PJS spreads the blame for District 150 woes

From the Peoria Journal Star's editorial page:

With classrooms now filled in Peoria and other central Illinois schools, our fondest wish for the 2008-09 school year is that everyone involved - students, their parents, teachers, taxpayers, school boards - stop lying, most of all to themselves.

And what follows is a lecture to parents, taxpayers, politicians and school officials to put their agenda's aside and start working to improve the schools.

Mostly, I agree with the points raised. But I must quibble over one: The editorial writer says it's a mistake to blame the lack of the three R's, when lack of parental involvement is the blame. They urge more counseling to combat the issue, and demand that parents get more involved.

Well, that ought to do it. I am sure that all over Peoria, those parents who gave birth to their children and turned them loose to be raised by the village have read this editorial and changed their ways and are now reading the Dr. Seuss to their little darlings after they tuck them into bed at 8:30 p.m. Folks, the parents who are the problem aren't going to be swayed by this.

I encountered this theory a lot when I was school reporter. I think there's a class somewhere that teaches school superintendents to reflexively blame lack or parental involvement and poverty. At least the editorial offers what it thinks are solutions.

What would be accomplished by hiring more counselors? We have to decide as community to what extent we want our schools to be distribution centers for various programs designed to take the place of parents rather than places to send children to get an education. Resources are limited. The more resources we devote to one means less resources we can devote to the other.

It's exactly the same issue teachers face in the classroom: The more time they spend with disruptive kids who've never been taught self-discipline, the less time they have for the other kids, and those students who need and want help suffer the most.

So, while the edit writer complains that throwing money at the problem won't make it go away, it also suggests solutions that cost more money that we have.

It's easier to throw the blame around. It's harder to offer solutions that work in the real world.

Cross posted to Peoria Pundit.