Nurturing Minds: Parental Impact on Real World Learning

Written by Jadynne Brady, Blue Springs South High School Junior
Initially published in “P.O.V. Publish Our Voices,” a student-run magazine showcasing the perspectives of young writers.

The Real World Learning (RWL) program can offer unique opportunities for students to help prepare them for the future. As such, it is a hands-on program that takes effort and time. So naturally, parents must be quite involved, right?

Sophomore Cadence Byrd from Oak Park High School does not have that involvement.

“I notice that parents do not check in with their children when it comes to noticing this big thing that’s happening with the kids,” Byrd said.

One of the main things Real World Learning students find is that their parents are not as informed or as involved as the students would like them to be, and that can be quite frustrating.

Byrd said that her line of communication with parents isn’t as open as she would like it to be.

“I think they need to communicate with their kids better and speak to the people running this whole thing to stay in the loop with what’s happening,” Byrd said.

Junior Kody Walrod from Ruskin High School finds that while her parents do ask about RWL, they don’t go further than the basic questions which is important for understanding the program.

I think parents need to ask more questions. Personally I’ve noticed [that] my parents will ask questions, but they never really deeply dive into it and ask questions below surface level.

Kody Walrod, Ruskin High School Student

She wishes that parents would reach out more, to those like administrators and get more information.

“If parents would like to get involved, I think they should be in touch with their student’s teachers and even maybe administrators and program leaders—basically anyone who could answer the questions their child may not know the answer to,” Walrod said.

With that, Byrd also noticed that even teachers aren’t very aware of the RWL program and that it should be fixed.

“They [parents] can help by helping with getting that information out with teachers and just in classrooms, or even in the office because I also realized most of my teachers don’t know what it is,” said Byrd.

She also thinks that more encouragement is needed from parents, to help keep morale up when overwhelmed.

“They [parents] can help by just giving that support and motivation to keep going,” Byrd said.

Walrod also believes that constant support is key.

“I think the best way for parents to help their children is to offer a steady line of support,” Walrod said. “And also to have a good understanding of the programs their child is in.”

Walrod thinks a good way for parents to help the school is with events to help raise some money or something similar.

They [parents] could help the school by not only the school fundraisers—a little bit goes a long way—but just showing support to the school and all of its students.

Cadence Byrd, Oak Park High School Student

While RWL is seen as a beneficial program, it is clear that more time needs to go into educating parents and helping them understand truly what the program is about. Parents need to know the time commitment and the resources that are needed, as well as being more involved with schools and talking to their RWL coordinator.