Most of us acknowledge that school systems worldwide are deeply flawed and require fresh, new and innovative ideas to get them kickstarted again. What we don’t need, however, are bizarre, extreme and non-sensical ideas that do more harm than good.
Last week I wrote about the Nebraskan senator trying to pass a bill that would allow teachers and administrators to carry concealed weapons for protection.
This week it’s Florida’s turn to create headlines for putting forward horrendous educational policy:
As lawmakers continue to debate education reform, Florida Rep. Kelli Stargel has a new idea: give teachers a break and grade parents instead.
Stargel has submitted a bill that would let teachers grade parent performance along with student outcomes, reports CNN.
Stargel said that parents should be just as involved in the education process as the students themselves.
“We have student accountability, we have teacher accountability, and we have administration accountability. This was the missing link, which was, look at the parent and making sure the parents are held accountable.”
The bill would give the option of grading parents as “satisfactory,” “unsatisfactory” or “needs improvement.”
Grading parents? Are you kidding? Is this some candid camera trick?
Because Stargel so evidently has failed to do her homework, I feel obliged to fill her in on some important points:
1. Teachers should never judge parents. It is the teacher’s job to co-operate with parents and assist them, not to assess them. Unless a parent is abusing the child or engaged in any other form of criminal activity, it is not the business of a teacher to make judgements on parental skills.
2. Yes, there are parents that do not involve themselves with their child’s education. Teacher’s should see this as an opportunity rather than an excuse. The child that doesn’t have actively engaged parents relies even more heavily on their teacher. This scenario should be seen as a fabulous opportunity to inspire, influence and reinvigorate the child. Stargel’s idea takes what some teacher’s see as a great opportunity to make a real difference and asks us to see it only as a negative.
3. By calling on teachers to grade parents, you are turning two crucial stakeholders in a child’s education against each other. Education is best administered when all major stakeholders are on the same page, or at least can work together harmoniously. To muddy the waters with negative ideas and forced judgments, Stargel has overlooked the most important ingredients to successful teaching.
In one week we have seen two law makers come up with insane ideas that deal with important issues in a simplistic and scattershot way. What is it with politicians? How can such seemingly intelligent people come up such lousy ideas?
Tags: Comedy, Education, life, News, Parenting, Politics, Teaching
Topical Teaching 
January 31, 2011 at 3:14 am |
Ack! You would think both stories were satire, wouldn’t you? I barely have time to grade student work–what exactly would I be grading the parents on? Would they have to turn in written work? I’m certainly not going to grade them on something as abstract as their parenting success. On your comment: “Yes, there are parents that do not involve themselves with their child’s education. Teacher’s should see this as an opportunity rather than an excuse.” Well….no matter what view we take of it, the outcome (in my 20+ years of experience) is usually bleak. I have rarely been able to have a positive effect on kids whose parents don’t care–no matter what methods I used. Thanks for the informative post!
January 31, 2011 at 3:37 am |
“How can such seemingly intelligent people come up such lousy ideas?”
Bad teaching, perhaps? But what gave you the idea that American politicians are intelligent? Intelligence has been seen as a liability for politicians in elections for the past 40 years.
January 31, 2011 at 3:43 am |
There are no words…my jaw dropped and hasn’t recovered. I wonder how much time was wasted on that proposal.
January 31, 2011 at 4:37 am |
I think that grading children with a general and mostly arbitrary scale is not very beneficial, but grading parents! This can only lead to defensive and uncomfortable relationships between home and school. Parents who are not involved in their child’s education are often wrestling with enormous problems or lack of good parenting models. I give a lot of positive feedback to parents who make small steps toward more thoughtful parenting. Also, I think that this could encourage some parents who live through their children to take an even more actively controlling role in their child’s life. I can’t see any positives in this. The less grading of anyone the better.
February 1, 2011 at 6:30 pm |
Well, I got tons of parent involvment using ONE TOOL…”The Kudo Call”…At random, each 6 weeks, I would call parents and invite them in for a conference. I would assure them that nothing was wrong, but that there is something I think they should see. When I did that BOTH parents showed up, and one time both parents and a grandparent came in.
I spent that conference going over the students’ strengths, and what I could see as far as his/her potential. They were so used to getting the negative calls, they were elated that THIS was what the conference was over! It gave them reason to give their child a pat on the back.
When it is a conference to address a concern, I always emphasize strengths first. I let them know the potential I see in their child and let them know that the child CAN do what I see him/her capable of doing. By focusing more on “positive” things and letting parents know what is going on, they usually find a way to help the student overcome obstacles that hold him/her back in other areas.
As for behaviors to be address, it is best to handle them the same way–especially if a certain behavior (like constantly falling asleep) is not normal for the child. I had one who cried all the time–a freshman girl. Her grades were fine but she came in at least 3 times a week in tears. They talked to her and found out she was having problems and they took her to a doctor. Once she got medication to clear up the problem (cysts), she was fine. She had never told her parents anything because she “didn’t want to worry them”.
That legislation is crap. I think if anything, they should mandate putting discipline back in the home and schools. There are CERTAIN kids lunch detention does NOT work for and neither does suspension. Can we mandate boot camps? Just kidding… 😉
February 1, 2011 at 6:32 pm |
Better yet, when it’s a kid who is REALLY out of control–like some of the gang kids I encounter, can we have a judge sentence a parent to attend school handcuffed to their kid for a week? Hit ’em in the pocket book and they’ll get junior to behave… I had to throw that in. I heard a judge in TX already does that… 😀
February 1, 2011 at 6:41 pm |
Don’t give that idea to your local senator – they might take you seriously kadja.
February 2, 2011 at 4:50 pm |
Hey, it might work~!