Letter: Parents biggest factor in child’s path to college

Wednesday, March 2, 2005 | 9:10 a.m.

I would like to respond to an article in the Feb. 20 Las Vegas Sun written by Gene Sperling, who was President Clinton's top economic adviser. The article was headlined, "Bush's budget all about helping the rich." I disagree with most of what he wrote, but will focus on his fretting about the GEAR UP and TRIO programs that "reach out to economically disadvantaged children early and encourage them to go to college."

I cannot stress enough that it is parents, and not government programs, who effectively "reach out" to any child and guide him along the arduous 18-year road to college. After spending 20 years of my life doing this with my son and daughter, I know that the idea of government programs replacing parents is ludicrous, and that the government program called public schooling was plenty of government involvement in their lives.

Ninety-nine percent of the things that we middle-class moms and dads provide can be provided just as well by economically disadvantaged moms and dads. For example, it doesn't take much money to limit kids' TV viewing, read thousands of stories to them from library books, play with them, take them to a house of worship, take them to museums, take them to visit family, teach them how to cook, teach them to work and save money for college or talk to them about all the aspects of life.

It does, however, take dedication.

ROSEMARY R. RICKETTS