Apparently I have education on the brain these days. Today I read an article (from the New York Times) about a high school English teacher who requires parents to do homework and post their responses on a blog that he created for them. If the parents do not do the homework, then, he will actually lower the student's grade.
I think this is GREAT, and while I really would not want to do homework for all classes, every day ,or even every semester, I would love to have an opportunity to talk to my surly teenager about what he is reading, what he thinks, and compare notes on what he wrote versus what I wrote. But, when I think about it, I guess I have this romantic notion that I will do something like that anyway -- that I will read through their text books at the beginning of the year, see what they are learning, and then use some of what they are learning to have conversations with them and see how they are thinking, and to challenge them. I remember wishing that I could have my parents take part in conversations like that, from time to time, when I was in school.
Does everyone think that they will do something like that with their kids and just never get around to it because being an adult is hard (it IS hard) and busy and that project at work needs getting done more than re-reading something and discussing it with your kids? Or am I just a huge geek?
I know I am not that much of a geek, because Brooke (who is not usually a geek) and I have both talked about how we feel like we will need to take a community college course in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, and basic college math before our boys take those classes in high school. For the science classes -- so much has changed since Brooke and I were in school that we feel like we will need the classes to learn about what has happened in the last twenty, thirty years. Heck, in the seven years between when Brooke was in school and I was in school, there were major developments! As for the math class -- that is so that we can help with boys with algebra, trig, geometry, and calculus.
Perhaps it is pie-in-the-sky -- but, I bet that Brooke and I get involved early and often in the boys' education. Even now, we try to get information about the "curriculum" Drew is being taught at preschool and reinforce it at home -- in addition to the letters, numbers, shapes, and colors -- the preschool has a theme each week where they teach new vocabulary and gear the art projects, stories, songs, etc. to that theme. So, there was an "animal in springtime" theme and there has already been a "harvest theme", etc. Now, Drew is only 2, so, we are not talking major teaching/education going on here, but, at least it is something that causes him to use his brain and make associations.
So, anyway, those are my thoughts on the issue.
The Bernheisel List, 2023
4 months ago
1 comment:
My initial reaction is that it's a great idea, but then I realized that's only because I would enjoy it. As I thought about it more, it began to seem like not-such-a-good-idea.
First, there's the "I'm the parent, you're the child" principle. I eat dessert, my kids don't. I stay up late and watch movies, my kids don't. Just because it's something they have to do doesn't mean it's something I have to do. There are different rules for adults and kids. Granted, I try my best to set a good example for my kids, but that doesn't mean that we have to abide by the same rules.
Second, there's the issue of authority. I am the ultimate authority for my children (aside from the Almighty, but that's a different story). When my child's teacher requires that I do something "or else," then that teacher has trumped my authority in my own home. I have utmost respect for teachers, but when my child sees that I'm doing something because it's required by his/her teacher, then the message is that the teacher is the ultimate authority.
Third, how fair is it to base a child's grade on parental involvement? There are some kids who are defying every odd by excelling despite the fact that their parents don't give a rat's rear end what they're doing in school, and good for them. That teacher's salary isn't based on how well his wife cooks or how well his kids do in school, so why should the student's grade be dependent on how well the parent participates? If that was how things worked, I could guarantee that Jay wouldn't have his job now (because they could easily have chosen not to hire him based on his wife's profession)
Fourth, what about parents who don't have the resources to do that? What about the parents who don't have the intellectual ability to do that? If I'm a single mom working two jobs to put food on the table, it'll be a Frosty Friday in Hell before I sit down at a computer (do I even have one?) and make my attempts at self-actualization. To believe that everyone has the time, ability, and resources to do that is the downfall of the privileged.
Of course, I know that I'll read along with every book my kids are assigned and I'll make sure every assignment is done, but I think that such a requirement is just a bad idea.
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