dyslexia, I beg to differ. There are some parents (I can think of two families right off the bat) who simply aren't as tuned in as they should be. Maybe they're busy with work, maybe there are other issues at hand but when your kid is getting lousy grades, it's time to reprioritize. When the teachers are telling you that your kid isn't doing his/her homework, doesn't it make sense for the parent to start checking on that homework every night? Don't just ask if they've done the homework but ask to see it. Look it over. Whether you understand it completely or not.
The second time I saw this happen, that's when it became obvious that many of today's parents just aren't tuned in. They're not paying attention to what's happening with their children.
And? If that parent has time to talk to you they can squeeze out 5 minutes every few months to call their kid's school.
I did my work-study with Child Protective Services and the problem wasn't a lack of time or ability with 95% of those parents. It was a a matter of priorities and sadly, their children weren't usually their top priority.
fishin' beat me to it but there you go. Obviously, the priority was on this child's education.
The problem with the education system is not just politics or just the teachers or just the parents or just the students. It's a combination.
what can i say: for me what i saw as typical was the 25 year old lady from Georgia married to a G.I. E-5, three kids aged from 18 months-5 yrs and 7yrs, husband is off in S.Korea for a year, they live in off base housing (army ghetto) getting food stamps, and the car runs some of the time, the 5 yr old is in half day sessions and the 7yr old is bused to school, the landramat is a block away, and the nearest relative is 1,000 miles away. Yeah her priorities aren't what they should be but she is doing what she knows.
Yeah, that young woman is having a tough time. No doubt about it.
trespassers will wrote:dyslexia wrote:"Helping a kid with homework can be great, but how about just knowing whether your kid has homework, whether he or she has done the homework, whether or not your kid is in fact showing up in school, knowing your kid's teachers, making sure he or she gets enough sleep and enough to eat..."
simplistic, trite, sophmoric but cute.
Make it more complex for me, and I'll tell you if it makes more sense that way, okay?
I love the people who hang out here just to insult others. It keeps things just bristling with energy!
Hey tres, you do okay with insults yourself- granted you try to be urbane and subtle with it (I suppose that gets you points to some bizzare observer), but you stick it in and turn it right along with the others. What makes you stand out is that you keep trying to lay claim to some kind of moral superiority - that's insulting too - to my intelligence.
snood wrote:trespassers will wrote:dyslexia wrote:"Helping a kid with homework can be great, but how about just knowing whether your kid has homework, whether he or she has done the homework, whether or not your kid is in fact showing up in school, knowing your kid's teachers, making sure he or she gets enough sleep and enough to eat..."
simplistic, trite, sophmoric but cute.
Make it more complex for me, and I'll tell you if it makes more sense that way, okay?
I love the people who hang out here just to insult others. It keeps things just bristling with energy!
Hey tres, you do okay with insults yourself- granted you try to be urbane and subtle with it (I suppose that gets you points to some bizzare observer), but you stick it in and turn it right along with the others. What makes you stand out is that you keep trying to lay claim to some kind of moral superiority - that's insulting too - to my intelligence.
Now Snood, certainly you--of all people--won't begrudge me having a little light-hearted chuckle with one of my pals... Perhaps you'd rather I get all indignant about it and throw a little hissy fit and demand to be treated like a lady!
Lighten up. I suspect that even you recognize the difference between insulting someone for offering their opinion and offering a little sarcasm in your reply to someone who just insulted you for no reason. You've got to admit I've been a damn-site more polite to you than you have to me. Come on now, God is watching... :wink:
A2K - Maybe it's just Abuzz after all...
- TW
Okay, you've convinced me, tres - when you do it, it's always in fun, in self defense, or otherwise justified. When others do it, they're unfairly attacking you... makes sense to me...
fishin' wrote:And? If that parent has time to talk to you they can squeeze out 5 minutes every few months to call their kid's school.
