If high-income parents think their son or daughter is being taught by an incompetent teacher...

[Boojatta]

Poll question: If high-income parents think their son or daughter is being taught by an incompetent teacher...

[virgogal]

1. Can't be offended by a question when there is no question.

[Boojatta]

3. The question would be...

"If high-income parents think their son or daughter is being taught by an incompetent teacher, then what should they do?"

However, that doesn't fit. So I restructured it without changing the meaning.

[virgogal]

5. Gotcha----I was being a tad snarky. Sorry.

[flvegan]

2. Depends. Is the teacher actually incompetent, or is it just opinion?

[Boojatta]

4. Some people say that there is no God. Is there actually no God, or is that just opinion?

[flvegan]

11. Incompetence can be proven/measured.

[elleng]

8. The question is, if the parents 'think,' so its their opinion/belief,

presumably based on facts in the classroom. (That's my assumption, of course.)

[Catshrink]

16. Maybe the kid didn't get an A and it's the teacher's fault.

I've seen so much of that, especially in honors classes. Kid does little work or work of middling quality but parents think the kid is going to Harvard so he'd better get an A. Kid rebels by deliberately doing little in class but mommy and daddy will protest so the grade gets changed and kid doesn't have to do anything to earn it. Teacher refuses to give kid an A for the quality of his efforts. Teacher is labeled "bad" or "incompetent" by parents who don't get their own way. Parents appeal to principal, who says I won't override the teacher. Parents go to the superintendent or school board about the lousy teacher. Or the principal tells the teacher to change the grade and the teacher still refuses because the kid didn't earn it. Teacher gets a bad evaluation.

That's why there's due process in teacher firings and why there are teacher unions to protect teachers from this kind of thing. Think it doesn't happen? A friend of mine was fired from a charter school because she wouldn't change a grade for the child of a "prominent" parent.

[elleng]

18. I did not suggest teacher firing, but parents taking their own action

if they think teacher not suitable, first, discuss with principal.

'protect teachers from this kind of thing' not an attitude I appreciate I am a parent, and spent much time and money seeing to suitable education for my daughters, one of whom is now studing to become a teacher.

[Catshrink]

19. I wasn't directing it at you

but making a general comment about what can happen -- and has.

[mzteris]

28. i have a hard time believing

that you had a "friend who worked for a charter"...

:P

[elleng]

6. Speak with the principal,

and if nothing CAN be done, seek another school.

[EFerrari]

7. Other: I love your polls, Boojatta.

[saltpoint]

23. I'll second that, ma'am, if I may.

Boojatta is a huge plus for this site.

:hi:

:thumbsup:

[baldguy]

9. Express their sense of entitlement by annoying the school administration until they get their way.

[SocialistLez]

10. They should use their money to hire a private tutor.

Preferably one that can help THE WHOLE CLASS.

That's what I would do.

[Boojatta]

14. Implementing the solution that you propose ...

would tend to create more hours of work for tutors and/or more jobs for tutors.

On the other hand, if the teacher were to be dismissed but not replaced, and if the school were to continue to test the students as though they were being taught by the teacher, then job creation for tutors would occur beyond what your solution would do, provided of course that no high-income couple pays for one tutor to simultaneously tutor all students from the class.

[Riftaxe]

12. They should send them to Sidwell

public schools are for the masses, not little Johnny and Judy.

[BadgerKid]

13. I doubt it's one incompetent teacher

that guarantees to drive parents to send the kids to private school. I think an overall lack of quality education, teachers, or educational focus, as perceived by the parents, does. And I'm sure there can also be factors like parental pride, alma maters, racism, fear, feeling of superiority, etc.

