This guest commentary by Elise Vogler at the Irascible Professor (found via Joanne Jacobs) is just stunning - and not in a good way. I don't often side with teachers who place all the blame for poor academic skills on parents - but this teacher makes her point pretty forcefully:
The vast majority of Americans would be shocked to learn of one potent force that keeps the quality of public education low. Budget problems, you ask? No. I'm talking about parents.
In my experience...most parents want an easy pass (in some cases, an easy A) rather than a course in which their children acquire real knowledge and skills.
I know that I was shocked when this truth first became apparent to me. Nothing in my teacher education courses had prepared me to deal with parents who would object that I assign homework, or who would take their objections not just to me, but to the principal, the superintendent, and the school board. It's not just the existence of homework that raises the ire of these parents; it's anything that provides an academic challenge to their children. It's as if the self-esteem movement has found full realization in the generation that is now parenting...
A case in point: just a few weeks ago, a freshman student named "Mark" came to me requesting that he be moved to the remedial English class as my class was too "hard" for him. I explained that the only reason he had earned a failing grade at the semester was because he had failed to do the work required in the course. Mark hadn't read the novels; he hadn't written any of the assigned essays; he hadn't completed the research paper required to pass. Was this because, as he claimed, the content was simply too hard? I don't believe that for an instant. Mark reads at the 76th percentile for his age! Students with far weaker skills are passing my class...of course, they are doing the assigned work.
Mark's father called the principal and superintendent both, demanding that his son be moved to remedial as requested. He didn't want to hear that our remedial program is reserved for students performing in the bottom quartile or that Mark is in the top. His point of view was exclusively that if Mark failed my class, it must be my fault; the course must be too hard.
What's frightening...is that in my experience, Mark's father is the norm, not the exception.
Ms. Vogler also notes that she was "accused of demanding 'college-level' work" from students enrolled in her history class who were taking open-book multiple-choice exams that had extensive study guides. Three-quarters of her students would fail these most basic of exams, and Ms. Vogler is right to point out that college-level work is much more demanding.
Her conclusion?
They never told me in education school that my biggest battle wouldn't be over funding or discipline, but over the simple issue of whether teachers should actually expect students to learn.
When parents expect this little from their students, discipline is impossible to impose, and funding is moot. How can discipline be imposed when parents refuse to believe that copying and plagiarism both constitute "cheating?" And what's the point of spending money on students when kids in the top percentiles get moved to remedial classes?
Posted by kswygert at March 8, 2004 10:14 AM