Educating our sons...

Hey Mars,
I'm at that point of having writers' block, strange right? and only after 4 weeks. Well, if I had to choose a topic in which I normally don't because I usually wait for divine intervention; I would like to talk a bit about educating our sons.
I feel like the top 5 concerns regarding our sons are: overall health, decent living arrangements, spiritual foundation, loving parental guidance and education. These are mine and not so in this particular order. You may have a different list. But education is very important. 
Mothers you know that you cannot leave the education system totally up to the teachers? YOU must be an active participant. Now if you lack former education please don't be alarmed because there's plenty of help, just ask your sons school principal, guidance counselor, etc...and fight like hell to get him any and all assistance he and you will require. You know they love to label boys especially little black boys. However, most of the signs are obvious to us but we don't want to hear or see them.
I remember them telling me that my son had a disability and that was a speech impairment. You see by the age of two he was not speaking. That never impaired his ability to call out random letters of the alphabet. I started very early reading and teaching him preschool skills. While some children, could sing the ABC song, my son couldn't, but at the same time they couldn't identify letters randomly, my son could. This was by age two. So, you see a disability has nothing to do with his intelligence, majority of the time. But I will say this, without early intervention, disabilities can have long term affects. Remember, also its never too late.
I was introduced to Special Education about 13+ years ago, when my son was first diagnosed. I've been teaching for about the same and his overall health has always been priority. First things first, the educational system is what you make and it works but you must be an active participant. So get involved, find the time, and get the necessary resources. 
Never forget, if your son is struggling in school this will be evident in kindergarten. If he is now in a higher grade and have been overlooked, ignored and pushed through, it's probably because everyone including you(mom) has failed to read the signs. Most signs are behavioral(acting out), poor grades, lack of interest, low self-steem and maybe claiming to be sick or "hates" school all together. If you and your son is experiencing any of these signs, get help quickly. Go to his school and demand to see the social worker and be honest. Perhaps you have been ignorant to these sometimes obvious signs but now you're ready to take charge and get him the help he needs. If not statistics proves that he is headed toward the road of dropping out, unemployment, drugs, jail and God forbid death. So please do something today! my prayers are with you always.
Sincerely,
Jerri of MARS