kitchen table math, the sequel: one more reason to homeschool

Sunday, October 12, 2008

one more reason to homeschool

Parents Say the Darndest Things

(Susan S via Joanne Jacobs)
Posted by at

15 comments:

Catherine Johnson said...

Maybe I should open a "mean girls" category.

October 12, 2008 at 5:25 PM
Allison said...

so i guess i'm not the only one who thought " I would say NOTHING in that classroom if she were my teacher, either!"

I know it's declasse for a parent to defend their own against a teacher, and I'm sure some parents do deny reality when their kids are brats, but the idea that kids wouldn't behave differently at home and school seems a bit naice at best?

October 12, 2008 at 7:02 PM
SteveH said...

"This is a blog for TEACHERS WHO ROCK ..."

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this egocentric tidbit. She sounds like a 20-something.


Once she's done venting, I hope she puts on her professional face and deals with it. We parents of the other students expect nothing less.

But there is still the tone of the post. She doesn't try to qualify her use of "parents". How does the following sound?

Perhaps we look stupid, but you wouldn't believe the crap teachers throw at parents sometimes. I mean, we spend sixteen hours a day with our kids...remember us? Hi, we're not morons.


I suggest internet classroom cameras. I've always wanted to see exactly what goes on. Ms. "rocking" teacher should think it's a great idea.

Positive proof. For whom?

October 12, 2008 at 7:46 PM
Anonymous said...

>>I suggest internet classroom cameras. I've always wanted to see exactly what goes on.

Hear, hear! It's working very well for the bus company. I'd like to see it done in the classroom and lunch room and have the result be dismissal for the emotionally & verbally abusive teachers, as well as removal & mandatory help for violent children and instigators, no matter who their daddy is.

October 13, 2008 at 3:52 AM
Anonymous said...

Did she ever say what grade she teaches? I'd check, but I don't want to go back there.

I only ask because of the part making fun of the kid reading Harry Potter books. I got the impression she taught early grade school. Harry Potter is pointed towards 4th/5th grade, if I remember correctly. It takes some stamina to read through those books at that age, not to mention that it's a great habit for any kid to develop.

Like Allison said, you'd be a fool to open your mouth in that class.

SusanS

October 13, 2008 at 5:29 AM
Anonymous said...

I'm a former teacher who homeschools her kids, and this is one small part of the reason - immature teachers with a God complex.

October 13, 2008 at 7:24 AM
Barry Garelick said...

I've met some of them in my ed school classes. Not pleasant.

October 13, 2008 at 7:53 AM
Anonymous said...

Did she ever say what grade she teaches?
2nd, I think.

I'm not sure what I think about this post. I've read a fair bit of her blog, and generally she comes across as caring about her students, even when she is venting about other adults, like admin, co-workers, parents, etc.

Still, it is funny how, on the one hand, she expects parents to take responsibility for their child's behavior, but on the other hand she completely dismisses out of hand any parental observations or concerns that seem contradictory to her vast experience (1.5 whole months, you know) with a student.

I'm sure she means well, but her arrogance - that her experiences are clearly more accurate than those of the pathetic, deluded parents - is very off-putting, even in the context of a rant. Has it ever occurred to her that a child really might behave differently in school - an environment generally quite different from a 7-8 yo's life experiences to that point - and that her observations might well be the anomaly?

October 13, 2008 at 8:33 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

There are so many things wrong with this post .... I'll probably try to write something about it.

My sister has a funny story along these lines, though. She was a teacher straight out of college, and she told me she cringes when she thinks about her younger self. She thought the parents were morons. All of them. She was about 23 years old, teaching high school, and she thought that since she was roughly the same age as her students, she knew better than the parents how to raise them.

She would give the parents advice.

She also said that she had free rein. (reign?) Parents weren't allowed inside the classroom, didn't know what was going on -- the school was a private world ruled by teachers & the principal.

October 13, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

The other issue is "denial."

I was in profound denial about Jimmy's autism for two years.

When I finally understood that he was autistic, that he would not go to college, not live on his own, not have girlfriends or a wife or children of his own, probably not even have friends -- all the things that have come to pass -- I went immediately into a profound clinical depression: a depression so severe that my mother called to say that she and my father would pay for a psychiatric hospitalization.

Midwest moment: I said, "I can't go into a psychiatric hospital. It will be on my permanent record & I'll never get a job again." I've always loved that moment because it is SOOO farm-girl. My mom, who was very concerned about me, to put it mildly, instantly dropped the hospital idea. To your basic farmer-type, working is way more important than, say, not committing suicide.

In any case, denial happens for a reason; it happens because a parent is fending off extreme psychic pain.

AND.....last but not least, I'll add that, yes, dealing with someone else's denial is hard. I would imagine most parents know this firsthand.

AND I'm sure many of us have ranted about parents-in-denial.

But we know we aren't being charitable when we do.

October 13, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

Years ago, I wrote an article about how professionals should deal with parents in denial ----- and now don't know if I can put my hands on it.

SIGH

I've got to see if I can track it down.

October 13, 2008 at 5:07 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

I'm a former teacher who homeschools her kids, and this is one small part of the reason - immature teachers with a God complex.

lolllll!!!

You said it!

Not me!

Actually, that brings up a post I've got to do about "Hogwarts" ----- I'm realizing that the teachers there are probably all parents of students who attended the school in the past or are attending the school currently or will be attending the school in the future .....more on that anon.

They speak to us as peers, parent-to-parent.

It's a novelty.

October 13, 2008 at 5:20 PM
Anonymous said...

"I'd like to see it done in the classroom and lunch room and have the result be dismissal for the emotionally & verbally abusive teachers, as well as removal & mandatory help for violent children and instigators"

Constitution be damned eh?

October 13, 2008 at 5:52 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

Parents and taxpayers need to be able to see what is happening inside schools.

Period.

These are "public" schools.

October 13, 2008 at 5:59 PM
Independent George said...

Constitution be damned eh?
I do not think that word means what you think it means.

October 14, 2008 at 6:38 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)