If it were one single teacher, I would look into getting the kids tutoring if I could not teach the subject myself.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. Been there, done different things

In one case it was truly a grievous ongoing problem. The teacher had spent years in the mission field teaching English and God in South America. He returned to the US so his kids could graduate from an American high school. His teaching style was a disaster and yet due to the lack of available foreign language teachers in the area, he was basically untouchable. He also had a real authority thing. He was God, or at least in his classroom, parent, student, fellow teacher, it did not matter. He also tended to proselytize. We filed multiple misconduct complaints, including ADA violations. Daughter was also carrying a recorder for a while and got some very juicy statements. When he knew who was persecuting him (his words) he started a campaign of vengeance and retribution. He was failing her though she was bilingual in the language and actually knew it better than he did (South American Spanish is not the same as Castilian. When it all came to a head, my daughter was withdrawn from the class as if she never attended. Teacher was directed not to speak to her again, even in the hallway. He changed schools the next year. The school was much better off without him. Daughter returned to language classes as an aide, not a student. It was pretty well known at the school that we had run him off. Most of the teachers, including the shop steward, approved.

The other one was clear technical incompetence. Teacher involved was not qualified, insisted otherwise, and embarrassed himself repeatedly with parents with his claimed expertise. He was teaching the computer science classes, including AP. At one point he cited his role as a teacher meant he was an expert and was beyond questioning. When it got to the point that the students were openly mocking him, a group of parents went to the principal and later the district with no avail. At every level we were dismissed as just parents without knowledge or expertise. When I pointed out that I taught in the same field up to the graduate level, I was told that it was not relevant. We ended up teaching our daughter and some of her friends. They all aced the AP exam, the rest of the class failed. the next year he was moved to be the district mentor/resource teacher for computers. The newbie who replaced him was great, her classes had 90% pass rate on the AP exam.

Both of our cases were "special", but the system was clearly not interested in complaints from parents. My solutions were serious arm twisting (teacher called it blackmail) and supplementary instruction. Then again, in the fullness of time, it is clear that neither of my daughters should have gone to HS after we returned to the US.

[LostInAnomie]

17. More than likely they can't accept that their precious little snowflake...

... isn't the genius they think he is. Either that, or they're pissed that the teacher actually requires their child to stay in his seat instead of roaming around and doing whatever the hell he feels like (like he does at home).

[elleng]

20. Some astonishing assumptions here!

Real problems with alleged 'high-income' parents? Makes me very sad (and mad, if I'm in the wrong mood.)

We ALL do the best we can do.

[saltpoint]

21. If they are high-income, they can by god afford a damn

phone call to the principal and set up a private meeting to voice their concerns.

If the principal feels that further action is warranted, the teacher in question can be spoken with.

Spoken with, not spoken to.

Perhaps the principal might speak with a few students in that class as well, just to get some nuts and bolts into the thing.

If necessary, all parties could assemble and discuss recommendations to bolster clarity and purpose.

As a tax payer, I would need hard evidence of a teacher's incompetence before I offered that kind of assessment.

[YvonneCa]

26. That was nice. Thoughtful...

...rational, reasonable and appreciated. :)

[saltpoint]

27. Hey YvonneCa! Howdy.

Good to see you on the boards tonight.

This former Californian is rooting hard for Barbara Boxer against that monster Carly Fiorina.

Do what you can!

:hi:

[YvonneCa]

30. OFA meeting on...

...Wednesday and canvassing on Saturday (against Bono-Mack). Signed up for Boxer and Brown online so it's going to be a busy fall. :hi:

We NEED Barbara Boxer. She's been fantastic in the Senate...and deserves to return there.


Keep thinking those good thoughts! ;)

[mrmpa]

22. they (parents) should reassess their

relationship with their child. Too often parents want to lay the failure of their children on someone else. Reason is that their child is perfect.

[Morning Dew]

24. Other, which won't be posted in this thread.

n/m

[boppers]

25. ..then they should use their money to help train the teacher.

Why do so many solutions focus on getting somebody fired, or leaving the system, instead of fixing the core problem in the first place?

[mzteris]

29. what choices do low- or middle- income parents get? n/t