Taking Responsibility For Your Child's Education

August 9, 2016

Good morning.  I fell asleep early last evening, so I was not able to sleep through the whole night.  But that's not so bad because our night time temps are fabulous.  Usually in the 60's.  Just before daybreak, I decided to get up and make some breakfast.  Pogo thought this was a great idea too!

Well, yesterday morning I finally got a phone call from the Police Department to set up an appointment for me to go in for an interview and hand in my application for the LTC.  (License to carry)  My appointment is a week from Friday at 6 p.m.  Hopefully, all will go well.

A couple days ago, there was an article in the newspaper about whether or not Head Start and Pre-K programs are actually worth the money that we keep pouring into them.  According to statistics, children who attend these programs do no better in school than equivalent children who do not. 

Because low income and minority kids enter school far behind their higher income counterparts and don't catch up, the theory of intervening early seems like common sense.  But it is not working.  The author of the article suggests that it is time to give these poor families what they really need.  More money.  He says that we should let them decide how to spend it on the early care and education of their children.

Somehow I missed the logic of this whole way of thinking.  Every child (not just minority and low income) can learn as long as the school they attend is still teaching.  It's the parents' job to encourage their children to learn.  If the parent does not care, neither will the child.  Learning does not cost the low income or minority family anything. 

I am so tired of hearing how disadvantaged this large portion of the population is.  I grew up in the 40's and 50's, and we did not have much money.  No one in our neighborhood did.  But us kids had books at home that we read, and we studied and learned in school.  We went to our local library for more books on just about any subject we might want to learn about.  Our folks encouraged us and saw to it that we did our homework every day. 

Did all the kids make it all the way through high school?  No, but most of us did.  The kids who wished not to learn and further themselves did not learn very much.  It had nothing to do with our income or racial status.  A lot of it had to with lack of interest and parental influence.  Most all of us graduated high school, and quite a lot of us went on to college.  Some, like me, went to work, then got married and raised families. 

Once my kids were grown, I finally got to go to college.  I paid for it myself (with the help of school loans that I paid back), and managed to get myself a Master's Degree in Education.  During all of this time, my income never got to the top, or out of, the poverty level.  But I wanted this for myself, so I studied and worked for it.  Anyone can do this.

So, back to the article, will giving more money to these families ensure a better education for their children?  NO.  If the children in these families do not wish to learn, and if the parents don't want to invest their time in teaching their children the value of learning, then no amount of money is going to better educate these children.  It's time folks started taking responsibility for themselves and stop blaming income and race.

Enough of my little rant.  How about  some cute photos of a turkey family out for a stroll.  Daughter Deanne took these photos one day while she and Eddie were out for a ride.  Yup, she's like me.  If a photo opportunity presents itself, we yell "Stop!  Pull over so I can get a photo!"

Here's a photo of the petunias that we planted in the small kiln.  When the porch was being built, we had to dig the petunias out and move the kiln to a new spot, then re-plant the petunias. 

And here's a photo of the new hummingbird feeder that Joe hung on the outside corner post of the porch.  So far, I have not seen any visitors to this feeder, but I have hopes that soon the birds will show up.  We'll see.

Now I think I'll make a cup of coffee and go sit on the porch for a while before the temps start to climb.  So, till tomorrow, Y'all have a fantabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.