The reason I will never go back to teaching High School

too true...

reminds me of this story

a woman yells up the stairs, "get up now and get ready for school", a voice from the upstairs complains, "i don't want to go to school, the kids pick on me, the teachers don't like me, i feel like a failure", the woman replies, "that may be so, but you're the principal and it's your job"

Ah, yes, parents. I've seen them improve schools and ruin schools . . . or . . . at least attempt to ruin them.

Y'know this is really interesting.
I agree with the sentiment behind the cartoon in principle however....

A teachers job is to teach. If the kid fails to learn has the teacher done his job? If i didnt do the work given to me by my employer I would be sacked.

I suspect that there needs to be more emphasis on special ed classes and or extra/different methods of teaching for the not so smart kids.

I suspect you are right.

Somewhat off topic, there are some charter schools in Harlem (NYC) that are astonishingly successful. No tuition, and students are selected by lottery. The big difference seems to be that students are sort of preselected, but only on the basis of having parents that are sufficiently interested to take the time of making application.

We watched taped classes from a school in Worcester, MA that sounds a lot like the school you're talking about, Rog. The school where I student taught was based on the precepts - parents could not have attended collge - the kids scored at the 35% percentile or lower - The Worcester school had a 100% enrollment in formal education, 100% pass rate on graduation tests, 100% passage of standardized tests.

I believe that teaching IS the biggest factor in student success. But, I also know the paperwork tied to NCLB is enough to make a teacher want to blow their brains out.

Teaching may be the biggest factor, but don't overlook parent and student motivation. The big secret of charter schools is that while admission may be by lottery, the students are still preselected. Only motivated parents bother to apply. If the others don't care, I would bet their kids don't, either.

One of the things a teacher does on the first day of school is assess the students. This can be done through a questionnaire or a by having the students write something or both.

I asked my SPED students who were judged to be made ready for mainstream classes within a year what books they liked that they read at home as small children and what books they remember reading in school (in that system, elementary school teachers read books out loud to the kids after lunch). One girl told me that she hates all books because her mother hates books. Home life can be a difficult obstacle to overcome.

That cartoon is the sad truth.

Lots of parents send their kids to school to be babysat for 6 hours.

My husband taught middle school for 35 years - English and history. He witnessed the decline in the parent participation and the increase in bad behavior of the students over the years. Plus an administration that was more interested in "public perception" than getting rid of disruptive kids in the school.

Also, he was told to stop teaching grammar and ignore spelling mistakes in writing.

His last year, a 150 pound kid hit my husband's hand while my husband had another kid in a headlock after breaking up a fight between the two. Two surgeries later and an adminnistration that would not press charges or get rid of the kid, he decided, "that's enough."

I found out, though Rog, that many students don't have interested parents - or the parents are really distracted by two jobs or too many children - and many children have lost motivation... An engaged, well-trained teacher can win for the kid against those barriers.

Sure. Hold all other variables constant and good teachers take the prize.

I'd also imagine the parents help out a bit too. The teacher is supposed to teach, but if the parents do not support and promote the child to do his work, it makes the teacher's job all the more difficult especially when the children are young.

I'd also venture to say that those charter schools doing so well - are parents that are pushing their kids to get in their. Not all, but a good amount.

I was late in my remark

Whatever happened to the teacher throwing the duster at the student or whipping the kid who got the answer wrong after explaining the topic for the umpteenth time in class?

Colleges and universities have begun seeing helicopter parents as well. Parents come/call and speak with their adult children's teachers.

My guess is that if a teacher put a kick in a headlock for fighting in my school they'd see their job terminated.

I have lots of conversations about all of this stuff with colleagues.

How much should we expect the parents to do at home?
How far do we go to engage a kid who isn't pulling his weight?
How do we deal with parents who expect an inordinate amount of our time?
Can we no longer allow a kid to experience natural consequences (getting bad grades for lack of effort) without the parents stepping in to defeat that purpose?
How do we distinguish and deal with those who are getting bad grades while working hard versus those who are simply not engaged/trying at all?

The best way to avoid irate helicopter parents is to communicate with them BEFORE the grades go home. Teachers send out progress reports mid-term and final grades at the ends of the terms. Teachers send failing tests and quizzes home to be signed by parents (and often expect rewrites). Teachers and support staff email and call parents to explain the difficulties students are having in between all those other communications.

As support staff, I spend hours every week communicating with parents about their kids. I tell them what homework is due when, when tests and quizzes are, what's on those assessments, bad grades gotten, ways to make up grade averages, what's late/over due, how to help their child study for individual teacher, etc.....

Exactly, lil'k. I spend a lot of time communicating with parents, too. If a student gets a poor final grade in one of my classes, their parents know exactly why. And they are typically just as frustrated with their kid as I am, if not more so.

I worked briefly in the graduate admissions office of a business school that was part of a state university. Those helicopter parents called to chide us for not accepting their snot nosed 21 year olds.

Didn't work, did it!

Nope! Business schools want students who have been out in the world. One particular mother called to say she and her husband "always intended (whatever the kid's name is) would earn an MBA." I wanted to say, "Really? What does he want?"

I said the school prefers students who have been in world of work. She answered that he has worked since he was 7. I did say that walking the neighbor's dog and mowing lawns does not count.

He commuted to the university for his undergrad degree, which is fine. I did that and so did many of my classmates because it was the only way we could go to school. I had the impression after talking to the mother that had her son even been allowed to apply to Tufts or BU, she wouldn't have allowed him to go.

I told her that her son should look for work in NYC or Chicago or LA. She was silent but I thought this kid needed rescuing from his "smother."