Letter: Parents must be more involved in education

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006 | 7:47 a.m.

As the first quarter of the school year goes out with a whimper, this English teacher is frustrated. Yet, no matter how often teachers combat student failure, one constant remains - apathetic parents.

How do we reverse the incompetence trend? Could we work within our entitlement-minded bureaucracy?

Yes: Let's give tax breaks based on school performance.

If your child gets an A, you get a $100 tax credit. Perfect attendance, $50. What if someone has 10 kids who always get straight A's and never ditch school? They've earned every dollar they get. They're producing the kind of citizens we need.

But your kid failed two classes? That'll cost you $50. Skipped class 10 times? Cough up a Franklin or two. Got suspended? Goodbye refund.

How is that fair? Why does school exist? To ensure our future; and what better indicator is there that someone will be a benefit or burden to society (via welfare, lost productivity and crime) than school performance?

Finally, lazy parents will pay us back for the young minds they've needlessly wasted.

Of course, this is tongue-in-cheek. The courts would choke on the lawsuits from parents who want to sue their way out of responsibility. (And they would win - another reason why our schools are so weak: they've been neutered by such lawsuits.)

It's distressing that we have these ideas. Nobody wants schools regulating parents! But that leaves us where we are now - tweaking mundane details of education while too many parents sit back and do nothing.

Jamie Huston, North Las Vegas