Ring the Bell...

...school's in session. Like it or not, Ogden City Schools began their first day of school today. I personally have mixed emotions. I was not one of those kids who really hated school. In fact, I really kind of liked it. I remember always having such wonderful teachers. Despite the difficulty of the school work, I still can picture everyone of my teachers being there for one reason- students. Each year, my teachers would come to school and put up with everything for us. There was no pretense, no hidden agenda, and no desire to lead kids astray with all manner of evils. True, that may exist in other states, but I grew up in Utah, and, despite the cries of the ultra-conservatives that there is a conspiracy to teach our children that God does not exist and that Joseph Smith was a criminal (as allegedly happened in the Weber District last year), I believe that MOST teachers are really in school for the benefit of the students.
Maybe that's why I spent a few years as a school teacher. Granted, the two months of summer vacation were nice, but for those four years that I taught school, I worked my fanny off during the school year. I left teaching, because I felt that the school system failed me as an educator, but as a whole, I feel that schools are doing pretty darn well for what they have to deal with- low pay, crowded classrooms, politics (ie No Child Left Behind), and parents who are so caught up in their own lives, they don't give a darn about what goes on at their child's school... Of course, that is until their little "angel" gets accused of some wrongdoing upon which said parent marches to the school to defend their children in a manner that would make Perry Mason shake in his wing-tips.
But I digress... Suffice it to say, I would challenge all of you to recommit yourself to making the school system a bit better place this year- not by electing a specific person or hiring pre-paid legal for when little Johnny inevitably winds up in the principal's office. Rather, make the extra attempt this week to really get to know your child's- or children's (heck, it's Utah)- teacher(s). Give them an email address and write to them once in a while to let them know how things are for your child at home. (Come on, you're all here reading this which means you're computer savvy enough to know what a blog is.) Ask what you can do within the classroom. If you can arrange at least one hour or so a month to help with something, that will be a tremendous boost to your teacher.
Regardless of what you do, just have an open line of communication with the teacher. Having been on that side of the fence, er classroom, trust me- it'll do as much, if not more to assist your child's education than any tutor- or lawyer, for that matter.