Here’s an excerpt from my book “What We Blacks Need to Do Part 2” for preschool, elementary and middle school students.

Parents, you must stress the need for your children to study for a grade of 100. Most school tests require a 70 (D) to pass. An egg or hamburger cooked 70% may be OK for some people, but not “fried chicken, pork chops, barbeque ribs or French fries.”

Start your children off right in “your” home preschool. Buy only one book and put their date of birth and name in it so they learn to pronounce and spell their name.

You teach them everything on one page: colors, animals, words, numbers, grass, sky, people, objects, and punctuation. Then, read that same page again the next day and test them to see what they learned. Tell them that it is their book,​​ which teaches them ownership.

Keep your money; don’t buy any other books. You can check them out from your public library free. There are many books and programs that will help you practice real learning skills during this long, sweltering summer for elementary and middle school.

Most will not be fun because the education system was not designed for entertainment. That is why class learning is six hours, and recess and lunch are one hour.

My wife and I used a terrific book titled “What Your 1st through 8th Grader Needs to Know.”  It helped us prepare our son for each grade, and we used it every summer with other proven educational exercises like reading one book every long holiday and two during the summer.

Those proven practices helped him obtain maximum learning. Parents can let teachers and the school system completely control your children’s education or be “partners” in controlling what they learn.

Those of you who attend church services know that a good sermon you heard in church last Sunday became clearer when you did as the minister said and read the whole chapter. The minister only spoke on one verse, about 10%, and the teacher was only teaching a small part of a chapter.

 Our son excelled in high school and earned a teaching fellowship to obtain a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree. Parents, if needed, seek the help of a current or retired teacher or church to set up a lesson plan for you and your children.

You work hard at your “regular job, so demand they work hard at their “job,” which is being a “good” student. Your reward is a paycheck with a few raises and promotions; their job, if satisfactory, gives them a promotion every year, increasing knowledge and a possible college/trade school scholarship.

Please tell your children this African proverb: “You are beautiful, but learn to study and work, for you cannot eat your beauty.”

James Jerome Hankins is an author, realtor, raconteur, Army veteran, caregiver, past NAACP local branch president, 100% voter, AFT union member, 34-year retired “shop” teacher, and NC A&T State University 1971 graduate.