Great write up. We don't just need parental involvement, we need the right kind of parents, and the right kind of involvement.
> You're right and you're wrong. Schools do dread parental involvment. But > that's because parent's get involved in the wrong things. Parents didn't > get > involved in teaching their children the requisite discipline that is > required to focus learning. Parents didn't get involved in supporting the > curriculum and the teacher's role. But parents DID get involved in blaming > the school and teachers when their undisciplined child was failing, and > instead of hearing that their child needed to be a better student they > instead blame the teacher as failing in their role. But when a teacher > tried > in any way to actually make the students sit down, shut up, pay attention > and actually learn, well by golly that was seen as abusive and mean and > then > the parents get involved again saying the school has no right to try and > teach their kids discipline. > > So now we end up with exactly the system you hate. A system hobbled by the > very parents who complain that their kids don't learn anything. And then > many of those parents send their kids to expensive private schools where > the > school does have the authority to instill discipline. And because the > school > has the right to kick the kid out if they feel their authority is > undermined, and because the education is finally hitting the parents in > the > pocketbook, the parents finally now support the teachers and the authority > that previously they undermined. > > And then there's the parents with the near hubris to think that as a > single > individual they have breadth and depth of knowledge to teach the same > thing > that takes the combined knowledge resources of 20-30 or more teachers for > a > given student. And of course, those homeschoolers end up needing to > instill > the same discipline for education that they refused the public schools. > > And no, the above isn't speculation. I saw it first hand with a parent who > was a public educator. > > Feh! > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:178548 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
