I have no excuse....
Lets chat tho today about Florida lawmakers.
There is a woman that wants teachers to GRADE parents.
Parents would get a Satisfactory, Needs Improvement, or Unsatisfactory. And the grade would be on the childs report card.
Ummm. What?? Are they kidding? Im mean seriously. Like for one, us parents do not have enough to do without worrying about being judged?
The new law would stipulate that teachers grade parents in 4 catergories.
1: Response to requests for communication or meetings
2: Childs completion of homework and readiness for tests
3: absences and tardies
4: physical preparation for school and a healthy meal (they word it Appropriate meal)
The problems I have with that is:
1: The parents that are already doing a good job and would get Satisfactories do not need to be told they are doing a good job, they already know they are, and would rather the teacher focus on what needs to be done in the classroom, like teaching my kids!
2: The parents who would get Unsatisfactories don't give a hoot what the teacher thinks because if they did, they wouldn't be getting Unsatisfactories in the first place.
3: The parents in the middle that need improvement are going to feel judged and even more stressed because they know they can do better, but there might be other circumstances where it is hard to get Satisfactories.
4: There are sometimes circumstances in a home that a parent can't always control. For instance, moms a single mom. She works 2 jobs. She comes home exhausted, fixes dinner, spends an hour reading or hanging with the kids and then tucks them in to bed. She doesn't have the time to follow up that the child is doing every ounce of homework. She asks the kid, "did you do your homework?" (because the child knows they are suppose to do it when they get home from school) the child says "Yes Mom, I finished it." Well, guess what, 5 out of 10 times the child has not done the work. The teacher calls to have a conference, but since Mom can not leave either job, or risk losing it, she can not make a conference. This is a mom who is doing her best, as she can, and is praying that her child realizes that.
5: As for food, while I feed my kids tons of veggies and I know they eat very healthy, there are some people who can not cook, don't like to cook, or simply does not have the time to cook. They are the ones that pop frozen chicken nuggets in the microwave, or tv dinners. These are not healthy, but at least the child has food in their stomachs. So with this law what is a teacher suppose to do? Ask each kid every day, "What did you eat last night Johnny? Just hot dogs ? Did you at least put ketchup on it? No veggies? What did you drink? Soda? Not milk? How about this morning? Just a bowl of cereal? No fruit?" I mean come on!! It's not the healthiest but the kid has eaten, and has enough energy to get thru the day to the next meal.
While I think that more parents than not, want their child to succeed and do well in life, it is not up to the teacher to GRADE a parent. As long as the child looks cared for, doesn't have bruises, the behavior is decent, then a teacher should be happy to just teach that child.
6: What about the tardy or absent child? Some parents leave for work before the child even wakes up. That means the kid has to get themselves up, fed and out the door in time for school. Even the best kid can sometimes not get up on time, or purposely delays heading out the door. Or even stays home! Some of these parents have to trust their kid will get up and be responsible enough to go to school on time. They can not afford to have a babysitter show up at 5am everyday.
I am a parent that makes sure my kids eat right, do their homework, get enough sleep, and gets to school on time, and doesn't miss too many days. However, I do not want a teacher to have to grade me! I think their time is better spent in the classroom teaching my kids about history, math, english, science, art, music.
Teachers know which parents would get an "S" or an "N" and they definitely know which parents would get an "U". Parents themselves also know what grade they would be given.
Let teachers TEACH. Let Parents PARENT.
Grading a parent isn't going to change how they are!
