Teachers have a tough job. Part game warden, part trainer, part three ring circus master, part therapist, part cop, part instructor. It's tough work. And if you have a single student that is falling behind, do you stop the whole class to work with that student? Do you hold them after school? Do you drop them off the back? Plus you have the administration pushing you to complete the curriculum before the end of the year so the kids can "be ready" for what ever standardized tests are going to be thrown at the kids this year.

And that is in the best of circumstances for public schools (private schools are another matter). So what do you want the teacher to do? Slow down so the slowest in the class can catch up, and risk having the entire class fail at the end of the year OR drop that kid off the back of the bus, guarantee that kid fails but the rest of the kids make it through more or less intact? It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of situation.

Yes, it sounds like something else may be playing out here. Which one it is I don't know: teacher issues, undiagnosed learning/health issue with the student, principal issues, home problems that are distracting the student, lack of clear communication/uneven expectations between parent and school, in school harassment by other students, the list goes on and on and on. Without context that single rant doesn't tell me anything.

Why don't we all go over there and leave a few 'choice' comments :-)

palelizard: dready zim: SubBass49: More than likely the teacher said, "You're failing this class." It went through the "English to My-Snowflake-Is-A-Perfect-Angel" translator and came out as, "You're a horrible failure and will suck at life."

So what do you tell a kid who is honestly a horrible failure and will actually suck at life?

"I'll throw in another ten if you call me Daddy while you're down there. Twenty if you start crying."

and we have a winner.

CujoQuarrel: Why don't we all go over there and leave a few 'choice' comments :-)

now that`s an idea right there...

sigdiamond2000: RussianPooper: This can't be real. Blame the teachers for everything and then openly oppose anything they need to do to help your child get educated. It reads like satire.

This. She overplays her hand a few times.

No way this isn't satire.

If it isn't, this woman should be encased in amber and shot into the heart of the sun.

That's a waste of amber and rocket fuel.

dready zim: sounds like the opposite of TFA. Their kid should be in NASA and it`s the teachers fault if they don`t get there.

Clearly a parent making that realization is the opposite of the one that wrote the letter.

I'm also operating under the assumption that the letter is satire, but still.

Every school needs a half that makes the top half of the class possible.

/And the world, ditch diggers

Bashatizin' Smashmaster: March 13th this was posted, and it's just some parent biatching at a teacher and a principle because their kid isn't the brightest crayon in the box and it can't be mom/dad's fault because they have being a super awesome parent "down pat." And it gets a green. Why?

No, seriously.....WHY? We have no context for this letter, it's totally one-sided, whiny and...well.....stupid.

As someone else said, it gives everyone a chance to come out and be butthurt about teachers, parents, kids, etc. butthurt generates a TON of clicks and page views even if it's a low slow lob right through the strike zone like this.

EatHam: melopene: From what I hear, this sort of BS whining from parents has filtered into the first few years of undergrad.

I have had a parent call me after I did not bring their kid back for a second interview.

I would have been mortified if my parents had done that.

I have ADHD that was diagnosed the summer before 9th grade. All throughout elementary and middle school, my parents would help me with my homework on a daily basis. They would talk to the teachers about my performance in school, which was mostly pretty good, but I had this lovely habit of reading a book during class and not paying attention. They didn't talk down to the teachers; instead, they started a dialogue that was beneficial to everyone. It helped when my parents had to have some teachers fill out surveys to give to the doctor to diagnose my ADHD.

If this woman's son is struggling in school, *she* needs to check his planner. *She* needs to start a civil dialogue with the teacher/s about what *she* can do with him at home to help him learn the subject material better.

To be fair, I'm sure there are teachers who simply don't care. There are probably teachers who are just plain mean. But the author of this "blog" isn't doing herself any favors by acting like a spoiled brat.

MassAsster: CapnBlues: also, a "mushroom print" is sexual assault. so every post on this "blog" implies that the author of that post wishes sexual assault on the target of their invectives.

If I started a "I hope you get raped" blog, I'd be pilloried by society, possibly investigated by the authorities, and then shut down by just about anyone who would host that blog. Use a cute euphemism, though? now it's okay?

shame on fark.