I did my work-study with Child Protective Services and the problem wasn't a lack of time or ability with 95% of those parents. It was a a matter of priorities and sadly, their children weren't usually their top priority.
You have a good point here, fishin, but realize also that if this family has reached the attention of the child protective services, they were already in a minority of neglecting and/or abusive families. Most families do try, though they aren't consisitent about their efforts, and their priorities run toward soccer, shopping, watching tv, etc..
eoe wrote:dyslexia, I beg to differ. There are some parents (I can think of two families right off the bat) who simply aren't as tuned in as they should be. Maybe they're busy with work, maybe there are other issues at hand but when your kid is getting lousy grades, it's time to reprioritize. When the teachers are telling you that your kid isn't doing his/her homework, doesn't it make sense for the parent to start checking on that homework every night? Don't just ask if they've done the homework but ask to see it. Look it over. Whether you understand it completely or not.
The second time I saw this happen, that's when it became obvious that many of today's parents just aren't tuned in. They're not paying attention to what's happening with their children.
I think this is very true, and I wonder why parents aren't tuned in? It's true that they find it easier to blame the schools for their childrens'poor performance than to actually make time to help them out. A lot of them don't even bother to show up for parent conference appointments. As a teacher, among many other teachers, our collective philospohy is that we're on our own with these children, and try to come up with interventions during the school day to help them out.
eoe
From Websters dictionary
Main Entry: Oriental
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
: a member of one of the indigenous peoples of the Orient
I looked it up au and you are absolutely correct. I got raked over the coals a couple of years ago for referring to a man as an 'Oriental.' Should have looked it up then.
eoe wrote:Yeah, that young woman is having a tough time. No doubt about it.
Maybe that young woman--and her husband are
making bad decisions.
snood wrote:Okay, you've convinced me, tres - when you do it, it's always in fun, in self defense, or otherwise justified. When others do it, they're unfairly attacking you... makes sense to me...
See? I knew you could tell the difference!
- TW
Yep, tw, that young woman and her husband are making bad decisions. No doubt abouit that either. But check this out...
What's a Military Family Worth?
by Rush Limbaugh, March 11, 2002
I think the vast differences in compensation between the victims of the September 11th casualty, and those who die serving the country in uniform, are profound.
No one is really talking about it either because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11th. Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of
this country.
If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million. If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable. Next, you get $1,750 for burial
costs.
If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt. Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough.
We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11th families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over fifty years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad.
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steadydedication of a lifetime."-Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
Every time when a pay raise comes up for the military they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low rent housing.
However our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one-time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month and most are now equal to be
millionaires plus.
They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system. If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7 they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harms way receive a pension of $15,000 per month. I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and
join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.
"When do we finally do something about this ??"
TW: "Maybe that young woman--and her husband are making bad decisions."
problem is the children are the victims, all the blaming and holding account for what could be done, what should be done, where responsibity lies, does nothing for the child.
dyslexia wrote:TW: "Maybe that young woman--and her husband are making bad decisions."
problem is the children are the victims, all the blaming and holding account for what could be done, what should be done, where responsibity lies, does nothing for the child.
There's a profound difference between "blaming" and recognizing reality. We can't hope to find
real solutions until we address
real problems. Helping people escape the disastrous results of their bad decisions simply trains people AND society that there are no disastrous results from bad decisions, so why avoid making bad decisions?
As to it being the children who suffer, I agree. And I would assert that MORE children suffer today because well-intentioned social programs have unwittingly encouraged bad decision making by parents through masking the real costs of those decisions. Or in more straightforward terms, I think fewer children would suffer if we intervened less and educated more.
eoe
Rush Limbaugh has finally said something that is worthwhile.
eoe - I agree that we could pay our military personnel better. (I am former Navy.)
- TW
I will probably regret voicing this but I believe that the WTC disaster has become a political football and the greedy are milking it for as much as they can get. I keep reading that the kin of those that perished think they are not getting enough instead of being greatful to a caring nation for it's largesse.
