Only 23 percent of people in their 20s have graduated from college. Some high schools have 50 percent drop-out rates.
What are you doing to ensure that your children get the skills necessary for productive careers? Here are ways parents can improve their children's attitudes about school:- Demonstrate that school and learning are important in your own life. If you were a dropout, go back to school. Get your GED. Take a college course.
Turn off the TV, go to the library and read in front of your children. Show that learning is a lifelong activity. You can do that by learning new skills. Get a computer. Learn a foreign language. Take a carpentry course.
If you're too busy to read, get books or courses on tape. Listen while you do chores.
- Set up a home environment conducive to homework. Each child should have a desk, chair and good light. Turn off the TV during homework hours.
- Reward behaviors you want, punish those you don't want. A friend was having problems with her daughter, who at one time was a straight-A student. Then Lisa started skipping classes and was barely maintaining a C average.
They discussed it. My friend warned her that without at least a B average she wouldn't be getting her driver's license. After the tears subsided, my friend noted a marked improvement in Lisa's grades. Because driving was contingent on grades, she's had no more problems.
- Be willing to devote your time to your child's school activities. If you never go to PTA or attend school activities, your children may decide their activities are unimportant.
- Stay involved and be part of the team. When you see teachers and school administrators as adversaries, you encourage attitude problems.
I'm not saying students are always wrong and teachers always right. But when your child has a personality conflict or disagreement with a teacher, do whatever you must to negotiate a solution. Getting along with others is a critical life skill.
- Susan Valaskovic,
Scripps Howard News Service