Parents of 65 students who failed to earn a passing grade in math, are raising hell over a letter sent to them by the teacher. She blames the mass failure, only 3 students passed, on behavior in the classroom. The parents are offended and pissed off that their children are being blamed for failing and bad behavior. They are offended by the "TONE" of the letter. These are the same parents who will blame everything and everyone under the sun for their own neglect and failure as parents. If a teacher touches their kid on the shoulder to remove him from the classroom, they will sue. They don't want an outsider disciplining the child, all the while refusing to do it themselves. They get pissed off at an educator and ignore the fact that their kids listen to rap music that glorifies all of societies ills. Guess what, I'm siding with the teacher on this one. That probably comes as no great surprise, given I have a history of pointing the finger at parents who don't do their job.
What I find telling is not that these parents are up in arms because their kids can't grasp remedial high school math, but because they are offended at being held to account through the actions of their children. It's always easier to blame the teacher, or the police, or anybody other than the people who are really to blame. I was hell on wheels from about the 4th grade on. I fought, got suspended, was constantly truant, a general disruptive force in the classroom, and a mean spirited little prick. My 5th grade teacher in an act of desperation, sat me at the back of the class and allowed me to read, ignoring the rest of my studies, so long as I shut up. Was it Mrs. Wagners fault that I was beyond her reach? Of course not, it was my fault and my parents by proxy since they were the authoritative voice in my upbringing. None of that means my parents were bad people or didn't love me, it just means they didn't control me despite their efforts. But I was an exception, most kids are salvageable, with guidance they can excel.
The school in this instance, made the teacher apologize and eat her words to placate the parents. In doing so the Ruskin School officials and the parents have done a huge disservice to this teacher and to the students. Maybe the solution will be to run out and buy some drums and bongos and turn the math class in to a cultural awareness seminar or some other silly bullshit that school districts tend to do when they don't have the back bone or where with all to do their job, which is to teach the children in their charge and to back the teachers charged with educating these little brats. It's really a good thing for kids to be aware of their roots, their cultural history, etc. , but if they don't know a square root from Roots, they will be left behind in the adult world.
I'm sure Ill catch some flack over the tone of this post and the fact that the majority if not all of the parents and kids are African American, while I am so white I'm almost clear, like that ever stopped me. Ruskin schools share several common threads with the Kansas City school district, the majority of the students are minorities, they don't back their teachers, they blame the teachers rather than the out of control students and ineffective parents, and they graduate barely functioning semi literate kids. If you want to know why there is an overabundance of ill educated, irresponsible, often criminal, African American youth, you need look no further than the schools and the parents. The parents want to blame their children's short comings on the world, on everyone but themselves, and the schools in this city are more than happy to placate the parents by pushing these kids through the system and out of their hair in as few years and with as little effort as possible.
Considering the fact that the number one cause of death for young African American males is Young African American Males, taking in to account the disproportionately large number of young African Americans in prison,considering the stats that tell us education is key to leading a productive life, maybe, just maybe, the parents and the schools should demand more. And by demand more, I mean, demand more from their children, and themselves, rather than lay blame at the feet of the people who honestly want to help. Rather than blame the teacher, or bitchin to channel 5 about some perceived insult, how about backing her up. How about taking some of that blame, how about teaching your child to be accountable. Either that or young Jimmy can look forward to a life filled with minimum wage jobs, prison food, or an untimely death. Young black and Latino kids already have the cards stacked against them, yet the parents keep dealing from the bottom of the deck, refusing to hold the kids and themselves accountable. Those kids deserve better, as do we all.
disclaimer*** Before someone has a knee jerk reaction and schools me on all of the wonderful people doing wonderful things for wonderful kids, I'm not talking about YOU. This commentary is directed at the parents in the story, and the like minded parents and school officials who perpetuate the sub standard education of kansas city schools, which have one of the highest drop out rates in the nation. You on the other hand, I'm sure your kids are perfect***
After about 10 fits and starts,(the P.C. indoctrination I've received throughout my life apparently works) I've decided just to say...thank you, you nailed it.
ReplyDeleteI love the disclaimer! You're so awesome, MM.
