Schools’ focus pulled in too many directions

Terry E. Peele, Las Vegas

Sunday, March 27, 2011 | 2:02 a.m.

Why do we use tax dollars to support public education? The answer is quite simple: We do so to provide an opportunity for everyone to have an education. And guess what: We are failing miserably.

Why is that? Well, there are a number of reasons, or should I say excuses. Lack of money to pay teachers what they deserve; bad teachers; bad schools; and parents not interested in their children getting an education. Although these are heard most in today’s debate, I think they ignore the real cause. Walt Kelly, in his comic strip “Pogo,” said it best: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

By that I mean we no longer look at public education as having one purpose and that purpose being an education. Public schools need to again realize they’re there first and foremost to provide an education.

If a student doesn’t care about an education and prefers to be somewhere else, let’s allow the parents to deal with that situation. School is not a babysitting enterprise or a social gathering place.

Bad (disruptive) students are the product of their parents. It’s time we hold those parents responsible and let them deal with their children, not the schools. It’s time public schools emit an atmosphere of “we’re here solely to educate.”