Parents are key to good education

To the editor:

All the finger-pointing that is being done toward the schools and teachers regarding MAP testing and healthy eating for our children is asinine.

I served on the Nell Holcomb School Board for six years and know about No Child Left Behind. NCLB is a ridiculous mandate that is impossible to attain. All children will never be at the same levels in reading or anything else, and that is because God created each one of us differently.

It is also attributable to the fact that, frankly, some parents just don't care and offer no help to their children when it comes to schoolwork or anything else for that matter.

This is not a matter of what social class you may be or how much money you do or do not have. It is a matter of love and nurturing for your children and taking responsibility. These are the parents who don't care if their children had breakfast or a good night's sleep, don't care if they have baths or clean clothes, don't worry about teaching them manners and right from wrong, don't attend parent-teacher conferences, don't check or help with homework and don't become involved in school or any activities with their child.

Teachers and administrators are there to teach and to lead. But how often do students go through their school years and never have homework or a weekend assignment or an assignment that involves a parent's assistance? Very few children will excel without parental support, even if they have the best teachers in the world. Healthy eating is just the same. The buck stops with the parents. And until someone figures out how to fix the parents who don't care, these problems will continue to exist.

KIM KELLEY, Cape Girardeau