ReplyDeleteI'm married to a teacher and from what I can tell the only reason anyone would teach is some sort of mental illness. Between the low pay, high stress and constant crap both from parents and the administration - it's hard to imagine why anyone would do this job. I've asked my husband, he just gives the old standbys "make a difference" "fullfilling" yadda yadda yadda. Personally I think he's a bit nuts.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day (ahem) my civics teacher was also the football coach. Young men who misbehaved were grabbed by the collar and dragged out into the hall and slammed up against the lockers while the rest of quaked at the sounds of the Vince Lombardi action taking place a few feet away.
ReplyDeleteWhat more can I say than you already have.
But holding kids and parents responsible is being racist, MM. Come on, get with the program.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, my kid is perfect.
(Another excellent post, by the way.)
My neighbor taught at Northeast High School. When parent/teacher conferences were held.. she might have 10 parents show up out of over 90 kids. Of course when the little darlings failed .. all the parents showed up to raise heck. It's a no-win job.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think it's a big FAIL on the teacher if every student failed the algebra final and only three students earned a passing grade in her honors geometry class.
ReplyDeleteMeans she didn't do a good job teaching. These weren't remedial classes, were they? Every student in those classes was accomplished enough to get that far.
All students fail = teacher fail and that's the bottom line. Even in classes where every child comes from a f'd up family, a decent teacher could have gotten through to at least 10% of them.
I've been teaching at the college level for over 10 years and AMEN. The attitude is not confined, however, to minority students or those from low socio-economic backgrounds. I was in grad school at what is possibly the wealthiest university in the south, which was freaky enough, and we would get the calls from parents regularly because their little precious was flunking since they a) didn't bother to show up after the first day; b) didn't bother to do homework that they knew was 50% of their grade; c) were dumb as a bag of hair; d) got caught cheating in the stupidest way possible. Of course, there the admins only cared about parents if they donated seven figures to the school, which they did.
ReplyDeleteAnd: Leigh Ann, having seen locally what gets graduated from many local districts, it more likely means that she's the first teacher in a while to actually give a flying fuck if the kids learned anything at all. I've had kids in freshman science classes who are functionally illiterate. They can sign their names on the forms, and that's it. They can't do rudimentary algebra. They certainly can't think analytically. Most of these kids SHOULD have been failed early on, but between HS teachers who have been completely demoralized and demotivated by the system that's in place who just want to get their pensions and parents who refuse to view their job title as a verb with inherent responsibilities that doesn't happen. My initial flunk rate is scary.
And that's why I'm looking at industry jobs and trying to get the hell out of academia forever.
Keep pounding on the parents, they're the ultimate problem in education - because they are disengaged.
ReplyDeleteThat means they don't teach their children and constantly reinforce the importance of education, learning and doing homework...
and...
they don't clamp down and pressure the school system for excellent teachers, support and programs.
This story in a very good example of that.
On the money yet again, MM.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it, MM. Excellent take on the situation.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that people don't want to realize is that even in perfect circumstances all children don't learn at the same rate. And if we add in poor parenting, then little Billy or Suzy simply can't keep up with the other kids and needs to be left behind a grade to learn what they need to learn.
You know what's hilarious? I bet if the KC school district flunked kids and held them back a grade until they learned what they needed to, the elementary schools would be embarrasingly packed with illiterate teenagers repeating 3rd grade for the 8th or 9th time. Think about it. If these kids can't read beyond that level, they would never even make it into middle school, let alone high school.
And imagine how embarrassed the parents and school district officials would be if that was the case. That's why they graduate the kids forward. It's not just the No Child Left Behind Act. It's the simple fact that if they really held the kids back in their functional grade, it would be a shocking embrassment and obvious admission of abject failure on the part of the parents and the KC school board. They don't want to admit that they failed. So rather than doing the right thing and take the tough course of action, instead they take the easy way out and sweep the kids' problems under the rug, ignore their lack of learning, and cruelly graduate them unprepared into the modern world. it's the ultimate act of selfishness on the part of the parents and the KC school board.
"Why would anyone become a teacher?"
