You may want to dodge my rant...

One thing that greatly concerns me about the world today is the lack of personal responsibility that a lot of people seem to feel.  Many people, especially young people, seem to have developed a sense of entitlement and a love of the "blame game." 

You regularly hear phrases like "I deserve this..." or "it's their fault that I..." and I think it does no good.

Lately, one place that I have seen this happening is with our education system.  Granted, there is much room for improvement in our public schools.  However, look where they have come from, we are definitely improving.

I have been hearing on the news about a group of parents who believe teachers are not doing enough to educate children.  They seem to want to abdicate all responsibility for their kid's education and force all of the blame on teachers for everything their kids can't do or don't know.

I think, overall, we have amazing teachers in our public schools.  There are, of course, exceptions to that, but in the grand scheme I think teachers want to help children and want to improve the world.

Maybe my feelings stem from the fact that my husband is a high school teacher.  I know how hard he works to find ways to help his students understand concepts and how he is constantly trying to improve his lesson plans. 

First day of school 2010

I also see a lot of teens and parents who seem to believe that students "deserve" to pass a class no matter what.  Josh regularly comes home frustrated with students who have turned in no homework, have failed tests, and then come to him upset that they aren't passing the class.  He gets calls from parents asking him to bump their children's grades even though the kids rarely show up for class and pay little or no attention when they are there. 

I just don't think this is right.  I don't claim to be perfect in this venue, but I strongly believe that it is MY responsibility to educate my children.  I feel like schools are an important tool in my arsenal, but when it really comes down to it, it is MY job to teach my kids. 

Now, that doesn't mean I am going to have nightly history lessons and morning math quizzes, but it does mean that I do my best to stay involved in what is going on in my kid's classrooms.  We work on homework together, we talk about school and I do what I can to spend some time in the classroom each year. 

Most of all, I try to support the teachers my kids have.  I try to stand behind the things they ask of my children and encourage my kids to treat them with respect.  They have a difficult, but incredibly important job, and they are working for the most precious people on Earth.  They deserve my respect as well.

I guess what I am saying is I hope more parents will choose to take some responsibility in raising and educating their children instead of passing the buck entirely to teachers.  When it comes to EVERYTHING related to their kids, parents should be on the front lines, not lingering in the background waiting for someone else to step up and fight.