Just had the opportunity to attend my cousin's daughter's graduation from Embry-Riddle University. Have seen her grow into an amazing and extremely accomplished young woman on a journey that only she can limit. Looking at her as she said her "thank you's" to the small gathering of family and friends that had traveled some distance for her graduation, I found myself especially proud of her, but also of her parents and grandmother too. "Gogo" as she affectionately refers to her grandmother, her "favorite person in the whole world". As she recited some hilarious college memories, I was blown away by the collective raw commitment that has brought her this far.
As children many of us are not fully aware of the role parents play in our success as adults. Those of us that have had "hovering parents" or "tiger moms" are often heard complaining, "my mom is intense"; "my dad is psycho". Before a child has figured out how to hold their own feeding bottle, some parents are already visualizing graduation day. Our professional success is a life-journey that begins early in life. Lessons and habits learnt as we grow we draw upon in our adult life. Habits picked up in the play ground that determine our ability to play well with others; negotiate our turn on the swings later on aide us in the dynamics of adult life.
My school friends and I often joke about how some of the things that the "Dominican nuns" taught us helped strength us. It is in recounting these memories that I failed to understand parents who are disconnected. Some parents in Chicago are up in arms with Mayor Rahm Emanuel for closing failing schools, or the latest proposed "turnaround" which involves laying off entire staff for low test scores and replacing them with staff that have a better commitment to children's overall success. Parents in these schools want status quo. They do not see anything wrong with the fact that their children are way behind the rest of the nation, and the world on basic reading skills. Past minimum wage jobs their children will not have the necessary skills to be gainfully employed.
As children many of us are not fully aware of the role parents play in our success as adults. Those of us that have had "hovering parents" or "tiger moms" are often heard complaining, "my mom is intense"; "my dad is psycho". Before a child has figured out how to hold their own feeding bottle, some parents are already visualizing graduation day. Our professional success is a life-journey that begins early in life. Lessons and habits learnt as we grow we draw upon in our adult life. Habits picked up in the play ground that determine our ability to play well with others; negotiate our turn on the swings later on aide us in the dynamics of adult life.
My school friends and I often joke about how some of the things that the "Dominican nuns" taught us helped strength us. It is in recounting these memories that I failed to understand parents who are disconnected. Some parents in Chicago are up in arms with Mayor Rahm Emanuel for closing failing schools, or the latest proposed "turnaround" which involves laying off entire staff for low test scores and replacing them with staff that have a better commitment to children's overall success. Parents in these schools want status quo. They do not see anything wrong with the fact that their children are way behind the rest of the nation, and the world on basic reading skills. Past minimum wage jobs their children will not have the necessary skills to be gainfully employed.
The blatant disconnect between a need to be appropriately educated before you are requesting lawmakers to provide jobs is staggering. Many of the parents who are expressing displeasure at the path Mayor Emanuel has chosen look to schools as a "babysitting facilities" and not as educational institutions. The total opposite of my cousin and my aunt who have worried and planned from pregnancy. We are supposed to want better for our children. Our choices as parents on primary or secondary schooling for our children has lasting ramifications on where they end up for their tertiary education and life as a whole. And that is not to say university is the only way for everyone - USA is way behind on vocational training options that Germany offers its high school students. Which itself is a testament to their lower unemployment numbers.
Unemployment Rates US vs. Europe
It can all be overwhelming to a parent to know where to begin but the foundation is built on simply wanting better for your child. Holding your child's feet to the fire when things start being difficult later on in life for every experience is but a lesson that serves a future need.
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