Thomas Friedman hits the nail on the head

In an op-ed today, Thomas Friedman writes about education reform. He lists some absolutely terrible statistics about the dropout rate and how we are falling behind other countries. And Mr. Friedman writes about some of the ways that we can fix our schools. But the most important paragraph in the entire op-ed is this:

All good ideas, but if we want better teachers we also need better parents — parents who turn off the TV and video games, make sure homework is completed, encourage reading and elevate learning as the most important life skill. The more we demand from teachers the more we have to demand from students and parents. That’s the Contract for America that will truly ensure our national security.

This argument cannot be made and emphasized enough. The government can do everything in its power to recruit better teachers into the classroom, to hold teachers accountable, to pay teachers more, to allow school choice, to fire bad teachers, to allow charter schools, etc. None of these reforms will work unless we have better parents. Parents that care about their children learning the skills needed for success; parents that teach their children the values of hard work; parents that force their children to do homework (and do it on time); parents that instill in their children the value of education; parents that teach their children personal responsibility. Without good parents, education reform won't make more than a small dent in the enormous problem.