ReplyDeleteUh...the underage trim?
It seems to be all the rage...
Hell yes you're talking to all of us as parents and you damn well should be.
ReplyDeleteThere is no personal accountability and I wish that teacher would be hired by my school.
My kids know damned good and well that their grades/bad behavior/discipline/whatever is their fault and they don't even get the opportunity to blame someone else. They suffer the consequences TWICE as bad if they start blaming someone else.
Bravo to this teacher and to hell with the "compliant", take-the-easy-road school board and ESPECIALLY to the bitching, whining, irresponsible, take-no-blame parents.
Geez this pisses me off.
Leigh Ann
ReplyDeleteYou amaze me. No it is not the teacher's fault if she can not have peace in the classroom long enough to teach. It might be the administration's fault or the parent's fault for not correcting or removing the offenders but what is she supposed to do pound it into their heads. Have you been the type of classroom she is describing? I have, as a student when the KCMo school district was on the downslide but hadn't quite hit rock bottom, sort of like the Hickman/Ruskin schools now. You have the disrupters, the kids that go along with them to be cool and the rest who sit back wanting to learn but afraid to say anything. Meanwhile you watch the teacher constantly try to keep order, break up fights and call security and no one learns. I inevitably transfered into college prep classes which, at that time, were populated by kids who want to learn.
I also understand this was a replacement teacher and that the one before her had never done much in the class. So the only thing I can see is that the school should have told the parents sooner that their kids were menaces and I want to know why the parents didn't notice the bad grades and apparent lack of correct homework assignments being handed in, unless everyone cheated until this teacher probably pulled the plug on them.
Just 2 more cents to add to this argument: I got a D in geometry. I had a hard time with the subject, and I needed help. My mom was ALWAYS involved in the learning process at home from day one of school for all of her kids, and she knew she couldn't help me alone (geometry not being a strong suit for her, either). So she got me a tutor once a week.
ReplyDeleteI STILL ony managed to get the D. So my mom talked to the teacher, who knew I'd had a hard time, and knew it was not a good subject for me. I was a B student at the time...and I tried hard to maintain that average. He proposed a solution for me, knowing that I was more a liberal arts-type student who wasnt likely to use geometry much in her future life agenda. He gave me the option of writing a paper so I could get a C. So that I wouldn't have to repeat the course.
It was the only time mom had to interject like that for me in any case, but I was thanful for her help. AND the teacher's understanding as well!
Parents MUST be engaged in their child's education. If they lack the interest, then the child will likely have little regard for it as well.
It is unbelievable that the teacher was made to apologize. Chicken shit administration bullshit is what that is. Anyone who says the teacher isn't doing her job should go work that job for a week and report back. There are no consequences any more - at home, the parents don't care about testing or grades (but they sure care if someone might say they aren't doing a good job raising their kid!) and the school can't care because expelling or suspending the troublemakers reduces the money they get from the state - and nobody wins. Nobody. Least of all the teachers. (Is it apparent my husband is a teacher yet? I get furious on his behalf every week.)
ReplyDeleteI applaud every word you have shared. I was a teacher and lasted 2 years and said fuck it. The only parents I had regular contact with were the ones that wanted to sue the district and my administrators kicked the stoll out from under my feet so that I could hang and swing for all to see. Teaching needs to begin at home with repect, basics, and more respect. To quote my mom, who was not about B.S. " I am not your friend I am your parents and you don't have to like what I say. When you you have graduated and begun to earn a living, then we can be friends". There is going to have ot be some changes taking place in this country. I actually found your rant (and I mean that with respect) by googling "i never want to teach again".
ReplyDeleteHa, I googled "why would anyone become a teacher." I am in my fifth year teaching, and the excuses made for children in my school are horrible. Yesterday, a child told one teacher to shut up two times, walked out of her classroom, cut two classes, told me to shut up and that I was getting on his nerves, and walked out of my room as well. Response from admin? "Oh, well he was having a bad day." So today, he told me to shut up and to stop telling people what to do, all before 8:30. Parents need to be parents. I can't wait to leave the field of education. Anyone considering education for a career, please think again.
ReplyDelete