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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with George Miller, January 19, 1991. Interview M-0015. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Parental, school, and community involvement are necessary for students' academic success

This passage echoes earlier statements made by Miller. He advocates the tight connection among teachers, parents, and the community in order to best serve the student population.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with George Miller, January 19, 1991. Interview M-0015. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

GEORGE MILLER:
Well, you start with a few, first you have to get the child interested and you're going to tell them something to entice them to come to the PTA program or reception. You have got to get them to come but then you have to let them know. When I first became principal I never had to worry about getting people to come because they are going to come the first time just to see me and find out what I had to say. That is when I said it right then. I let them know what I meant--whether I would spank their child or whatnot--If you don't want them spanked, you come off your job and come over here and spank them. I expect to see you back here every month when we are doing so and so. I don't want to see you crowding in the basketball game and can't come over here for anything else. Don't tell me that you live 20 miles away. You go anywhere you want to go. You go to the fair, you go anywhere. This is the most precious thing that you have--your child. You trust him with me for 7 1/2 hours a day. Please give me that respect. If you want me to do a job with him, put him in my care. I said, remember we have a whole lot so don't expect us to be a nursemaid for every one of them because we don't have that many nurses. So your child is going to have to learn some manners and some discipline too. Parental conferences are important. Now you must realize you can't always set the parental conferences based on your time. You have to a lot of times set the parental conferences based on the parents time and you have some parents who are working third shift or second shift who come in he may want to be sleeping during the morning. When do you have that conference with that parent. That is when you need to know. Therefore, I would do what we would call a parental survey so we could find out--most times just a name and address isn't sufficient...