After reading the article "Graduation rates stay steady in state," June 18, I am dismayed that one major factor in a child's education is always left out of these articles: Education starts at home with the parents.
I am a parent of three children, all of whom attended South Colonie schools. My youngest graduated June 21. I have been a PTA/PTSA parent for 18 years, sometimes in three different schools; and 14 of those years I spent as an officer. It always amazed me that parents often had the attitude that children were the school's full responsibility. That common learning of things like manners had not been taught at home, starting when the child was a baby. Character education was started in schools when the home life started to change and did not teach things like kindness, acceptance, understanding, respect and manners.
Our children will be better off if parents would take the role of "parent" more seriously and not leave it all to the teachers who are now teaching character education as well the educational requirements. The basic teaching of manners doesn't have a minority or high-earnings bias.
All children should be taught these very important qualities from Day One of their lives, allowing the teachers to reinforce those qualities in everyday actions and not teach them.
If this was done, it would enable teachers to teach children the educational subjects that will get them to live full and successful lives, enabling more students to achieve more and graduate.
Loretta Orlando
Colonie