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Time Article - What Teachers Hate about Parents (x-posted)



 
 
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  #11  
Old February 24th 05, 04:00 PM
Mermaid
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Yes, that is ridiculous. And I am a teacher type (well, child of
teachers-turned-administrators, very pro-public education, all my mom's
siblings are teachers, my brother's a teacher, etc, etc).

Relatives of mine pulled their son out of grade 2 three weeks before
x-mas, because they felt the school system had failed him/them.
Apparently, his kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 teachers, and
principal, all had insurmountable shortcomings (no two the same,
though) - IIRC, the grade 1 teacher "did not command his respect."
Clearly it was the school's fault that he was frequently in trouble and
getting unsatisfactory reports. So now they're homeschooling. Scarily,
this kid was socially a nightmare before starting public school, and
just at the end of grade 1 and beginning of grade 2, I had started
thinking, "wow, the boy's really made progress. He's actually pretty
functional these days."

I'm not against homeschooling, at all, just against this couple in
particular doing it. Especially since the only normalizing social arena
he's encountered appears to be public school. I shudder to think what's
going to happen to him over the next few years, if they keep him at
home. OTOH, I bet there are a bunch of teachers and a principal who are
only too happy to see his parents' out the door. . .

Melania
Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003)
and #2 (edd May 21, 2005)


That I think is all too true. I'm fed up with my dd's school. I do like
the principal and the teachers she has had so far are good people. I just
really have an issue with the lameness of their attitudes towards parents.
And over all these folks lack insight big time. I don't want to be too
critical because I am not a teacher nor a principal type and wouldn't want
their job persay along with all the antics they have to put up with. My BIL
is a school principal and he is an excellent teacher and principal but he is
really struggling with alot of the parental issues that have come up. I
don't know the answers. (Interesting that my BIL's wife homeschools their
kids??!!!!!)

We don't have a large posse of homeschooling parents here but we do have
some and we do have parents who have taken their kids out of the school here
and placed them farther away in a school that is actually worse because of
issues with teachers and the poor handling of students with disabilities.
So they are opting for an inferior (I'm not talking about the homeschoolers
btw) education just to have them in a school that will give them more
attention and better visibility as a student with special needs. The school
I'm talking about has lost funding and is at risk of being shut down yearly
for problems therein. We live rural and I know we will not be here in 5
years and mostly because of the issues with these schools. We have only
three schools within 2 hours of us and the best one is the one my dd is in.

Anni



  #12  
Old February 24th 05, 04:01 PM
Bruce Bridgman and Jeanne Yang
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wrote in message
ups.com...

The Ranger wrote:
toto wrote in message
news
Any anecdotes?


"Yeah? My child's not going to Harvard and is doing an hour in each
subject per day. He has six classes and three electives; you do the
math."


Okay, I don't want to say that it's legitimate to do your kid's
homework, but if you have six subjects, an hour of homework in each is
going to leave no time for anything in the child's life but schoolwork
and sleep.

Beth


Then obviously something has to give - usually a class. Rarely (or has
things really changed that much) do schools require six classes and three
electives. Drop an elective or two. But even if this is the case, I don't
think heavy coursework is a legitimate reason for parents to do their
children's homework.

Jeanne



  #13  
Old February 24th 05, 04:03 PM
Mermaid
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BTW, I was a teacher before becoming a SAHM last year, and welcomed
parents in my classroom anytime.

-kim


I think it is so important. I actually took a class dealing with learning
and teaching preschool thru 1st grade children about a year ago. I wanted
to know how my kids will be learning and what to do with them at home since
we don't acutally have pre-school here before age 4. I was looking to be
involved in the school and I was so disappointed when I got a cold shoulder.
The class I took had parents being drawn into the classsroom and teachers
working well with parents.

Anni




  #14  
Old February 24th 05, 04:28 PM
Melania
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Mermaid wrote:

Yes, that is ridiculous. And I am a teacher type (well, child of
teachers-turned-administrators, very pro-public education, all my

mom's
siblings are teachers, my brother's a teacher, etc, etc).

