Sup Teach?

Education Week recently posted an article highlighting points in a recent Obama speech on education. In it, he stresses the need for parents to be involved in their child’s learning career. Turn off the tv, turn off the video game sets, be the one pushing your child to learn.

In one quote, he says:

“I know that Thurgood Marshall did not argue Brown versus Board of Education so that some of us could stop doing our jobs as parents,” Sen. Obama said. “That wasn’t the deal. And I know that nine little children did not walk through a schoolhouse door in Little Rock so that we could stand by and let our children drop out of school and turn to gangs for the support they are not getting elsewhere.”

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Last week, at we had an open house for Summer Algebra Academy. In the past, these events make me nervous like no other. Talking in front of students up to the age of 18 is not a problem for me. But parents? Different story. This time around, I felt more comfortable than usual.

My projector failed on me, so I couldn’t show parents the slides I had prepared for them. I forgot to print before leaving my apartment, so I couldn’t hand out my pre-made parent letter. Nevertheless, I winged a pretty good explanation of what their student was experiencing in my class.

Things were going well, until…

“Any questions?”

(One hand raised in the back)

“Yeah, why have I not received any graded work back from my son? Do you grade anything?”

…

The same parent would go on to ask several other demanding questions, putting me under fire in front all the other parents and students.

“Do you use academic language in class?”, “Why doesn’t my son receive homework in the weekends?”, “Why can’t my son tell me what he’s learned in class on a daily basis?”

…

At first, this angered me. Give me a break. I teach well. Your son is learning. Trust me. In retrospect, however, I can’t get mad at all. Regardless of whether or not I feel her question-barrage was justified, all this parent was doing was looking out for her son. Can’t hate on that. Can’t hate at all.

In my young career as an educator, almost every student whose parent I’ve met does above average compared to his/her peers. A parent’s involvement in their son/daughter’s education makes a difference. While that might seem obvious, you must keep it in mind – especially if a parent ever makes things difficult for you.