Let teachers teach
I don’t pick my kids up from school very often – usually I’m not around at that time of day. On the occasions I do collect them though, I am always astounded at the line of parents queuing up to quiz the class teachers on what little Johnny has done that day, and tell them what they think he should be doing/achieving/receiving for homework/ class work etc.
I say I am astounded because, to the best of my knowledge, none of these parents are teachers. And yet they feel they need to go and tell their child’s teacher how to do their job. My work entails flying around New Zealand a fair bit and I have to say, to date, I have never felt the need to go and see the pilot when I get on or off a plane to tell him how he should fly the plane. I’m sure the other passengers are thankful for this, as I don’t have the first idea how to. I crash the simulator on the computer so I’m guessing any landing I was in charge of would be pretty disastrous! And yet these parents, who have no qualifications, think that they should dictate what their child does at school.
Ours is a decile 10 school and this is perhaps a high decile problem. I talked to a teacher who had moved from a low decile school to a high decile school once, and said that I thought she must find life much easier now. What she said surprised me – she told me that in fact it wasn’t, that at the low decile school the parents were grateful for the effort she put into their children who, maybe, didn’t have much at home but had a chance to flourish through school. And, now she was involved with parents who were more affluent, she found she received much less appreciation. She still gave 100% to her pupils but the parents wanted 110% from her. Whatever she did, it just wasn’t enough and it was demoralising to say the least.
It seems to me that in these times of political correctness and child centred parent focus that we have reached a point where a parent simply can’t accept that their little cherub is anything less than the next Einstein. They don’t think there is any possibility their offspring might be average, and heaven forbid they could actually be BELOW average, or struggling to achieve. And if testing shows that they aren’t at the good old national standard, then the fault must rest squarely with the teacher. It’s not possible to let the child be or accept that they simply aren’t academic, instead they must be piled with homework and, as well as having to administer testing, the teacher has to prepare homework, class work, marking, reports – a never ending list of paperwork, all of which take their time and focus away from actual teaching.
How would it be if schools set out a charter for parents along with the rules that they have for students? Write down the expectations that they have of parents, in terms of supporting the people who have the job of taking care of their offspring for six hours every day, and educating them? Gently point out that you won’t tell them how to do their job and that they should refrain from telling you how to do yours. Yes, they can support their child’s learning but making them do hours of additional work is more likely to turn them against education than make them a genius. And, if they can’t adhere to these guidelines then point out that there are other schools in the area, and they are able to vote with their feet if they don’t agree with the policies of the school. Let the teachers get on with teaching instead of having to justify themselves to parents on a daily basis.
And for you teachers who have to put up with this – DON’T. Meet with your principal and your board and get their backing to stand up to bullying parents, because this is bullying and you should not have to put up with it. You spent years training for this job and you know how to do it, and do it well. Don’t let the dictates of parents divert you or add to your workload.
It is difficult not to let the negativity grind you down so I suggest you make yourself a file or scrapbook of all the compliments, cards and crafts that your pupils have made for you so you can have a flick through to boost yourself on bad days. Know that you are doing a great job to the best of your ability and that turning out happy, well-rounded kids into the big wide world will be of much more benefit to society than sending them out drilled in their 268 times table, able to recite the collected works of Shakespeare backwards. And remember also, that for every person that complains there are twenty who are very happy with everything you do for their child but just don’t think to tell you – wouldn’t the world be a nicer place if people were as quick to praise as they are to whinge?
Back to the usual topics I cover next time but in the meanwhile as we used to say in my Latin classes, ne carborundum. Chin up, head down, you’re doing a great job.