Knowledge Is The Shield.

While standing in line at the post office today, I happened to overhear a woman, whom couldn't have been much older than me, speaking on her telephone. The fact that she was talking loudly on her mobile device in a closed public space didn't perturb me too terribly. What did bother me was the content of her call.

To paraphrase, she was speaking to someone about the status of her daughter's scholastic shortcomings. Apparently, her child was failing English class miserably, but barely getting by in her other classes. Appallingly, the mother didn't seem to be too concerned. She asserted that this was to be expected. Her daughter would fail at least one class a year, but always squeaked by in summer school. Everything was going to be alright.

No... that child's future is in the toilet, and it's all the mother's fault.

It's one thing to have a child that struggles with their studies. Not all children are born with the same mental aptitude. Yet, this isn't to say that all children don't have the ability to learn and apply themselves. For the most part, the largest portion of scholastic achievement is just showing up and trying your best. Even a mediocre student who tries hard can maintain decent, acceptable grades. Why? Because they probably have a parent, parents or figure of authority behind them, encouraging their success every step of the way.

When you have a parent that accepts failure, and in fact justifies it, their child is on the path to a lifelong deficiency. That child will earn less money, not go to college, never break free from the lower or middle class and probably have more children than they're capable of caring for. Hence, the cycle of poor scholastic achievement continues.

Even in the face of severe poverty, education is the one tool every parent and child can grasp as a way out. Knowledge is the shield against destitution and unanswered dreams.

And yet, here we are in the year 2015... and many parents still don't know any better.