Must be a chick...

nah, satire. but:

It's simple, Printers: a mushroom print is a very crude term for smacking someone in the face, in our case deservedly, with a certain member of the human body, usually found on a male. In short, a Mushroom Print is a dick-slap.

Link (new window)

also: usually found on a male? how many people with two and only two X chromosomes have you seen that have a dick? at least, one capable of delivering a mushroom tattoo.

I translate this open letter to teacher and principal as "How dare you not do my job?".

greenlady1: I have ADHD that was diagnosed the summer before 9th grade. All throughout elementary and middle school, my parents would help me with my homework on a daily basis. They would talk to the teachers about my performance in school, which was mostly pretty good, but I had this lovely habit of reading a book during class and not paying attention. They didn't talk down to the teachers; instead, they started a dialogue that was beneficial to everyone. It helped when my parents had to have some teachers fill out surveys to give to the doctor to diagnose my ADHD.

If this woman's son is struggling in school, *she* needs to check his planner. *She* needs to start a civil dialogue with the teacher/s about what *she* can do with him at home to help him learn the subject material better.

To be fair, I'm sure there are teachers who simply don't care. There are probably teachers who are just plain mean. But the author of this "blog" isn't doing herself any favors by acting like a spoiled brat.

Do i know you?

Parents like this are the reason my wife switched from her teaching position to her current job as school librarian. She's never been happier.

OnlyM3: Frederick

That read like "my kid sucks at school -it's the teachers fault".
So it is you that's the teacher, your wife, or your mom.

We have an involved parent, asking the school for help and the school farking up. Of course you blame the parent. Fark you. Did the letter have some errors? Sure, for example " You are supposed to be a fun, happy environment for kids to go to." No, school is supposed to be a safe, educational environment. That said, the Parent is trying to ensure his/her child does well and the school's answer (as it always is) is to humiliate the child and ignore the problem.

It read to me like she wasn't telling us the truth. The telling part for me was that when her kid was held after school, she came to take him away. She doesn't tell us why he was held after school or why she's so sure he didn't need it. Then she has the gall to tell the school they aren't doing anything. After school detention is one of the tools a school has for trying to get kids to behave and pay attention, and she won't let them. So I wouldn't be surprised if she was fighting the school on other things.

That being said, it sounds like the teacher and principal aren't doing a very good job either. I just can't manage to work up a whole lot of sympathy. We've all had bad teachers. We've all had administrators at the school who are more interested in bullying kids than helping them. Yes it sucks. But it doesn't warrant whining on some website.

Stupid greenlight is stupid

To the most part, it sounds like the parent is overreacting. Many of things that the parent is complaining about appear to be the student's or parent's issues.

HOWEVER, there is NO excuse for a teacher to insult a student.

And, if true, there is NO excuse for a teacher to respond with to a struggling student with, "we already went over this." That might be a red flag that the teacher doesn't understand the subject matter.

When I was in high school I had problems in an advanced math course. The only example the teacher would show us was the example problem that was worked out in the text book. When I asked the teacher how to properly solve a problem I got wrong on the homework or a test he would refuse and only offer to work out the example problem in the text. It was clear that our advanced math teacher didn't understand advanced math, and therefore was unable to teach it. The advanced math was above my parents level of knowledge and therefore they couldn't teach it to me, but they were not being paid a salary to teach the subject. I, and a handful of other students, ended up dropping the course. The following year I was able to take the same course with another teacher and was able to obtain good grades ( quarterly grades were A, B+, B, C+). The sad part is, 25 years later, I can remember the horrible teacher's name but not the one that was able to successfully teach the subject.

We need more teachers like this - http://youtu.be/tpog1_NFd2Q

Thunderpipes: Famous Thamas: I am so glad I didn't follow the herd in college and sign up to be a teacher. I may be bored as hell dealing with executive temper tantrums and posting on Fark, but it has to be better than putting up with crap like this.

