http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/08/living/ron-clark-reactions/index.html
You must read this link to understand this blog.
I believe wholeheartedly in parental involvement. I have seen it to many times to ignore it. Two kids same or similar skill set the one whose parents are involved will succeed. That being said how much involvement is to much particularly in the realm of school. Let’s all agree that parental involvement in Elementary and Middle school is of primary importance. Let’s even grant that some involvement in 9th grade is acceptable. How much involvement should exist for Juniors and Seniors? Let’s focus on those who are in AP classes at this point. Is there a point when parents begin to “baby” their children? I have a wonderful daughter one I speak about often I am sure if things stay the same she is on track to be a pre-AP and AP student in no small part because her mom and I spend time with her at home reading and encouraging learning. We also are both room parents and are involved in PTA. My daughter is in Kindergarten and so she sees us taking school seriously so she takes it seriously. At some point however do we become a hindrance to her performance or worse still maybe detrimental to her school career because we become too involved?
Reading through that story it is obvious that teachers who once held a position of honor and respect in our society no longer do so. Parents do have had to many experiences with poor teachers to see past the bad apples and so they throw the baby out with the bath water (to mix some metaphors). Has the ship sailed on parents and teachers ever being able to trust one another and work together as a team to improve the life of a child? See ultimately kids need both but at what point should teachers be allowed to teach and parents be expected to parent? Is there crossover between those two roles? I guess what struck me most about the above article was the bitterness. It seems that parents (certain) parents will always side with their kid, even when common sense and sound logic say they shouldn’t. I am father I love my daughter and because I love my daughter I need to be willing to see when she is wrong and when she is lying and when in fact she has done something to harm her own intellectual growth. My parents loved me more then I deserved often times, but the thing is they never failed to side with a teacher if in fact there was “just cause” to do so. I case this is what it comes down to. I think “just cause” has changed. I think during my childhood “just cause” was any easier sell for teachers. Now I would be hard pressed to convince a parent their child is wrong. Why?
For me this isn’t just a school problem. We are creating a bunch of ninnies. Our society has fundamentally shifted and it is a scary shift if we don’t do something about it. After you graduate from high school and go to college will you only attend a school that fits nicely into your perceived ideas and expectations? And if that school/college varies in anyway from your perceived notions will you bail out citing the college as being at fault? What happens when you get a job? Will you only stay employed with someone as long as they only tell you the good things about your performance? While avoiding any critique of you job performance because they would get a phone call from you parents berating them for having the you know what to critic their child? This shift in societal attitudes towards teachers is the first step in what will become an epidemic if we are not careful. Already there are a growing number of people in the job market who feel entitled and are offended that managers and bosses would critique their performances. Look parents are the primary agent of socialization in our lives. However teachers, employers, colleges all play vital roles as well. And as a parent we need to love our children enough to sometimes let them fail.
Parental involvement is crucial for developing minds. Although the levels of parental involvement can vary, it should exist in all forms for children k-12. When their children are in elementary school, it’s extremely important for parents to be extremely involved in their children’s schooling. This ensures that their children learn the proper attitude and discipline towards their learning. At this young age, kids haven’t developed the maturity to do much on their own and hold the responsibility for getting everything done. As children get older, the need for such heavy involvement gradually diminishes. By the time that kids enter high-school, parents should have little roles in fighting their children’s battles and “baby-ing” them. Freshman in high-school will have been in school for nine years; if they didn’t learn how to do the work themselves, before now, they will never learn. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great to have a parent proof-read a paper or maybe help you on a math problem you get stuck on. But to have a parent do a project for you by the age of fourteen? There is a specific name for those kinds of people; lazy. The point of parental involvement is to help. If parents become too involved as their kids grow up, this causes the opposite effect. Their children won’t learn responsibility or self-reliance. But this issue is becoming ever prevalent in the society before us, and is creating new problems.
Many over-involved parents are jumping through hoops to defend their kids no matter what the circumstance. This in turn creates a society of entitled, mindless fools, while degrading the role of the teacher.
To be fair, society as a whole is partially responsible for this shift in parenting and train of thought. It is no longer acceptable for a child to grow up and be a plumber or maybe a mechanic. Society looks down upon these professions as if they are not near as important or respected as a doctor or lawyer, no matter how much we may always need these professions. Only having a high school diploma is also becoming obsolete, you have to have a college diploma to be successful in almost any field. As the pushes towards these things become stronger, the strain on parents becomes heavier to ensure that their children will reach these things. And for some parents, this strain is translated into pushing the blame of why their children aren’t doing well onto the teachers. Some kids aren’t meant to succeed in every subject, and will find it difficult to do well in some of their weak areas. But this isn’t acceptable in a world promoting only college-educated professionals, so rather than it being a child’s weak point, a bad grade is the teacher’s fault.
In the CNN article, some commenters proposed that they wouldn’t accept a teacher’s comment about their child unless there was truth. Teachers don’t become teachers to simply pick on kids that they don’t like. They set out to teach in order to educate the future generations. So, to say that a teacher is setting out to make a child fail is mind-boggling, but that is what our society has come to. Parents have to make their children succeed in all areas, and if they struggle, the parents have to put the blame somewhere so that their child’s performance can increase “succeed” in life. But with this “success” comes a lack of responsibility and self-reliance