The utter insanity of blaming teachers only and letting parents and students off the hook.

[LWolf]

41. Instead of blaming,

we ought to be looking at the real sources of failure and addressing them.

Poverty is #1.

Right below that is a culture that does not value intellect, that prides itself on ignorance, and thrives on displacing blame everywhere but on itself.

Then there is the corporate machine, cranking out propaganda and taking over, bite by bite.

The failure to provide adequate resources.

Before you get to any teacher, parent, or student, all of the above should be addressed.

When a student doesn't value his or her educational opportunities, when a student wastes the resources invested, whose fault is that? Who teaches and enables that kind of value system?

I've seen all kinds of kids messed up by parents; you can't spend the years in public education and NOT see it. Very rarely, though, is it that the parent doesn't care. Often it's because they are exhausted and overwhelmed trying to keep a roof overhead and food on the table; often it's because they don't know any better, don't have any other frame of reference. Often it's because they are addicted to the blame game.

We make more progress working to build constructive relationships with parents. We don't fire failing parents, except in the most extreme cases. It sure would help, though, if there were some real education out there about child development, and what parents should be doing to foster their children's healthy development.