Editorial: Teachers overcome classroom adversity

The Sun today concludes its seven-part series that chronicled one year in the life of a fourth-grade classroom at Helen Jydstrup Elementary School in southwest Las Vegas. Reporter Benjamin Grove spent more than 150 hours in the classroom with these fourth graders, seeing firsthand the education they receive. The result was a revealing account of the challenges our public schools face -- overcrowded classrooms, students with discipline problems and a lack of parental involvement.

It is clear there is no quick fix that will improve our public schools, but there are some obvious places to begin. For starters, it certainly would help if more funding was found to provide the resources needed to deliver a decent education. Just as importantly, though, more parents need to play a stronger role in their children's lives, whether it is encouraging the value of an education or instilling discipline at home.

Teachers often get blamed -- unfairly -- for the failings of our public school system. What Grove's reporting illustrated, however, is how much teachers are able to accomplish considering the constraints they work under. Teachers truly are the glue holding together the public school system. It is hoped that policymakers and parents will try to do a better job so that teachers have more to work with, which can only help improve the education that children receive.

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