools must be allowed to experiment.
The lack of parenting in today’s society is shameful. Perhaps the only way to get some parents to pay attention to their children is to require it. Trying to curb a rebellious teen-ager’s bad behavior by fining the parent is probably futile. But if the law is used to establish authority – both the schools’ and the parents’ – when children are young, the lesson might last for a lifetime.
As a rule, we think one person should not be held responsible for the actions of another. But parents must assume some responsibility for their children. This new law should be given a chance.
