A lot of people, including our leaders in congress, believe more money is needed for schools. To me, this is a myth. You can't invest in other people's education. Let me explain.

When I was in High School, I was a C student. Now I'm nearly done with an MBA. The School I went to (Broward County, Florida) was considered a "D" school based on standardized test scores. I guess, according to most people, my C average and the fact my school was a "D" rated school meant my school needs more money thrown at it, right?

Wrong. The fact of the matter is, the school was fine. Technology in the school was fine. Teachers were well educated and taught us just fine. The reason our test scores were low, was because we (the students) didn't care, didn't try hard, and were more worried about fun than academics.

You can poor millions of dollars into one school; buy all the latest technology for it and hire college professors to teach and none of it will matter if a student (or students) decide they just don't feel like paying attention. If the student doesn't care, they won't learn, now matter how much money you poor into the school, teachers' salaries,. etc.

The answer? Parenting. Parenting, from day one, is more than feeding, roof over their head, and discipline. Your child's interest in learning is up to you as well. Part of the job of being a good parent. My parents didn't force me to study. I mean, starting from day one. They never made learning something that I was looking forward to. So in school, I saw it as a chore. I just wanted to get through the day. I'm not dumb. Now that I've applied myself, I have a BA in Marketing and am earning an MBA in Project Management. But as child (through HS), i didn't care. No amount of money given to the school or teachers was going to fix that..

It's up to us parents to ensure our kids are not acting up in class, not distracting others, want to learn more than want to be cool, popular, party, etc. And it starts with parenting from the day the child is born.

I live in the DC area where the public school system is one of the best in the country (NoVa and MD). Is it good because the schools have money? No. The system is good because the kids go to school motivate to learn, compete and succeed. That's parenting.

Kids not being a class-clown = Parenting.
Kids studying to understand = Parenting.
Kids not running around outside all hours of the night, finding trouble = Parenting.
Kids quiet in class when the teacher asks = Parenting.
Kids wanting to learn = Parenting. I've made learning and earning an education something, in my children's eyes, as COOL. Something that is fun, awesome, and the best thing they could ever do in life. I've been there for them, every day, every peice of homework, etc; to make sure they love figuring things out, learning new things; and ensure the idea of learning is something they look forward to and is a goal of theirs. It takes EFFORT by us (parents) and will be the key to our children's success. Not money handed to a school. In turn, they love school and do extremely well. Doesn't matter how much money the school has.

Schools get money thrown at them all the time, and the bad schools remain bad schools. It's not money. It's the students. If they don't care, no amount of money will make them learn anything. They only care if they are raised to care, behave, try hard, etc, from day one. Parenting.