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?
Topical Teaching 