When are parents going to start giving a damn?

[Archae]

I have a friend who used to be a High School teacher, but he stopped, because he kept running into parents like these, they just don't give a damn about even if their kids are in school or not, much less how well they are doing or not.

Milwaukee Police To Search For Parents Of Truant Students
Parents Could Have Shown Up In Court

POSTED: 9:06 am CST March 15, 2004

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee police will begin tracking down and arresting 73 parents of truant Milwaukee public school students.

In a letter earlier this month from Milwaukee Police Chief Nan Hegerty, 86 parents were given a last chance to avoid getting picked up on a misdemeanor offense.

They had to show up in court last Thursday to have the warrant issued against them tossed out. Only 13 of the 86 parents showed up.

http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/education/2922220/detail.html

[truthspeaker]

1. what really sucks is when parents complain to the teachers about grades

I know a teacher and she constantly has parents on her case because their kids got bad grades. If I got bad grades, my parents got on MY case and took the teacher's side, dammit!

[Ms. Toad]

9. I hope your friend doesn't just blow off

parents who complain that their child's papers are marked incorrectly, as opposed to parents who just don't like the low grade their child received.

My child's school is generally pretty good, but occasionally there are some grading (or other) problems about which I complain. For example, the first one page paper one English teacher passed out included approximately 20 grammatical or spelling errors - and the problem continued throughout the year.

As a former teacher, I certainly would have been embarrassed to receive some of the communications I have made to my child's teachers. I hope ultimately I would have overcome my embarrassment and corrected my mistakes. Some of my child's teachers have, and some have insisted that they were not mistaken. Depending on the importance of the issue (and the frequency with which the particular teacher makes errors) I make sure my child understands the correct answer and either drop the matter or elevate it to the principal.

Permitting my child to be taught erroneous information is just as irresponsible as blaming the teacher for my child's failure to study for a test or to complete the assigned homework.

[ihaveaquestion]

2. It has always been thus...

There have always been and will always be those who don't care about education, for themselves and for their children. Mandatory schooling reduces the number, but can't eliminate it.

[Skidmore]

3. Our generation was the

"if it feels good, do it", "tune in, turn on, drop out"--this has been our legacy. Seize the day, live it up, who cares about tomorrow?

[IrateCitizen]

4. And I wonder how many of these parents are working 2-3 jobs...

... and struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over their kids' heads.

[MsUnderstood]

6. Amen to that

I think the topic was really broad--painting all parents as uncaring lazy good for nothings. The article also focused on the efforts to bring the parents in but gave no specs about the kids (their age, ethnicity, income levels, etc).

We need to look further than the "lets lock them up" mentality. There is obviously some ideas about education in this community that need to be corrected--threats of arrest and brute force will change the minds of these people.

[mopinko]

7. yup

these are not likely kids who have a mom at home all the time. if they have 2 parents at all.

[mopinko]

5. i can see both sides

if i were a minority parent in a racist school system that dis-served minority children, i would not give them much respect.
i have had plenty of go-rounds with the schools. if life is tough, school can be one more pain in the ass. and believe me, they have no plan b if your kid is in trouble.

[davsand]

8. I see how it happens.

I'm not passing off lack of parental involvement--but i do see how it happens that parents either give up on the school system or else lack time to actually DO some of this stuff.

First, as has been pointed out, a lot of families are struggling to make it financially--especially if it is a single parent household. Right off the bat, you have a number of parents who have to make the call between going to the school and missing a day's work or going to work and keeping the REST of the family fed.

Plus, I will tell you that some schools will call and DEMAND your presence at the school--for minor shit that could well be dealt with later at home. OK--it IS important that Jimmy was being a pain in the ass in study hall--but is it SO important that you require my physical presence AT THE SCHOOL right this second? Do I need to leave my job right now and speed across town?

Kids who have a bad rep will also be targeted for this kind of stuff. SO, if your kid has one incident suddenly it is a "federal offense" if anything else goes wrong. The logic is that by dragging the parent in there they will be motivated to correct the kid. What actually happens is, sometimes, the parents just give up on dealing with the school or the administrators, and the kid suffers as a result.

Kid gets tired of the continual crap and harassment from a teacher or an administrator, and suddenly it is just easier to skip school entirely. THEN you have a truant. I've seen kids targeted by teachers--and there is no recourse for them. They HAVE no rights or no real standing when a situation is in dispute.

There is not doubt that there are some bad parents out there--but there are other things that happen that make this kind of situation happen.

OUR system is a mess.


Laura