The Real Board of Education
The dining Room Table
A story worth repeating
As soon as dinner was done and the dishes quickly removed, we sat
down for the evenings work. Mamma and Papa would circle the table
making sure that everyone was studying. They didn't understand the
things we were studying in school, but they stopped by each of my
brothers and sisters making the same comments. "Where is your math
book?" "Where is the English paper?" "Don't tell me there is not
history, go get the book." Mamma and Papa never left the table until
all the work was done and we had proven to their satisfaction that we
were getting a good American education. Education an impossibility in
the old country. When any of us left our books at school or said
there was no assignment, they had one answer, "In America you get an
education. We could never have an education. You get the book and
read."
Over the years we have heard these success stories from authors of
immigrant families. Parents who came to America for a better life.
Part of the better life was ensuring that their children got an
education. Most of these stories tell of Mamma and Papa enforcing
strict standards for homework to be done at the dining room table.
The dining room table, the one table in the home large enough to sit
all the children at one time. The table that was not just set for
meals. But a table that fed the stomach, the mind, and the heart of
the children who gathered around it. No exceptions, no running
around, children sitting with their books. No radio, no television,
Manna and Papa circling the table making sure that everyone studied.
A real life experience
You might believe that such stories are nostalgia and don't happen any longer. Several years ago, I helped a family from Taiwan. Lisa and her three girls (Bev 13, Judy 12, and Joy 9) did not speak one word of English when we met. I was asked to help teach them English. They all took on English names to make the transition easier. As a single mother with three girls the family lived in a one bedroom apartment. Mom worked in a Chinese restaurant as a cooks helper. She settled in a suburb know for its good school system. Their apartment had second hand furniture bought from relatives. Conspicuously absent was the television. The girls soon complained, "Mommy, we are bored." "Mommy, we don't have anything to do after school." Lisa did not have much money. She could not afford to buy games, toys, or a television to entertain the girls. For months she simple had to tell the girls, "We have no money to get new things. Just look at the papers you brought home from school." Lisa wanted to do something for her girls. Finally, relatives told her of a place she could go and barrow books and even videotapes for free. She took her daughters to the local public library. Lisa armed only with a high school education and speaking in Chinese explained, "Find any book you can read and we will bring it home with us." The girls were excited and checked out books from the preschool and early elementary sections of the library. But within a day or two, they had read these books and were bored again. Soon the girls made two and three trips a week to the library. Each time arm loads of books would come home with them. The easy picture books with few words were replaced by books with few pictures and lots of words and interesting stories. Within three years they were carrying home the usual English classic literature. Even though a television had arrived, there was little time television watching just high school work, music lessons, sports and still lots of fun-time reading. The three young girls who did not speak a word of English just a few short years ago became straight 'A' high school students. They went on to graduated from the University of Michigan.
Believe it. Try it.
If you have turned to this web site, you are most likely coping with helping your child learn the basics from school. My daughter, like myself, has a learning disability. She was placed in special education. Mamma, Papa, and daughter have spent long and hard hours around the dining room table. The many hours of parent tutoring using extra workbooks and school homework has moved our daughter out of most of her special education classes and on to the road of learning. Personal experience and observations of others has taught me, the real foundation of education is at the "family dining room table."
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