I worked for one school year at an elementary school as an IT guy, and in that year I experienced the following:

-Sick for six months straight
-Had a stapler thrown at my head
-taught kids how to Kamehameha
-Called a racist by the head of the PTA for disciplining her child
-Called a racist for asking someone to move her car while on Bus duty
-vomited on multiple times
-Realized I was one of two male employees, me and the janitor
-Called in to help restrain an out of control special needs kid, who then bit me hard enough to draw blood
-Hooked up with that unhappily married minx of a history teacher
-Chased a kid all over the neighborhood who took off during recess
-Learned that kindergarten is one of the most insane things in the world
-So many teachers are so very lonely
-Taught a 5th grader the basics of organic chemistry, which he used to make a kickass science fair project
-Unintentionally became the head of the non-teachers union

Retire at 50 with a gigantic taxpayer funded pension, summers off, immunity to job loss, always get what you ask for or you strike, and get it anyway.....

Did you just complain about getting laid?

The lonely teacher part was nice, and now I understand why so many of them end up banging students. I cannot however, impart the sheer insanity of working in an elementary school. Setting foot into that building every morning was like stepping into Sigil as the Nameless One.

jehovahs witness protection: What the hell do you expect from union members?
Are they supposed to give a damn?

Clearly the kid has at least as much apathy as the writer makes out the faculty to have.

Why should the faculty give a shiat when there are other kids that do? They do not have infinite time.

It warms the cockles of my heart to know that no Farker or their child ever got a lemon teacher.

Third grade teachers have a power we never discuss. They have the potential to create lifelong learners or lifelong student failures. As an adult who finally clawed her way back to her own education, there have been many times when I've considered finding the grave of Mrs. Nash and "watering" it for the way she shamed, screamed, called students up to the front of the class to read cruel, pointed dictionary definitions ("Susie, please come read for the class this *point* definiton." "Yes, ma'am...lazy...") Mine was "potential," which felt just like lazy but had the added affect of making Susie hate me, too.

Nothing is more abusive than telling a child they've done something wrong when they actually did it right. Sounds like this teacher has some issues. Listen to the behaviors described before you assume every teacher is a saint and every parent trailer trash. There are still some rotten apples out there, generally the ones who are "older than dirt". Most new teachers don't last longer than five years in the profession. Idealists get weeded out pretty quickly and anyone who can make better money in another profession usually goes ahead and makes the jump.

Just because a teacher has been doing it for 25 or 30 years doesn't mean they're not a terrifying human being to a third grader. Just saying.

Think about the frustration teachers have to deal with:
1. Pay based on years of service as there is no agreeable way to base performance for merit pay
2. Lack of parenting at home requires parenting at school.
3. Laws prevent real punishment of students like back in the day.
4. No child left behind and standardized testing directly affect funding coming to the school, which drives teaching standards. Therefore, the teachers have to teach directly to that and have students memorize information instead of teaching concepts and such.

I, for one, am glad i don't have to deal with it. I have suggested numerous times that my wife find a different job. Sadly, this is the only job she could do now.

Thunderpipes: Retire at 50 with a gigantic taxpayer funded pension, summers off, immunity to job loss, always get what you ask for or you strike, and get it anyway.....

Do you really think this? Towns all over the country are cutting back on educational spending and eliminating teaching positions. In the last couple years my town cut two entire schools.

JeffreyScott: And, if true, there is NO excuse for a teacher to respond with to a struggling student with, "we already went over this." That might be a red flag that the teacher doesn't understand the subject matter.

I don't agree.

There are times when you've covered something so simple, so basic, that if you have to re-explain it either: (a) the kid is developmentally disabled. In the wrong class. or (b) the kid didn't pay attention the first time. Shouldn't be coddled.

And if you've explaining why 6 / 3 = 2 for the 4th or 5th time, that kid just used up their budget for one on one teacher time for the month. Time to cut losses and help the ones you can.

/Not a k-12 schoolteacher

"You are his teachers. Not his parents. You are supposed to be a fun, happy environment for kids to go to."

Two things are wrong with this argument.

1) Unless this is one of those weird hippy schools where Mother Earth and the Trees are supposed to impart wisdom, neither the teacher nor the principal is an environment. (Though if this IS that sort of school, that context helps explain a lot of the frustration the parent is feeling.)

