From the pastor's study

    Here in Jackson, Mississippi, the month of August traditionally brings with it a couple of things related to school:  One is the summer football camp more commonly known as "two-a-days" or in some instances "three-a-days."  Prospective players report for conditioning workouts and skill and contact work.  Football is an all consuming sport.  It will consume your whole life for the duration of the season and for parts of the off season if you do your weight lifting, running, and other workouts which are highly recommended.  Summer football is a lot safer than it once was.  When I played, we were not allowed to drink any water at all.  Not until the last year I played were we even given salt pills.  Looking back, I am amazed that more of us didn't pass out from heat stroke or other things.  Nowadays, a coach is scrutinized carefully to be sure that all players are properly hydrated and given the other physical aids which they need to endure the hot sun and the grueling pace.  That is good.

    Teachers will be returning to work soon, followed by the students.  I know that the state is about to take over the running of some additional schools this year because of falling test scores.  Schools are being blamed for this, and I really don't think  that blame is properly placed.  Perhaps I feel that way because my wife is a teacher at one of these schools.  Students show up ill prepared for school.  Basically they cannot read or write adequately.  And if you don't have those two skills, you are in trouble.  Why can't they read and write?  This is the factor politically incorrect to mention, but I am going to do it anyway.  Children are not prepared in the homes  from which they come for reading and writing and other demands in school.  This preparation begins early on, in the first year of life.  You prepare your children by  reading to them, spending time with them, playing with them, and watching them mature and get  so ready to learn that you just can't stand it.  When that doesn't happen, children come to school and have to be remediated.  Sometimes this isn't successful.  Let's don't blame the schools for all of this.  Let's put some of the blame where it really belongs--in the homes.  And let's challenge parents of small children to stay home with their children at night, reading to them and playing with them in ways that will prepare them for school.

    When that doesn't happen, they are just passed on from one grade level to another, eventually graduating from high school, still unable to read or write effectively.  Then they come to me at MC in Old Testament or New Testament, and they fail miserably.  I'm not such a bad or hard teacher; they just are woefully inadequately prepared for college.  Folks, that has got to change, or we as a nation are in deep trouble.  Think about it.  The solutions begin at home.