For the second time (of which I am aware), a parent has been punished–given jail time for larceny–simply because they wanted their child to have access to a quality education. The crime–enrolling their child in a school community in which they did not live. I know school districts have rules, but in the case of the parent in Connecticut, she was homeless and was simply trying to do the right thing for her child! How foolish is a court system that punishes a person for trying to do right by their children? The cost of the education allegedly, $15,686 of tax payer money.
Let’s look at the “real” criminals when it comes to parenting and education. How about punishing the parents who never read to their children, never prepared their children for school, never took the time to discipline them at home or to teach them respect for others and the property of others! Considering the high illiteracy rate, the high drop-out rate and the high rate of those who are virtually unemployable, why don’t we find those parents and arrest them for grand theft? I’m sure the cost to tax payers who support the unemployable, replacement of textbooks desecrated and vandalized by students, the cost of re-painting and renovating buildings vandalized by the illiterate, the cost of supporting their children who are a product of their illiteracy, and the cost of building new prisons and staffing them because of the low reading test scores that predict the need for new jails would be greater than $15K. How much would that amount to be? These are the real criminals; not the parents who are trying to make sure their children have a good head start in life.
Our justice system needs some serious re-vamping when we choose to punish parents who actually care about their children!
The book–which details the angst of the above rant–is available through Amazon.com, Xlibris.com, BarnesandNoble.com and many other bookstores. Let’s do something to fight for the parents who do care!
maryhallrayford 