2) Learning is not required to be fun or happy to be effective. In fact, learning has traditionally been done by rote, which is one of the least fun - and often most challenging - ways in which education can be accomplished. Different students have different learning styles, but one thing many professional educators will agree on is that "fun" learning isn't necessarily "effective" learning, because students who rely on "fun" techniques aren't as capable of demonstrating knowledge when they're required to prove they've acquired it.

The problem is that the parent is venting in a public forum and blaming the teacher and principal rather than asking, "should I be placing my child in a school that shares my values?" or "should I find a way to homeschool my child since I have his own best interests at heart?"

It's really easy for parents to forget that less than 100 years ago, getting a good education was the responsibility of the parents and the students, not the teachers. If you wanted your child to have a good education, you couldn't rely on the local schoolhouse - you had to hire tutors and force your child to diligently study. The 1950s, 60s and 70s brought about a lot of new ideas about how state-run schools could do a better job of educating everyone, but those ideas aren't perfect and they don't work for everyone. They're also reliant on government money flowing in. (I can't help but wonder if this same parents has voted against tax referendums to improve the local schools.)

It's easy to blame the teachers and administrators. But as with so many things, the blame largely rests on the person making the complaint, not the subjects of it.

Famous Thamas: -Hooked up with that unhappily married minx of a history teacher

So what I'm hearing you say is that if I get a job in a school, I'll get to hook up with attractive teachers...

someonelse: I know a lot of 14 year olds

Why don't you have a seat over there...

As parenting skills and, for that matter, legal limits placed upon them race the quality of public education to the bottom of the ladder, it's going to be a hoot to see what the batch of snowflakes being churned through the mill are capable of in 20 years.

I really hated school. Those teachers made me work all the time, and they never praised me for being awesome at sports and for having a great baseball card collection. All they ever did was try to teach me -- they never once just told me I was awesome for no reason at all. I think I'd like to get back at them now, though, so I'm going to vote for politicians that will cut their pay and make their lives really shiatty. That'll show my teachers, who are now all either retired or dead. That'll teach THEM a lesson. You don't boss me around, because I have a really lousy job at the mill that earns me just enough money to live here and vote.

Might I suggest a tutor?



/show your work

Not the most eloquent or professional letters to a teacher (even if only published online) -- but that does not necessarily mean that s/he is not in the right. Not saying s/he is, but just because the letter is badly stated does not mean the teacher/administration is doing the right thing. What makes me say this? Sadly, bitter experience.

As someone in special education, and the aunt of several kids with a range of learning disabilities (they don't seem to fall neatly into just one category), I know that like all human beings out there, some educators are 100% dedicated to the children, some are that kind of awful that makes you start fantasizing about really bad things, and then most fall in the middle and do bad things out of a range of reasons (funding problems, overworked, pegging kids with LDs as "bad apples", all the crap that teachers are expected to do on top of their jobs). You can understand some of it - kids in general can be REALLY annoying, and kids with LDs and EDs can be even worse. But that's what you sign up for when you sign up for education, especially when they sign up for special education.

The last school for the nephew with the worst problems was not following the legally required IEP (i.e. illegal!) and on top of it was actually covering up systematic bullying - they found out about it after the cop contradicted the "your son was in a minor scuffle but don't worry about it" official story with "those kids were trying to kill your son and very nearly succeeded", and the school tried everything to hide it (nephew is white, bullies were black), including pretending their video camera in the area stopped working at that exact time. After the court case, the nephew is now at a school for kids with LDs, and amazing how almost all of the ED problems disappeared - the teachers get how to teach to LDs, and he's not bullied and afraid for his life every day. And this is in a good public school district!

And that is how I learned that you can't automatically assume that educators are in the right, and that any parent who objects is a "precious snowflake" helicopter parent -- sometimes they're just "good parents". Like an iceberg, things can be very very very VERY wrong under the water line, and only have little hints peeping above water, and parents sometimes have to act on that intuition.

rudemix: Letter writer is a idiot.


FTFTTP

/fixed that for the trailer park

bunner: As parenting skills and, for that matter, legal limits placed upon them race the quality of public education to the bottom of the ladder, it's going to be a hoot to see what the batch of snowflakes being churned through the mill are capable of in 20 years.

what legal limits are being placed on parenting skills?

