What Every Teacher Knows

Every teacher knows that students raised in a stable family environment have the best shot at a solid education and a better life. We see it everyday in our classrooms. You can pick them out without even knowing a thing about their family background. Ask any teacher. Make note of this year’s valedictorian at your local high school. Chances are they come from an intact family. Teachers know within the first few weeks of the school year who has the skills, desire, and support to do well and who does not. We do not need data from standardized tests to tell us what is readily apparent to even the novice teacher. The biggest lesson I learned my first year teaching was how significant my parents were to my achievements in life. Every phone call home that year ended with a thank you.

Every teacher also knows that students raised in a dysfunctional family environment are least likely to succeed no matter what we do as educators. These are the kids that try our patience while they are breaking our hearts. Every teacher knows what a profound effect parents have on the life of a child. Author Sarah D. Sparks wrote about childhood trauma in the November 7^th edition of Education Week. Ms. Sparks explains that the bad stressors that come with being raised in a dysfunctional home are so toxic that often children can never overcome their experiences. It literally changes their brains. While bad stress like the death of a loved one may effect even the most supportive of families, the parents in a stable family are able to model coping mechanisms that teach their children how to deal with stress throughout life. Positive adult support here is the key.

Without that positive adult support and the piling on of one toxic stressor after another, the outlook for those children raised in dysfunctional homes is particularly grim. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control analyzed data from 17,400 adults and found a connection between unstable family life and high-risk behaviors in young adulthood and beyond. Poverty, homelessness, frequent moves, neglect, domestic violence, an inconsistent food supply, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse can effect brain development in young children. Known as the ACE study, researchers found that the more childhood stressors the greater likelihood that young adults will have intercourse by age 15 resulting in teen pregnancy and parenthood, become alcohol abusers or IV-drug users leading to hepatitis, and later in life they found an increased risk of heart disease.

Is it any wonder that when students come to school loaded down with these toxic stressors that social studies, science, reading, and math are about the last things they want to deal with?

What did the authors of the study conclude? Developing supportive relationships between schools, parents and their children are all we have right now. As a nation, from politicians to administrators to educators, we are merely putting band aids on gaping wounds. Classroom techniques do not work, nor does remediation because they are too little too late. Doping kids up on more medication does not get to the root of the problem either.

So, what’s the solution? Stopping the problem before it begins, and this is where conservatism comes in. We need to work as conservatives to continually stress the importance of family life. Both father and mother make significant contributions to their child’s development. Every teacher in their heart of hearts knows that intact, stable families work. While conservatives need to continually stress that marriage before having children actually works on many levels, please look to teachers as allies in this endeavor. We are there everyday and would benefit from your support.

How can you help? Uplift teachers you admire and that your children talk to you about. Make a phone call, send an email, stop by with a coffee, have your child create a thank you note, tell the principal what a great job your child’s favorite teacher is doing. Reach out to teachers in all the little ways and let them know they are valued in your child’s life. Let us know when we get things right. Stick up for us with personal examples you have witnessed first hand. You don’t have to defend all of us, but you could defend some of us.

These are some small ways that conservatives can begin to bridge the gap with teachers in their own districts. That way, come November, your local teacher may think much more favorably of what you have to say when you talk about your favorite republican candidate. Let teachers know they are valued, because everyone knows that often it's the small things that can positively influence the electorate.

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