I must vent.

[cincoflex]

Today I received an Email from my son's teacher telling me that Younger Son missed turning in a major assignment. She went into great detail about how she'd informed the class about the project three weeks ago, that the dates were posted on her web page for the school site, and how she was accepting late work only through tomorrow

Comments

[spockside]

Nodding VERY SO MUCH.

[cincoflex]

Yeah, I'm sure you've seen your share of this particular parent trap!

[vr_trakowski]

I never thought about it, not having offspring, but you make complete sense. What a crock. Perhaps you should bring it up at a PTA meeting (hah).

[cincoflex]

*sigh* It's hard either way. You want to be involved with your kids and their work, but in some cases I question the value and purpose of the assignment.

[shippygrl]

Yes indeed! I don't know if you read Snarky in the Suburbs, but she wrote a post about how her teacher of the year award goes to a teacher at her kids school for flat out saying "I can tell when you do your kids work. If you do your kids work, I will give your kid a failing grade for the assignment. No discussion." She was thrilled, because it meant she no longer had to do her kids work in order for it to stand up to the work the other parents did.

[cincoflex]

heh, sounds like a teacher in the know--and probably one who has been a parent herself!

[kosmickway]

This was quite an interesting look at the OTHER side of the equation, seeing as how I'm the one doing the emailing and calling, not the one doing the "hurry up and get your ASS in gear, before I make it hit the wall

[cincoflex]

Yeah it's a tough call. Both of my kids are within the autism spectrum, but I won't play that card because it's not always relevant, and yet--their keyboarding skills aren't up to typing papers at the level the teacher wants, and even hand-eye coordination for glue and paper projects is touch and go at best.

And of course we run into the added issue of two or more teachers piling up assignments in the same timeframe. I empathize with the teachers since I am one myself, but holy cow, two kids with two to three projects each? It's enough to drive a parent batty.

[mae_stark]

Definitely nodding. I can say as one who has recently graduated from the public school system that I have definitely seen this happening. Not so much in high school, but definitely in middle and elementary school. I know that my parents have almost always left me to do my own projects, but they used to closely oversee and ensure that my project wasn't a heap of shit. But overall, it was me doing the work.

[cincoflex]

I have overseen a lot of it, and for basic research and material gathering my boys are good, but the final compilation? Depending on the number of steps or requirements, it can be easy or oh-my-God, depending.