By Rev. Grady James

Rev. James is the senior pastor of First Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Newark, NJ Formerly educator, he is president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater Newark & Vicinity

As another school year has begun, it is an appropriate to revisit and project a long standing truth that goes to the heart of a child's achievement in school: parents must be active daily participants in the educational processes of their child(ren). We must as a community re-embrace the precept that children must be accountable to their parents, especially in matters relating to their performance in the classroom, and parents are responsible for their children's performance and conduct.

Too often there is an antagonistic relationship between parents, faculty and staff. Such poles exist in part because a parent may have experienced failure and/or a lack of success, put downs and embarrassment, in the classroom. Thus, a parent with that experience often approaches their chiild's school with a negative attitude asserting that "I am not going to let happen to my child, what happened to me!”

What if instead, that parent would assert in a positive way that "I will do my best to ensure that my child gets the best from this experience and be well prepared for learning --emotionally, physically and intellectually!" The child, the faculty and staff will react positively.

State test scores in the core content subject areas (literacy, writing, mathematics, social studies and science) in some urban school districts are below proficiency standards. It is not that our children cannot grasp the minimum basic skills and concepts, rather, it is competing interests to school work that impact student achievement. For instance, if our children invested adequate time in reading, writing, studying math, science and grammar, vast improvement is both inevitable and visible. Television watching, video game playing, recreating in the playground until dark, as well as talking for hours on the phone are behaviors parents can control, monitor and curtail. Such action by parents is not punishment, but appreciation of the reality that we parents have only a short amount of time to prepare our children to compete in today's global economy, and our children cannot compete if they have not been equipped.

Our hypothesis, therefore, concludes that the missing link in educational achievement in our community is parental accountability. It is time to stop making excuses, playing the blame game or expecting new educational paradigms. The fact remains that the parent is the child's first teacher.

Dr. Wyatt Watson, Professor, Department of Mass Communications at Delaware State University, Dover, Delaware states that "scientific research on the impact of television watching reveals an interesting observation with implications for learning. The average television program runs in [segments of] twelve minutes of program content and four minutes of commercial recess." The consequences for learning in the classroom are obvious: a student may be the victim of twelve-minute attention spans without even discerning the source of his inclination for distractions. Moreover, the region of the human brain that is engaged during prolonged television watching is the same region that operates the dreaming function during sleep. It may be concluded then, that excessive television watching or video game focusing may stifle the creative potential in students to use higher order thinking skills in the classroom.

There is a ray of hope, however, if parents will accept the fact that their children's success in school and in life demands their daily accountability. Parents are the first line of accountability. Parent are the child's first teachers! Parents establish standards of discipline. Parents must help their children set goals and encourage them to realize the power of the gifts within them. Parents must to cultivate a vision of success within their children.

Parents must give rewards and recognition for achievements, no matter how small. As parents becomes participants, the children will understand the twofold investment they make, i.e., My mother and father are in partnership with my total learning experience. My achievements are their achievements and in the areas that I need improvement they work with me to help me.”

The conclusion is clear; time spent with their children by parents or guardians who are invested, engaged, inspired and encouraged will empower their children to fulfill the same legacy.