Letters: Make parents acknowledge their responsibilities

I have been substitute teaching in Richland 1 for eight years, and I love working with pre-k and kindergarten classes. However, every year it is getting harder to make a difference because the kids are coming into the system more and more broken, because parents are not preparing them for school. They may not even be aware that parents are the primary educators of their children.

I believe we could help parents by requiring them to sign a four-point pledge:

1) I will regularly read to and with my child. Study after study has shown that this one thing makes a difference in the child’s educational success.

2) I will regularly ask if my child has homework and review it with him. This gets parents involved in the child’s education and shows they care.

3) If I do not have a high school diploma or GED, I will make an effort to obtain one. I will also encourage my child by word and example to be a self-educated life-long learner. This will teach the child that education is valuable.

4) I will not promote an unwholesome environment by immoral behavior, criminal activity or gangster associations. Instead, I will instill through appropriate disciplinary consequences the characteristics of respect, submission, self-control and other-centeredness. These characteristics will enhance teachers’ ability to teach and students’ ability to learn.

If parents actually followed through, we would see a drastic improvement.