Submitted by Richard "Ricardo" Munro, Aug 1, 2007 17:26

Diane Ravitch and classroom teacher David R. are right: scapegoating teachers while satisfying will not resolve America's educational crisis (and we are passing through an educational crisis both moral and intellectual). And as Ravitch quotes teacher David R., "The bottom line, says the teacher, is that parents and students must "take charge of their lives and academic careers."

Education in any human community (be it a family, a school, a profession or a nation) is based on an awareness of an educational aim and societal, behavioral and intellectual standards. Schools, together with communities and families must create an ethos of civility, good manners and respectful language. Schools must become, if necessary, an oasis of civilization, decorum, safety and decency. Coarseness, rudeness, obscenity and menacing behavior should have no place in schools. Teachers who are afraid of their students will ignore them, flatter them and ultimately cheat them out of a good education. In any case they will be despised and disrespected by their students.

My idea of education, is " para la virtud la educación y para la ciencia la instrucción" which translated means "first virtue- civility, decorum and good habits- ; only then is effective formal instruction for knowledge possible".

But the job of the teacher is made easier if ‘education' (good manners and a good attitude) begins at home. There is no question that the formative influence of families is crucial for the educational success and morale of students.

Learning is all a matter of desire and will-power but much of this must come from within; a parent or a teacher cannot COMMAND a student or child to learn or to believe. But they can exhort them to study for the betterment of their own lives as well as the lives and life of the community. In addition, the family, the parents and the community should do all they can do is MODEL READING, INTEREST IN LANGUAGES, GOOD BEHAVIOR, model the MORAL LIFE (truly) and a life of integrity and virtue.

Education is the process by which a community preserves and transmits its moral, spiritual and intellectual character. Education begins at home, and then goes on, nurtured and focused by systematic instruction in the school with and the concurrent application and study of the individual. The quality of an education, in the end, depends on what the individual receives from others and then gives and cultivates by himself or herself alone.

Education is, as Diane Ravitch, implied a community responsibility as well as the responsibility of the individual student and teacher. It takes place in the combination of the community, the school and the willing mind of the student. Teachers are like starting pitchers. To be as good as they can be they have to have the entire team and community behind them.

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