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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2005 > December > 01
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Parents vs. teachers
Who’s fault is it when kids misbehave or fail to achieve at school?
There is a huge divide in the average school, with parents on one side and teachers on the other, both pointing fingers.
I once asked the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s fine education blogger Patti Ghezzi what surprised her most about doing a blog. This was it. The level of anger and distrust parents and teachers have toward each other. You see it often in the comments on Patti’s blog — parents attacking teachers for being unfair or unfit and teachers ripping parents for making excuses and sending their kids to school unprepared.
This undercurrent was evident Tuesday night when the Dayton school board invited parents in, as part of a series of feedback meetings with its constituency groups. Unfortunately, my story had to focus on the big news that Horace Mann Elementary School will be rebuilt, but the parent-teacher tension was on display.
Here are some of the parent complaints:
—Student behavior. Several parents said out-of-control students dominate the attention of teachers and administrators and programs intended to address the problem are not noticeable. Parents said principals and teachers fail to enforce the rules or move aggressively to remove troublesome kids.
—Teachers and staff yelling at children. Parents from several schools said they were uncomfortable with how often school employees yell at students, sometimes using words like “stupid” which parents don’t allow children to use at home.
—Some parents also complained about other parents. One man told the story of how he signed in for the last parent-teacher conference of the day and he was just the fifth name on the list even though appointments were available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. He was frustrated by how few parents in the district seemed to care, noting also that a large number of kids at his child’s school routinely do not do homework.
In January, elementary school teachers get to vent their frustrations to the school board. Perhaps they’ll fire back at parents.
I’d like to hear from teachers and parents out there. How can this parent-teacher blame game be overcome?
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