Waiting for a Miracle

Why do so few people realize and fully comprehend the true importance of education? In the Davis Guggenheim documentary, "Waiting for Superman," a few educators and a few parents are trying to make a difference. The educators are trying to make a global difference, the parents are trying to make a difference for their own child. The movie focuses on the horrendous public school system in the United States. Now, before I call it horrendous, let's talk about this. I went to a public school my whole life and I turned out just fine and there are, of course, plenty of others just like me, who are contributing members of society. I had some bad teachers, I had some mediocre teachers and I had a lot of incredible teachers - Mr. Quinette, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Vincent, Mrs. Honey, Mrs. Emmons, Senor Frese and my all-time favorite, Mr. Brownstein. There are others, but you get the idea. I'm sure most, if not all of us, have had at least one teacher that made a difference in our lives - someone who told us we could do something when we didn't think we could or someone who wasn't afraid to have students laugh at him or her to get their point across. I admit I lived in an area of Los Angeles that had a good school system, but it's not ALL about the school system, where you live or your teachers. There's something very important that people often forget. Any guesses? THE PARENTS! You can't just drop your kid off at school and pick him or her up and think that they're getting all they need in the classroom. They need special attention. Parents need to take an interest in what their kids are learning in school, help them with their homework and continue teaching outside the classroom. I spent many years as a news anchor covering stories on literacy (or more accurately illiteracy) and I spearheaded a project called One Classroom at a Time. I spent a lot of time in the classrooms talking to teachers and students. There are public school teachers out there, who want to get through to their kids and go the extra mile, but they have so many obstacles - overcrowding, low or no budget for school supplies and so many other things. I've talked to teachers, who tell me that it's hard for their students to concentrate, because they left home with no breakfast and they don't have lunch with them or money for lunch. Teachers have told me that a lot of their students' parents are strictly Spanish-speaking, so they can't even communicate with the parents and tell them about problems their child may be having. When I did my series on illiteracy, a lot of the teachers and principals I contacted were afraid to talk about it on-camera. They didn't want to stir things up. WELL, WE NEED TO STIR THINGS UP. One teacher told me that the No Child Left Behind Act was allowing kids to graduate from high school NOT knowing how to read. How is that possible? If you can't read in first grade or second grade, why on Earth would you be allowed to advance to the next grade? It does a complete disservice to the child and society to graduate students, who can't read or write. If they don't possess the basics to succeed in a job, let alone a career, they often turn to a life of crime - drugs, theft, you name it. The reality is that most people, who don't graduate from high school will end up in prison or dead. We can't require licenses for parents (though I sometimes think we should), so what can we do? Yes, our education system is broken. Yes, some teachers who have tenure slack off, because they can. Yes, some parents have no clue what their children are studying in school. And yes, people can still succeed with all these obstacles. The children are our future and if we don't make a difference in these kids' lives starting at a very young age, then none of us will have much a future at all. It's up to all of us to solve this problem... ALL of us. If we don't step up to the plate, then we truly are waiting for a miracle.