Home, school

OK, boys and girls, here's today's school lesson. Let's say you have a failing public school system. And by failing I mean miserable by any measurable gauge.

So in search of a solution, you bring in a team of outside experts to analyze and assess your school system.

That's the process in St. Louis where a new report is out concerning the problems in its public school system. However, the lesson could be applied in virtually any other school district across the state.

The experts -- and I don't question for one minute that they are indeed experts -- listed poor record keeping, a revamped curriculum for students and dozens of other pressing issues for the St. Louis school system.

Yet when the dust had cleared, the three striking deficiencies were the usual suspects: dismal graduation rates, poor attendance and bottom-feeder test results. As I said, these are issues that plague many other school systems throughout the nation, not just here in the Show Me State.

Here's where I part company with the expert analysis.

Graduation rates, attendance and poor test results are not the fault of the system, nor the teachers, nor the curriculum, nor the record keeping.

That fault is largely on the shoulders of the parents and the prevailing attitude in some quarters that education is somehow unimportant.

For years now, I have harped, far too much probably, on the key role that the home environment plays in the education system. Without vigilance and guidance from home, it's too easy for students to take the easy path and sleepwalk through school.

I readily admit that a super teacher who motivates students and who makes the educational experience enjoyable is critical. But that super teacher can achieve success only if there is a parent in the background providing reinforcement at home.

As with all other expert analysis, the flaw is abundantly obvious. Despite recognizing the essential role of home reinforcement, even experts know that you cannot mandate responsibility.

When all of the reports are written, when all of the analysis is complete, it all boils down to personal responsibility.

I don't fault the St. Louis school officials, and I certainly don't fault the experts. All did their jobs. But this report -- like so many others -- will serve as a point of discussion and eventually gather dust on a shelf.

And someday in the future another study will begin and more experts will be called. They will make honest and valid recommendation. Some will be followed. Others will be ignored.

Yet no one will point that finger directly at the parents and the home environment and say the words that need be said.