Relatives of mine pulled their son out of grade 2 three weeks

before
x-mas, because they felt the school system had failed him/them.
Apparently, his kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 teachers, and
principal, all had insurmountable shortcomings (no two the same,
though) - IIRC, the grade 1 teacher "did not command his respect."
Clearly it was the school's fault that he was frequently in trouble

and
getting unsatisfactory reports. So now they're homeschooling.

Scarily,
this kid was socially a nightmare before starting public school,

and
just at the end of grade 1 and beginning of grade 2, I had started
thinking, "wow, the boy's really made progress. He's actually

pretty
functional these days."

I'm not against homeschooling, at all, just against this couple in
particular doing it. Especially since the only normalizing social

arena
he's encountered appears to be public school. I shudder to think

what's
going to happen to him over the next few years, if they keep him at
home. OTOH, I bet there are a bunch of teachers and a principal who

are
only too happy to see his parents' out the door. . .

Melania
Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003)
and #2 (edd May 21, 2005)


That I think is all too true. I'm fed up with my dd's school. I do

like
the principal and the teachers she has had so far are good people. I

just
really have an issue with the lameness of their attitudes towards

parents.
And over all these folks lack insight big time. I don't want to be

too
critical because I am not a teacher nor a principal type and wouldn't

want
their job persay along with all the antics they have to put up with.

My BIL
is a school principal and he is an excellent teacher and principal

but he is
really struggling with alot of the parental issues that have come up.

I
don't know the answers. (Interesting that my BIL's wife homeschools

their
kids??!!!!!)


I think you're right - the school sounds dreadful ITO this whole parent
issue.


We don't have a large posse of homeschooling parents here but we do

have
some and we do have parents who have taken their kids out of the

school here
and placed them farther away in a school that is actually worse

because of
issues with teachers and the poor handling of students with

disabilities.
So they are opting for an inferior (I'm not talking about the

homeschoolers
btw) education just to have them in a school that will give them more
attention and better visibility as a student with special needs.


That is terrible. It's unconscionable (sp?) that a child's quality of
education should suffer like this. Incidentally, that business with the
student teacher was ludicrous.

The school
I'm talking about has lost funding and is at risk of being shut down

yearly
for problems therein. We live rural and I know we will not be here

in 5
years and mostly because of the issues with these schools. We have

only
three schools within 2 hours of us and the best one is the one my dd

is in.

I grew up in a small town, in a farming area. There are primary schools
in most of the towns, at least the ones with more than a couple hundred
residents, and I think two or three high schools. I was lucky to live
in one of the towns with a high school. Most students were bussed to
school. There were no options beyond either going to *the* local
school, or homeschooling. Unfortunately, in that area the people who
homeschooled were extremely religious, and were homeschooling for that
reason rather than out of concern for the quality of their childrens'
secular education. When they did send their kids to school at the
junior high level, they often couldn't read, couldn't do basic math,
didn't know what a map was, had never heard of the capital of Canada .
.. .

My parents homeschooled us for one year, while they were on a deferred
salary leave and we were travelling. My youngest brother had been
having loads of trouble with math and science, and my mom made it her
priority to bring him up to speed. His grades when he entered the next
year were much better.

Melania
Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003)
and #2 (edd May 21, 2005)

  #15  
Old February 24th 05, 04:29 PM
external usenet poster
 
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Bruce Bridgman and Jeanne Yang wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...

The Ranger wrote:
toto wrote in message
news Any anecdotes?

"Yeah? My child's not going to Harvard and is doing an hour in

each
subject per day. He has six classes and three electives; you do

the
math."


Okay, I don't want to say that it's legitimate to do your kid's
homework, but if you have six subjects, an hour of homework in each

is
going to leave no time for anything in the child's life but

schoolwork
and sleep.


Then obviously something has to give - usually a class. Rarely (or

has
things really changed that much) do schools require six classes and

three
electives. Drop an elective or two. But even if this is the case, I

don't
think heavy coursework is a legitimate reason for parents to do their


children's homework.


No, I don't think so either, but notice I said "an hour of homework in
six subjects" - I wasn't even counting the electives. If a kid was
really doing six hours of homework a night, getting home 3ish from
school, that means that with eating/washing/etc. it'd be 10 PM and time
for bed with no time for anything else but homework.

I am of course assuming the parent's claim was accurate, and even in
that situation I wouldn't do my child's homework, but that doesn't seem
like a workable situation.

