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April 01, 2006
Parents Make a Difference
Rudy's grandmother took him to school at age five. He spoke no English nor did she, but she told him that he had to go to school, be respectful of the teachers, and learn. Scared or not he went, and he did what his grandmother told him to do.
Henry's family came from Germany. At seven he went to an English speaking school without knowing a word of English. His father told him that they had come to America to get an education, the best education there was. Henry was expected to use that education well.
My father was very clear with me as a child. He had only finished his sophomore year in high school. He lied about his age to get into the army. After his service he worked, he always had a job, but he never felt he was well educated. He wanted to make sure his kids were. My brother and I knew school was one of the most important things we could do. We did it.
Rudy grew up to be Rudy Castruita, a Superintendent of Schools in Santa Ana, California and now the County Superintendent of the San Diego Office of Education. Henry Beitz is now the Superintendent of Schools in Westwood District in Lassen County and is the President of the Association of California School Administrators. I'm the County Superientendent of Glenn County, and Rudy and I are both past chairs of the California County Superintendent's organization. All three of us were on the agenda for the recent Small School District Association conference.
Our parents and grandparents taught us well. They told us how important education is. All three of us are passionate about children having the best education possible. We come at it from different perspectives and for different reasons, but we believe in schools and learning for much the same reason. Education made a huge difference in our lives and our families believed it could do so. So do we.
Learning starts with families who believe learning is important. Not all motivated learners will turn out to be superitendents of schools. Some will run big businesses, others will be nurses or doctors, others will write books or symphonies, some will design or fix our cars, airplanes, or some new mode of transportion, and still others will create things from their imagination we've never even thought of yet. Learning starts with believing it's important. It's important. Believe it.
Posted by Dr Joni at April 1, 2006 09:01 AM