eduwonkette makes my day

Savvy New York City parents have long suspected that high achieving kids are losing out in the push to boost the achievement of the lowest performing students. But those suspicions are often cast aside by public officials as helicopter parent whining or muted class warfare.

Are New York Schools Shortchanging High Achieving Students?

This is the first time I've seen anyone other than a parent (well, other than the folks around here) use the term "helicopter parent" to indicate coded language administrators & educators use to fend off parents & evade accountability.

This spring the Health teacher actually taught the term "helicopter parents" to her 8th grade class.

The subject was stress, and the teacher had asked the kids what things stressed them out. One kid said his parents stressed him out because they were pressuring him to do well in school.^*

"That's called helicopter parenting," the teacher explained.

I managed not to write an email about that one, although I wanted to.

If I had, I would have explained to the teacher that a helicopter parent isn't a parent who pressures his kid.

A helicopter parent is a parent who pressures the school.


^* I gather no one said that ineffective classroom instruction or indecipherable grading rubrics stresses them out. A missed opportunity!