Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

Teacher's letter to parents is like 'rocket surgery'

8/23/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Back-to-school night with my 14-year-old this week reminded me that the beginning of a marathon is always more pleasant than the 15th mile, when you’re struggling up a hill, trying to keep focused on a distant goal.

As a veteran of both real marathons and the mid-year struggles that involve discovering your child’s massive research project is due tomorrow, I appreciated the reassuring smiles of friendly teachers and the resolve that comes with a fresh 
start.

No one has blisters or is chafing at the starting line in August. We’re rested and healthy. Our minds are clear and optimism blooms. We’ve got this.

I also appreciated the few teachers who assured me there would be no homework. One told me kids should spend their time at home doing family things.

Adoring parents surrounded him in his little classroom, but he didn’t go viral, to use a loaded early 21st century term. He probably was happy about that.

A teacher in Texas this week wasn’t so lucky. She went viral just by sending an innocent letter home to parents.

While I believe it may be impossible to truly understand why anything goes viral, my theory is Brandy Young’s letter to the parents of her second graders touched a nerve not because she assured them there would be no homework this year. It’s because she told parents she wants them to spend evenings instead doing things proven to lead to student success.

“Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside and get your child to bed early.”

As my children would sarcastically say, it’s not “rocket surgery.” These are the kinds of simple things parents 100 years ago would have endorsed.

The Atlantic recently reported on a study from Columbia University that found kids who eat five times a week with their parents tend to stay away from drugs and alcohol, do better in school and are closer to their parents than those who eat in their cars or over their sinks, which is becoming the norm.

But what the letter didn’t say is more important. To do these things, the entire electronic spectrum, which forces itself into homes through every crack and crevice like fast-rising flood waters, must be kept to a minimum.

Now we’re in the realm of rocket surgery.

Americans appreciate the need to eat together. A Harris Poll earlier this year found that 93 percent feel family dinners are something to look forward to. Most of us — 87 percent — have one of these at least once a week. But when it comes to daily ritual, we fall apart quickly. Only 34 percent of married people eat together daily, and it falls to 21 percent for those not married.

But of those who do eat together, more than a quarter, 27 percent, of adults with kids in the house eat in front of the TV. Given what’s on TV these days that can be scary.

The advice isn’t new. In his farewell address in 1989, Ronald Reagan said the No. 1 lesson of this country is that, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” He was talking about teaching what it means to be American, but he could have been talking about so many other things, including learning what it means to be who you are in a safe setting. Significantly, the table is a place where what is said won’t be parsed and attacked by trolls or tweets.

How ironic, then, that social media propelled Young’s letter into the national spotlight.

Her letter may have gone viral precisely because her simple formula seems so much like rocket surgery in this age. Parents may be off the hook when it comes to badgering their children to finish homework in her class, but they most definitely are not off the hook.

Eating together every night, reading together, playing together and going to bed early require lifting your eyes from your screens for significant periods of time. That becomes even harder as children get older and the Internet becomes a necessary part of study and research.
​
Running a marathon might be easier, but the rewards of getting Young’s prescription right are so much better.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.