Letter (Web version): Employers stand to benefit from offering ‘Parent University'
Economic development experts say an educated workforce is the No. 1 means to attract new, high-paying jobs to our community and to sustain the businesses we already have. As an employer, homeowner and taxpayer, I’m all for that.
If that premise is true, why wouldn’t every employer and employee be interested in doing all they can to create a dynamic education culture in our community, starting with our children’s first teachers, their parents?
That’s the reason our company, Indiana Stamp, is collaborating with our neighbor Partners 1st Federal Credit Union to offer our employees parenting classes at work under the name “Parent University.” We are delighted by the interest in our first class, “Say Yes to No.” It has attracted 30 employees between our two companies. Some are new parents. Some are grandparents, aunts and uncles. All want to learn research-based approaches to raising children to become productive, caring, successful adults.
Our first class is meeting for 30 minutes once a week for eight weeks. The class is based on the book “No: Why Kids – of All Ages – Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It” by David Walsh, Ph.D. The class is being taught by Megan Kelly, MSW, of Great Kids Make Great Communities, an outreach of the Allen Superior Family Court. Its focus is on teaching self-discipline, which research says is twice the predictor of success that intelligence is.
The idea for Parent University sprang from a school principal’s observation that teachers have our children in class only 900 hours out of an 8,760-hour year. It stands to reason what goes on during the other 8,000 hours kids are not in school can have a significant impact on their learning and academic achievement.
While teachers have four or more years of college education to help them, we parents receive little, if any, formal training. That’s a shame because today so much is known about child development, brain development and reading strategies that parents can use at home.
So why not make it easy for parents to learn by offering parenting and education-related classes at work? Parents are more likely to attend because they don’t have to drive someplace else. It saves them time, saves gasoline money and reduces carbon emissions because only the instructor travels, not all the students. By offering such classes, employers powerfully reinforce the message that parenting and education are important.
For employers, there are few downsides and many potential advantages. Our employees take the classes on their own time. We try to make it easy for them to attend by offering classes immediately before work, at lunch time or right after work. It is one more way for employers to retain great employees by showing genuine interest in their children. It also helps nurture the workforce of the future. It helps boost economic development. It seems everyone wins: employers, parents, children, schools and our community.
Our hope is that other employers will follow our lead. Mike Landram, vice president for workforce and business development for the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, played a substantial role in the development of this idea. He strongly encourages employers to get involved. Numerous agencies have offered classes they are willing to teach parents for free. We are creating a syllabus of class offerings and a roster of class facilitators that other employers, churches and organizations can use.
One of the best advantages of offering classes in the workplace is that employees see fellow classmates every workday. They are able to discuss what they’ve learned and what they’ve tried at home. They not only learn from the experts. They learn from one another. And the learning never stops.
One principal went so far as to suggest a well-executed, broad-based Parent University initiative “could change the face of education as we know it in this community.” Let’s find out if she’s right.
For more information on Parent University and “Say Yes to No,” contact Megan Kelly at 449-7272 or mkelly@greatkidsallencounty.org.
JOHN PEIRCE Fort Wayne