Beth

  #16  
Old February 24th 05, 04:38 PM
Melania
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toto wrote:
Any anecdotes?


Departmentalized exams came into our division when I was in high
school. The following essay question was on the Biology exam: "Explain
the theory of evolution." Half the kids failed the exam because they
refused to answer the question on religious grounds. Only one boy had
the sense to answer the question, and then write something along the
lines of "this is a scientific theory, but many people including myself
do not believe it, instead believing that God created the Earth." He
got full marks (his mom was a TA). Ironically, the Biology teacher was
born again, and happily taught all kinds of science with the caveat
that people were welcome not to believe, but that they should know what
they were disagreeing with.

The parents of the kids who failed (and their fellows) went on the
warpath against the school. They started accusing the teachers of being
anti-Christian, unGodly, etc, and claimed they were warping and
perverting young minds. This was probably the parents of about 20% of
the school's students (200 kids total in the school). I'm not sure if
they managed to get departmental exams axed, but as a measure of
appeasement the school reinstated a "non-denominational" prayer at the
beginning of the school day. Non-denominational Christian prayer, that
is.

The Lord's Prayer had only been removed from the school 6 or 7 years
earlier, and the family of the kid who brought it about by claiming it
violated his human rights eventually had to move because of death
threats and vandalism to their house.

Some friends and I wanted to protest the reinstatement of prayer, but
since most of us were teachers' kids our parents talked us out of
biting the hand that fed us, as it were.

Melania
Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003)
and #2 (edd May 21, 2005)

  #17  
Old February 24th 05, 04:53 PM
Ruth Baltopoulos
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"Bruce Bridgman and Jeanne Yang" wrote:

: wrote:

: The Ranger wrote:

: toto wrote:

: Any anecdotes?

: "Yeah? My child's not going to Harvard and is doing an
hour in each
: subject per day. He has six classes and three
electives; you do the
: math."

: Okay, I don't want to say that it's legitimate to do
your kid's
: homework, but if you have six subjects, an hour of
homework in each is
: going to leave no time for anything in the child's life
but schoolwork
: and sleep.

: Then obviously something has to give - usually a class.
Rarely (or has
: things really changed that much) do schools require six
classes and three
: electives. Drop an elective or two. But even if this is
the case, I don't
: think heavy coursework is a legitimate reason for parents
to do their
: children's homework.

I have heard of this homework nightmare from others in my
town, but my teenagers must be attending a different school,
because I have *never* seen the amount of homework lamented
about smile, and if I had, I definitely would have
addressed it with the Superintendent and Principals. Many,
many parents have vocalized to me that they have no life in
the evenings as they sit with their children while they
do/help them with their homework boggle!

Here is my strategy: I provide a place for homework to be
done and access to computers. I ask if it has been
completed (sometimes). I stay in touch with the school
(PTO, Conferences, Open Houses, School Committee) and
teachers are aware that I am interested in knowing of any
challenges or foibles. The end.

I can comfortably say that I have *never* done my children's
schoolwork or projects (and in this town it is obvious who
is doing the work at functions such as the Science Fair). I
am *always* available to answer questions, brainstorm ideas,
help clear up confusing assignments, or attempt to point
them in the right direction. I refuse to make excuses for
them to their teachers, or cover for them when they have not
prioritized or managed their time correctly.

Hey, I already went through school and did all my own
homework; I am *so* not interested in another round
--
Ruth


  #19  
Old February 24th 05, 05:04 PM
external usenet poster
 
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Ruth Baltopoulos wrote:

Hey, I already went through school and did all my own
homework; I am *so* not interested in another round


In all honesty, I never even did *mine*, so the chance that I'm going
to do someone else's homework is very, very small.

Beth

  #20  
Old February 24th 05, 05:11 PM
Mark Probert
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"toto" wrote in message
news
Any anecdotes?


My favorite....

My wife had a parent come in for a conference. the parent spent ten minutes
aggressively questioning each and every assignment that his daughter had
been given since the beginning of the term. My wife was very upset.

A week later my wife met an old friend who was the assistant principal in
the school where this parent worked as an English teacher. He gave new
assignments based on what he learned from my wife.



 




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