What parents really want to tell teachers....

What teachers really want to tell parents

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html

This article has been be boppin it's way around facebook for some time.

And I am going to tell you how I feel about it.

One beloved principals reason for leaving her post is because of the parents who are "killing us".  What a cop out.  An excuse.  I get it but if you truly love your profession then I don't understand.  All jobs come with nuisances, pains in the asses, and red tape.  Find a way.  The firefighter who responds to your call for help is not going to walk away because there is not a fire hydrant directly in front of your home.  Excuses.  They are everywhere and Mr. Ron Clark, Disney's American Teacher of the Year and Oprah Winfrey's Phenomenal Man pick, I expect more from you.

This article is so annoying on so many levels.  Go ahead blame the parents because it must be somebodies 'fault'.

Before you persecute me, I support teachers and many of my 'friends' on facebook are WONDERFUL people and teachers.  Heck, I was one of them.  And looking back, not a very good one.  Excuses, they are rampant in the teaching profession.  We ask too much of them, we don't support them, they don't have enough resources, they don't get any breaks.  Wait a minute...that sounds like what I say about being a stay at home mom.

Mr. Clark wants you to know that teachers are "educators, not nannies".    Well, you know so am I but I still have to put my hands in the shit and wipe runny noses.  It's part of the job.  "If we give you advice, don't fight it.  Take it, and digest it in the same way you would consider advice from a doctor or lawyer".  Okay, I can do that.  But what if I don't agree with your advice?  Can we sit down and discuss it?  No, because then you will label me a "helicopter parent" and roll your eyes when you tell co-workers that I am too involved and need to cut the umbilical cord.

"Trust us" says Mr. Clark.  I want to trust you truly I do.  But when my kindergarten daughter finds herself alone in her classroom for 10- 15 minutes on the second day of school because no adult in the building could find the time to guide her where she needed to go, call me skeptical.  Trust us, then have my child's safety first and foremost in your heart and brain.  Write it in your agenda book, have an in service meeting about it.  I don't care what reading program you are using or what the math curriculum says, this is MY CHILD.  I am solely responsible for this child.  There are no second chances.  EVER.  You, my teacher friend, get approximately 25-30 chances per year to get it right.  I GET ONE and a precious ONE it is.

"Please quit with all the excuses", heed your own advice Mr. Clark.  And don't make me feel guilty about "summer reading assignments".  I, for one, will always allow my child 'fun time' in the summer.  If you cannot get in what you need during the school year, well then I guess it's just not that important.  Parents, 'instead of making excuses, focus on finding solutions', again heed your own advice.

I want to work with you to make our school the best it can be.  But I betcha when I send an email about improving the beginning of the year kindergarten bus transition and when  I volunteer to organize a committee for kindergarten parents, I will be called a helicopter parent, eyes will roll, and teachers will say doesn't she have anything better to do?  And the answer is no.  I don't have anything better to do.  In fact I can think of nothing better to do than improve my child's school.

You see teachers and administrators don't really want us on their turf, because we might ask them to change their ways.  I get it, I truly do.  Change sucks.  Going out of our comfort zone sucks.  But that is life.  "Life's about change and nothing ever stays the same".  We are not invited to the table to discuss what's best for our child, we are told what reading program they will use, even if the teacher hates it.  We are spectators at best.  Though we will be condemned for cheering too loud or not cheering loud enough.

There is one point that the highly qualified, Mr. Clark, makes that I agree with whole heartedly.  "This one may be hard to accept, but you shouldn't assume that because your child makes strait A's that he/she is getting a good education."  True, true, true, oh so true.  And  a quiet classroom is not necessarily a good classroom.  Controlled chaos.  That's what I like to see and hear about.  Let kids express themselves.  Don't break their spirit.

Lastly, Mr Clark reports about the teacher who left a red mark when she cleaned marker from a child's face.  Mr Clark states that she was fired for said deed.  You know I am glad she was fired from that particular school system, because who would really want to work in that kind of environment anyway.  Actually, she is probably better off somewhere else doing something else.

So, I can sit here at my computer and say how I feel and express my opinions because someone taught me to type in high school and it was probably the most useful course I had in those years.  I also can say all of this about education and educators because  I know that I can and will home school my child if the need arises.  Call me fortunate.  Call me blessed.  For I am all of those.  My husband works so I can stay home.  But don't let that fool you, there are sacrifices, though no where near those of others.  We have chosen a simple life, a Christ centered life, a life where our kids come first.  Not reading programs, not math curriculum's, not standardized tests, not superlatives, not scholarships, or honors.  We choose the child and we meet him wherever he is.  No excuses.