I live in one of the few states remaining in the country that allow public schoolteachers to call strikes to force demands on their administrators and the taxpayers who fund their salaries.
While I don't support the right to strike, I do recognize the fact that teachers are faced with more challenges than ever before when it comes to educating today's youth.
Having attended school in the 70s and 80s, the classroom structure of then is far different than today. The big difference was the relationship that parents had with teachers.
If your parents were telephoned by a teacher or principal about your behavior or classroom performance, you were sure to hear about it.
And you were shaking in your shelltoe Adidases when you did. Because your parents fingered you as the cause of the problem. The teacher was right, you were wrong. And you were expected to straighten up and fly right.
Corporal punishment at school was one thing. Dad's wrath was another matter altogether.
Teachers and parents were partners in their child's future. Children who weren't performing well often had their parents called in to school by teachers to try and work together to improve the pupil's progress. Those who were behaving badly, well...refer to what I said in the foregoing paragraph about Dad's wrath.
Children don't see teachers as allies, but rather as adversaries when it comes to their education. And parents have defected from the side of the teachers to that of their offspring.
Parents, though not given the professional recognition, are teachers too. Only their teaching is different. A professional educator teaches the reading, writing, 'rithmetic, while the parent takes care of everything else.
That landscape has changed. And it all comes down to the absence of accountability by parents.
No Child Left Behind is a great example. It does nothing but hamper the educational process of able or above-average students for the sake of another child that's performing below their ability level.
Indulge me while I put on my 'grumpy old man' hat and glasses for a moment.
In my day, we had remedial classes for students that were performing below the class average. This was held in the 'activity' period at the beginning or end of the class day, with one-on-one or one-on-two coaching by the teacher to try and develop a more sound foundation in the subject matter.
It didn't mean the kid was stupid, retarded, or deserved a like negative label. Yet a select group of parents appalled at their kids being singled out from their kids through selective classes insisted that the teacher not progress with their lessons any further until their kid was able to keep up.
If that day ever came, that is. The rest of the class suffered as a result. We're now seeing the ramifications of this.
Remedial classes were taken out of the schools and put into places like Sylvan Learning Center, which does provide an outstanding service. However, the absence of in-school enrichment instruction now causes parents (who didn't object to such in-school classes where they belonged) unfair financial burden.
Education of our children should not be a war. But as long as there are kids and authority figures, there will always be conflict.
But parents can serve as NATO. Working with teachers to help their child reach their full learning potential, will help parents steer their children to foster a desire to learn that they will carry for their entire life.
NEXT WEEK: Part II
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