When it comes to parents and teachers can't we all just get along?
Well, recently, the answer is no--And it's such a big problem, Time magazine had a cover story about it titled "What Teachers Hate About Parents".
According to the article, what teachers overwhelmingly love about their job is working with kids--The most demanding part is dealing with the parents. There was even a survey done of American teachers, and they said parent management has become a bigger struggle than finding enough funding, maintaining discipline, or dealing with standardized testing. Parents are becoming such a nuisance to teachers, it's the reason 40 to 50% of new teachers leave the profession within 5 years.
They're also getting sued more than ever. The number of teachers buying liability insurance has jumped 25% in the past 5 years.
These days, teachers have a very hard time disciplining students without parents getting upset. The feeling is, "You do the teaching, I'll deal with the discipline" but then the kids don't get disciplined at home. Instead, parents are actually teaching their kids to lie and dodge their responsibilities to get ahead.
"Didn't get your homework done? Don't worry I'll call the school and tell them I kept you out late--" "Late for class because you didn't wake up in time? Tell them your Mom couldn't get the car started--"
There are even some parents who insist, in writing, that their child is never reprimanded or corrected.
And parents have even sued schools that expelled kids for cheating, on the grounds that the teacher had left the exams out on the desk and made it too easy for the students to steal the answers!
So what should parents do? I'll give you concrete advice after a couple of songs.
According to the article, what teachers overwhelmingly love about their job is working with kids--The most demanding part is dealing with the parents. There was even a survey done of American teachers, and they said parent management has become a bigger struggle than finding enough funding, maintaining discipline, or dealing with standardized testing. Parents are becoming such a nuisance to teachers, it's the reason 40 to 50% of new teachers leave the profession within 5 years.
They're also getting sued more than ever. The number of teachers buying liability insurance has jumped 25% in the past 5 years.
These days, teachers have a very hard time disciplining students without parents getting upset. The feeling is, "You do the teaching, I'll deal with the discipline" but then the kids don't get disciplined at home. Instead, parents are actually teaching their kids to lie and dodge their responsibilities to get ahead.
"Didn't get your homework done? Don't worry I'll call the school and tell them I kept you out late--" "Late for class because you didn't wake up in time? Tell them your Mom couldn't get the car started--"
There are even some parents who insist, in writing, that their child is never reprimanded or corrected.
And parents have even sued schools that expelled kids for cheating, on the grounds that the teacher had left the exams out on the desk and made it too easy for the students to steal the answers!
So what should parents do? I'll give you concrete advice after a couple of songs.