CapnBlues: also, a "mushroom print" is sexual assault. so every post on this "blog" implies that the author of that post wishes sexual assault on the target of their invectives.
.

OK, there smarty pants, let me set you straight! Since this revolves around trailer park lifestyles, we will have to go by trailer park rules. And, as we all know that means NASCAR. And we all know that invectives are not allowed in NASCAR (you have to use carbeurators). After that I got nuthin'

bunner: As parenting skills and, for that matter, legal limits placed upon them race the quality of public education to the bottom of the ladder, it's going to be a hoot to see what the batch of snowflakes being churned through the mill are capable of in 20 years.

The ones that would have done well anyway still will. The ones like that depicted in the letter won't, but they weren't doing well 20 years ago, either.

CapnBlues: bunner: As parenting skills and, for that matter, legal limits placed upon them race the quality of public education to the bottom of the ladder, it's going to be a hoot to see what the batch of snowflakes being churned through the mill are capable of in 20 years.

what legal limits are being placed on parenting skills?

You can't even beat your kid with a belt in public anymore.

BurnShrike: CapnBlues: bunner: As parenting skills and, for that matter, legal limits placed upon them race the quality of public education to the bottom of the ladder, it's going to be a hoot to see what the batch of snowflakes being churned through the mill are capable of in 20 years.

what legal limits are being placed on parenting skills?

You can't even beat your kid with a belt in public anymore.

wat

tentaculistic:

Too many acronyms. What are EDs?

reillan - So what I'm hearing you say is that if I get a job in a school, I'll get to hook up with attractive eye burning teachers...

FTFY

I quit teaching because of parents like this. I had one kid who got a zero on a book report because he plagiarized it, and his parents blamed me for not reminding him of the plagiarism/citation rules we spent two weeks on at the beginning of the school year.

Another mother blamed me for her child's lack of respect for me - apparently when I busted him for cheating, I lost all expectation for respect from him, according to her. Also, she told him it was ok to fail my class because I wasn't going to pass him because I didn't like him and he could have a different teacher the next year. Do you know how hard it is to get a 16-year-old kid to even try when their mother has told him to go ahead and fail?

she should send her kid to my district.

- not allowed to give a score of zero
- kids caught cheating get 2nd, 3rd, 4th chances (basically re-test until they stop cheating)
- teachers have to allow "re-dos" on all major assignments
- students can pass in work at any time without penalty, even on the last day of school
- after school detentions are not allowed
- teachers are obligated to give kids accommodations (scribing, reading of text, extra time, etc., etc., etc.) without an ILP in place


.And this is in jr/sr high schools. . .but we have GREAT assessment results!

SuperChuck: Thunderpipes: Retire at 50 with a gigantic taxpayer funded pension, summers off, immunity to job loss, always get what you ask for or you strike, and get it anyway.....

Do you really think this? Towns all over the country are cutting back on educational spending and eliminating teaching positions. In the last couple years my town cut two entire schools.

Yes, yes, he does. Let's not feed the troll, mmmk?

I've been poking around through the various articles and there's no way that's not a satire site. It's almost like someone read Old Man Murray back in the day and said, "Hey, I can do that.... but without being funny."

There are two sides to stories like this.

Yes, there are parents that try to push everything off on the teacher. But there are also teachers that don't get that some kids just need a little extra help.

Our oldest kid is super bright and outgoing. All of her teachers loved her. All they had to do was point her at the work and off she'd go. No trouble at all for them.

Our youngest has trouble with writing. This is a problem because they use writing to evaluate how she's doing with everything else. She knows the material, she just has trouble writing it down. Her first grade teacher picked up on this, and worked with her. Then comes second grade.

Her second grade teacher is the same one that our oldest had. We found out later that she specifically requested our youngest because she was expecting her to be like her sister.

But she's not. So we start getting these notices that she's failing everything, not learning the material, etc, etc. We had to go through multiple meetings with the teacher, the counselor, the principal, and pay for an outside evaluation before the teacher would recognize that the problem was how she was being tested, not the knowledge retention itself. It was like talking to a wall. "She's behind in everything." "That's because she's having trouble writing, and you use writing to evaluate it." "But she's behind." "No, she's not. Ask her anything." Ask kid a question. Kid responds with the correct answer. Ask kid to write the answer. It's unreadable. Repeat.

