Dr. (KN)J on Teachers on Parents on Teachers
Dr. (KN)J, our Royal Mathematician, writes in:
O Most Dread and Noble, etc.
If my recent conversations with public primary and secondary teachers are any indication, you have left a “blame arrow” out of your diagram. All the aforementioned teachers with whom I have spoken place a large chunk of blame on parents who seem to regard K-12 education as a free babysitting service, with the additional requirement of feeding their kids (for parents on the lower socioeconomic stratum) or boosting their precious snowflake’s self-esteem (for parents on the upper socioeconomic stratum). To be clear, they acknowledge that there are lots of terrific, involved, supportive parents out there – maybe even a strong majority – but the bad parental apples cause enough disruption to the system so as to be a significant problem.
I’m not sure that this affects your central point at all – less (or no) federal/state involvement means more control of the situation for teachers, who are the only ones really positioned to deal with the rogue parents, though they have little leverage over them. It may be, however, that the collapse of the system currently in place will be a sufficient “2×4 upside the head” for the problem parents that they may have an incentive to work with the teachers in building the system anew. One can always hope…
Dr. (KN)J,
Royal Mathematician to the Gormogons
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.