Parents (Teachers): You have Responsibilities, Few Rights, and Not Much Power – Part 1.
I just retired – as of this school year – from approximately 31 years of teaching. I haven’t retired from 25+ years of parenting. Being a parent and a teacher causes a strange kind of schizophrenia including multiple personality (dis)order (for those of you who are running or 35 watts, this is hyperbole). Think like a teacher by day, a parent by night and weekend. Very confusing!
Hanging around in the teacher’s lounge creates abundant evidence that what’s wrong with this generation is poor to non-existent parenting. Hanging around the house, intercepting teacher notes and telephone calls – among other pronouncements — provides about the same amount of evidence that what is wrong with this generation is poor or non-existent teaching.
It certainly is an easy task to prove both. Just cite standardized test score declines to teachers; rising juvenile crime rates to parents. Just sit in the mall and watch your unsupervised darlings; just watch classes change at any public middle or high school.
My wife – also a teacher – and I experienced many instances of poor parenting (as teachers) and poor teaching (as parents). Upon reflection, it appears the source of both might just be the same.
It is my hypothesis that much of both poor parenting and poor teaching can be traced to the same cause. The cause is the result of prevailing attitudes (carefully created over the last 60 years) in our modern (or post-modern) culture. These attitudes are not necessarily derived from parent or teacher actions. They have been foisted upon both groups by others whose agenda is built on stripping power from both parents and teachers — because “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Absolutely?
Parents (teachers) have been intimidated by faulty child psychology, faulty learning theories, the clear and present danger of being accused of child abuse, anti-parental (teacher) authority barrages emanating from everywhere from Nickelodeon to children’s books, and threats of legal action because of neglect of parental (teacher) responsibility (even when the means of living up to that responsibility have been severely limited). The default position of anyone dealing with parents (teachers) and their children (students) seems to have morphed into assuming that the parents (teachers) are at fault. This has created a nanny-empire pitted against parents (teachers) making parents (teachers) feel like (and usually be treated like) idiots no matter what they do – and powerless to defend themselves.
It is also my hypothesis that there is only one reason I could write the last paragraph and apply it to both teachers and parents. The Machiavellian agenda pushing against parents and teachers could not make any headway without the massive wall of suspicion and even enmity that has sprung up between parents and teachers.
It may have been excess for parents to always side with the teacher against their children. It may also have been excess for teachers to always side with parents against children. Replacing these extremes with “the parent (teacher) is always at fault,” has done much to disempower both groups. Children, instead of being victimized by no power, are now victimized by too much power. Notice I said victimized. Children are usually at the centerpiece of many a Machiavellian scheme – and, of course, it’s “for the good of the children” – always.
Now that the parent can’t seek the teacher’s help and the teacher can’t seek the parent’s help, and neither can seek “expert’s’” help (seemingly) ……. An incidental consequence of stripping power away from both teachers and parents — while still holding both groups very accountable – becomes apparent.
The atmosphere is ripe for youthful anarchy. Youthful anarchy, if not dealt with by those in charge of caring for our youth (you guessed it, parents and teachers), must be dealt with by someone!!!!!!!!
There is plenty of blame – even among parents and teachers – for this angst-producing, authority vacuum = analchy. Part 2 (and possibly 3) will attempt to shed some light on who is to blame.
Joe Johnston Sr.
Tags: abundant evidence, cause, child psychology, clear and present danger, evidence, generation, Hanging, Joe Johnston Sr., juvenile crime rates, learning theories, multiple personality, parent, parenting, parents and teachers, poor parenting, power, school, strange kind, teacher, teaching, test score
Filed under: Education Rants
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