The Ten Education Commandments for Parents

By Arturo "Art" Pedroza, MBA

How the Orange County Business Council's Latino Educational Attainment Initiative is engaging parents in their children's education

The LEA includes the The Ten Education Commandments for Parents, as follows:

1. Commit as a family to be involved in school
2. Learn how the schools are ordered (Preschool thru College)
3. Learn what my child needs to graduate successfully from high school
4. Support the learning of Mathematics, Science, and English
5. Understand how grades work (A, B, C, D, F)
6. Encourage my child to take honors and advanced courses
7. Help my child prepare for college early
8. Realize college is affordable
9. Do my part in helping my child study
10. Teach my child to hope and visualize their futures

These are values that have been proven over time and they resonate in particular in the Orange County Department of Education's Area One, which includes the cities of Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and part of Tustin.

I am proud to report that my four kids have all excelled in our local Santa Ana public schools. My wife and I didn't know about the Ten Education Commandments for Parents, but these are the values we taught our kids, and the steps we took to ensure their success.

As a member of the Orange County Board of Education, in Area One, I will strive to promote these ideas and to help families learn how they too can help their children to succeed in school.

My wife and I also feel that parents need to involve their children in extra-curricular activities that will help to build their character. We both volunteer in our local Little League and Cub Scouts and all of our kids have been involved in sports, from water polo to soccer to Little League baseball and the martial arts.