Whose Education is it?

I am an educator. I value education. I am a parent.  I am a single parent who raised four children.  I am now a grandparent.  I am a teacher.  I am fortunate that my children were blessed with a work ethic and a desire to learn new things.  In fact, they continue to learn new things daily.  They value their education.  They enjoy what knowledge gives them.

I never had the desire nor the time to 'do' homework or projects with my children.  Don't get me wrong, I was present while they did it, but THEY did it.  They did it sloppy; they did it neat; they did it right and they did it wrong.  The point is, THEY did it.  And they got the grades they earned.

NEVER in my wildest dreams did I ever dream of doing it for them...ummm....that's CHEATING! And cheating never helped anyone.

During my first year of teaching in an elementary school, back in the 1990's, the 5th grade teacher across the hall from me was upset as she just learned that the PARENTS of the previous 5th grade, saved all of the tests she gave, to establish a 'file' to 'study' from for the incoming 5th graders!  REALLY? I was totally shocked.  Whose education is it?  Were they helping their children?  I think not.  That same teacher also received phone calls from more than half of her parents complaining that a math test was too hard for them...the average grade for that test was 91%!!!

We live in a culture where parents are putting pressure on their children to be perfect.  Well here's an observation - your children, like my children, are NOT perfect.  Nor do I expect them to be.  Just as I do not expect perfection of myself.  What I do expect is for them to try; to not give up, and to do their best.  Just as I expect from myself.

I have heard stories of pre-school parents who do their child's coloring assignments.  In this age of technology,  some parents go online and sign into their students' accounts and do their work for them. Don't they know that they are only hurting the ones they think they are helping? Those parents are telling their children, the student, that they are not smart enough, or capable of doing work.  I have to believe that these parents are unaware of the great harm they are doing, because I know that there is no parent on earth, especially the good parents at my school, who would EVER do anything to harm the ones they love the most.

So please, share this with your friends.  Perhaps it will open the eyes of at least one of the parents who think they are helping their children, by doing their homework for them.  Please, let your children be themselves.  Hold them accountable for their actions.  Let them fail, as in failing, they will learn to succeed.