The Great Toilet Bowl of Essex County, NJ

I have the fortunate situation of living in Essex county, New Jersey, the county that contains that ultimate example of the American dream, Newark. Just last week I could have sworn I heard an enormous toilet bowl flush from that city as 100 million dollars were donated by the facebook guy and is destined to go down the Newark educational toilet. Newark currently spends $24,000 per student which is significantly more than most private schools. Yeah, like another 100 mill will make them geniuses.

Why can't these knuckleheads understand that it is not the money that is the limiting factor. Answer: Because it is too politically incorrect to assign the blame to anything but money, like poor parenting which is the root cause of Newark's educational disaster. And since government cannot fix poor parenting they just throw additional money down Newark's educational toilet bowl.

I had a patient a couple of months ago who worked in the Newark schools. He told me of a successful situation in Newark where a charter school removes children from their homes and puts them into boarding schools. These children have strict rules while in school. Limited TV if at all. Longer class hours and study periods at night. Large class loads. Mandatory curfews and healthy meals. These children excel dramatically. They outperform because they are removed from their homes and parents not because of additional monies. How sad that the only way for these kids to excel is to remove them form their detrimental familial environments.

Yes, there are kids in suburbia who underperform even with good parenting and there are kids in Newark who excel even with bad parenting. But overwhelmingly, the trends are that supportive parents who take an interest in their kids school work and stress the importance of their kids educational success translate into better learning and better outcomes.

No matter how many millions are sent to Newark, they will all go into the toilet until it is realized that the problem is the parents. It is not the money, or the building, or the number of smart boards. All it takes is a parent who cares and this is not something money can create.