Viral video on education: don’t be like Aunt Becky
Apr 12, 2019, 6:00 PM | Updated: 6:02 pm
In an interview with CNN, Brooks said teachers have to deal with parents who let their kids skip doing homework, sneak sodas and other forbidden foods into their lunch boxes or drive around traffic cones to save a few seconds in the carpool line.
Disclaimer: The following is an opinion piece and does not necessarily represent the views of KSL Newsradio or its ownership.
Kentucky elementary school principal Gerry Brooks, with the help of Full House’s Aunt Becky, may have a comedic take on the recent college admissions scandal, but he’s seriously on the mark about how cheating, in the end, harms your child and robs them of the chance to earn their own education.
Brooks’ viral video has generated more than 6 million views since Tuesday morning. He says people learning about the largest college-admission scheme ever prosecuted in the United States involving actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin may have been surprised by the scandal, but you know who’s not?
“Airy (every) educator in the world,” says the Kentucky principal.
“Helping” your kids is hurting them
He says parents bending or breaking the rules to suit their needs happens every day. Huffman and Loughlin are accused of using their wealth to bribe coaches and administrators and cheat on tests to gain admission for the children to elite schools.
Imitating a rule-breaking parent, Brooks says in the video:
“‘I signed my child’s reading log, but he didn’t read; we had a soccer game until 10 o’clock, and I disagree that he should have to read airy (every) day, anyways.’ You know who else disagrees with policies? Aunt Becky [Loughlin’s “Full House” character],” says Brooks in the video.
The principal continues sharing other school rules parents break for their children: Sending in fast food to their kids for lunch, driving around cones when picking up their kids at school because they’re late for work, or doing all the work on the science fair project.
In the video, Brooks asks again, “You know who else agrees with breaking these rules? Aunt Becky.”
When you break the rules in front of your children, Brooks points out, what you are telling them is, they don’t apply to me.
Mom and Dad, we have to do better than Aunt Becky
I agree with Principal Brooks. Parents lying for their kids to get ahead of other students happens every day in Utah. And it’s happening primarily in sports, especially basketball and football. But this is a good wake-up call: Are we helping or are we hurting our kids? Do we have principles and values in our lives that we would never violate in other cases, but we’re doing it here because it’s going to help our children? Ask yourself.
But if you really love your child, let him or her experience the consequences of life because that is how they build character, self-worth and strength. Our strengths are derived from the hurdles that we have overcome, not the challenges that others have overcome for us.
A lot of this type of parenting is love of self, not love of the child: It makes me look good because my child passed this test or got into this college.
Your job as a parent is to let your kid fail. Put them in a place where, if they do fail, you’re there to help learn from it, pick up the pieces and dust them off.
If you can learn from your failures, it will be infinitely more valuable than any course you took at any elite, top-notch, best-in-the-world university.
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Jay Mcfarland hosts the JayMac News Show, weekdays from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on KSL Newsradio, as well as the fictional podcast, Hosts of Eden. KSL Newsradio is part of Bonneville Media and based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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