I
am taking a one-week hiatus from the ongoing discussion on retirees’ healthcare
to talk about another matter of critical importance. The idea came to me when I visited my ‘teaching
alma mater,” McAllen High School, Monday.
As I walked to my car, I saw my
friend, Michelle Cortez Gully. I first
met Michelle when her son, Ian, was a student at McHi. Michelle and her husband, Jason, could often
be found around the campus, helping wherever they were needed. Now their daughter, Jae, goes to McHi, and it
seems like whenever I stop by, Michelle is there, working on one project or another
to help the school.
Michelle and I stood outside talking
for quite some time. We talked about
Project Celebration, the graduation-night party held as a way to keep graduates
engaged in drug-and-alcohol-free celebrations, Jae and her fellow McHi
cheerleaders, PTA, and other activities around the school where the help of
parents is so desperately needed.
I told Michelle about a speech I had
read some years back that I saved because it was profound and, sadly, true. I told her I would look for it and send it to
her. As soon as I got home, I started searching
through my journals where I save quotations, speeches, and other written words
that strike me, and I found it. It is an
excerpt from a speech by Dr. James P. Comer, the Maurice Falk Professor of
Child Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine's Child Study Center. Here it is:
When
our youngsters were in the elementary school, we lived in a community
that
greatly valued education. When we went
to an open house, we had to go
very
early or we couldn’t find a parking place.
It was just packed.
When
we went to an open house in middle school, we didn’t have to go early
because
there were plenty of spaces. When we went to the high school open house,
there
was an empty parking lot.
At
their point of greatest need in our complex society, we abandon our children.
I
still get the chills every time I read it.
I think of how shocking it is for me when I look back on the last few
years of my teaching career. Remember
that the campus had over 2000 students and yet there were but a handful of
parents involved in the school’s PTA, a sharp and disturbing contrast from what
you tend to see in the same type of organization at the elementary
schools. And McHi is by no means unique
in this. Unfortunately, the same can be
said about schools across our area, our state, and our nation. How can that be? Dr. Comer is on point when he says, “At
their point of greatest need in our complex society, we abandon our children.”
I find it strange that so few
parents of seniors work at Project Celebration.
Many expect the school administrators and teachers to plan it, prepare
for it, and run it. I respectfully disagree
with this mentality. It seems to me that
the parents should do all of those things and that school personnel should chip
in to help because they want to celebrate graduation night with the students
they have taught and nurtured throughout their time in high school.
Parents, I have to ask--How many of
you are active, engaged members of your children’s academic or athletic booster
clubs? How many of you volunteer at your
children’s schools, from elementary through high school? How many of you help raise funds for your children’s
schools, especially today when the Texas Legislature continues to cut
much-needed funding?
I loudly applaud parents like
Michelle Cortez Gully and all of those who give tirelessly to their children’s
schools, who wouldn’t dream of “abandoning” them “at their point of greatest
need.”
The night of open house, your child’s
choir concert, his/her track meet, the school’s beautification event, Project
Celebration….is YOUR car in the parking lot because YOU’RE there to help?
Chris
Ardis retired in May of 2013 following a 29-year teaching career. She now helps
companies with business communications and social media and works as a sales
coordinator for Tony Roma's and Macaroni Grill. Chris can be reached at cardis1022@aol.com. (Photo by
Sarina Manahan)
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