After you've read this column consider how many parents these days blame the schools first. I'm not saying the teachers or the schools or the curriculum isn't to blame, BUT there is plenty of blame to go around. Let me give you some examples.
1. I had a student whose parents pulled him from school during semester exams for a cruise because it was cheaper for them to go then.
2. I had multiple families pull their children out of school to go overseas for a MONTH and then expect the teachers to either completely excuse missed work or stay after school until six or seven every night to allow the students to make up work.
3. When I had a student who refused to do AP Art Studio assignments doing only Anime because I was concerned she wasn't developing enough range to make her skills marketable, I was called a racist because, to quote the mother "We raised our kids that they can be anything they choose to be." That was never my concern-it's just that as a working artist back in the day I know the more skills you bring to the table, the more likely you are to make a real living. BTW, this particular oppressed child lived in a half million dollar home and her parents were CEO's of their respective companies.
4. I had a student whose mother was very socially involved. He came late every day and I'd get a perky email from Mom about how he was home sick and they were going to the doctor. The absences became later in the day and the emails arrived later as well until the student had missed more days than he attended. BTW, the parents were informed by email and phone messaging whenever he was absent. The parents were OUTRAGED when he absence failed the entire year. They said they would homeschool him. The last I heard he was in military school.
5. I had three triplets in classes and two of them did okay. The most talented one refused to turn in work to the point that if I had not relented on the last day and created a project for him to complete, that he would probably still be in high school. BTW, he was kicked off of the football team where his brothers also played. I called the parents repeatedly and never got a response.
I had students whose contact information was totally made up. I had parents who literally threatened my life. I had administrators that never ever backed up the faculty. In those conditions, no teacher is going to risk their lives or their income on a kid whose parents don't even care enough to check the online gradebook. Here's a hint-teachers can see how many times grades have been checked and by whom. In most of the cases of the kids who were failing their parents never checked grades.
We were expected to call the parents on our own time. If you don't have valid contact information, that's impossible. And that comes to the crux of the matter-where is the education of a student going to become the property and concern of the STUDENT and the PARENTS first? I hear a whole lot of whining and frankly I've seen some teachers who need to be gone, but in the last three years of teaching I experience more belligerence, aggression and confrontation than I did in the previous 17. Woke attitudes are creating chaos for the kids who WANT to learn and for teachers who WANT to teach
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