And before you ask, we do help her with her schoolwork. But we're also trying to wean her off that, because it really is her responsibility, and she really does need to be able to do it on her own. She CAN do it, she just wants us to do it with her. Our "help" consists of us asking her "What's that problem say?" She reads the problem. "What's the answer?" She gives the answer. "Ok, write that down." She writes it down. "I can't read that. Erase it and write it again."

The good part is that we finally got through to them what the problem is, and she's getting twice-weekly after-school writing sessions with someone who specializes in helping with that kind of thing.

mrswest: I quit teaching because of parents like this. I had one kid who got a zero on a book report because he plagiarized it, and his parents blamed me for not reminding him of the plagiarism/citation rules we spent two weeks on at the beginning of the school year.

Another mother blamed me for her child's lack of respect for me - apparently when I busted him for cheating, I lost all expectation for respect from him, according to her. Also, she told him it was ok to fail my class because I wasn't going to pass him because I didn't like him and he could have a different teacher the next year. Do you know how hard it is to get a 16-year-old kid to even try when their mother has told him to go ahead and fail?

xpennyroyaltyx: she should send her kid to my district.

- not allowed to give a score of zero
- kids caught cheating get 2nd, 3rd, 4th chances (basically re-test until they stop cheating)
- teachers have to allow "re-dos" on all major assignments
- students can pass in work at any time without penalty, even on the last day of school
- after school detentions are not allowed
- teachers are obligated to give kids accommodations (scribing, reading of text, extra time, etc., etc., etc.) without an ILP in place


.And this is in jr/sr high schools. . .but we have GREAT assessment results!

This is why I don't teach in primary or secondary schools.

/Well that and the kids are annoying as hell and the pay sucks
//Also the hours

Goddamn I'm so glad my kids are in Montessori.


Clue: Effective learning *can* be fun. Kids *love* to explore and learn things (just watch them sometime!). If they aren't enjoying their education, you are killing the natural curiosity and joy that exploration and discovery innately rewards our little simian brains.

Here's a comment I posted, let's see if it makes it through moderation:

My heart goes out to you. This poor kid is just trying to pursue happyness and get the education he needs to succeed in life, but instead this teacher is acting like an enemy of the state, pushing him down and treating him like a bad boy. I can certainly understand your frustration with the educational system when it seems like your child is being told he is a failure.

But sometimes, parents just don't understand that children need extra help at the home, as well as in the school. Just because the teacher sees your kid for most of the day doesn't mean she has the responsibility to make him responsible, or spend extra hours doublechecking things that are six steps away from common school activities. You will be the strongest influence in your child's life, while a teacher only sees him for a few months between summertimes. The teacher might have him most of the day, but he's yours in the morning and the evening. You're the alpha and the omega, man.

And besides, most of life's most important lessons are learned outside of the classroom. Conflict resolution with one's peers is more likely to happen on a basketball court than in a classroom. If you aren't able to reach out to your child and help him through the wild wild west that is social interaction, he'll end up alienated and alone, or turning into i robot. Even worse, you might have to pull him out of school entirely, and send him to live with an auntie or uncle in a different social setting. And that is an adjustment that is never easy, no matter how much a kid values their independence. Day after day they'll be forced to adjust to a new life.

So, please reconsider your feud with the school district. Otherwise, your child will be the only one who suffers.

That letter is stupid, and 3 weeks old. That this got green-lit is amazing to me. That I spent the time to read it is even more amazing to me. That's 2 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

That being said, I know what it's like as a parent to be frustrated with their kid's school. No, I don't think she phrased it well (profanity and insults won't help your case any), and she puts a lot on the school that should be her own responsibility, but she's too angry (and quite possibly too stupid, but you never know) to see that. What would probably best benefit the kid is a meeting of all involved parties to discuss what steps are necessary (on the parts of all parties) to help the child reach his full potential.

That being said, I can understand why they wouldn't want to meet with her (what with the threatened face-beating and man-part whooping), and from what I've read reasonability isn't her strong suit. Also, it's entirely possible the kid is working up to his potential.

I feel bad for the kid.