Why aren't parents more involved in their children's schools?

[Babydoll]

I had a commitee meeting yesterday at my child's school. On this commitee , I am one of two parent representatives. The question arises: Why arent parents more involved in the school?

I told the faculty that the parents dont feel welcome or needed at the school and if they felt more welcome their presence would help the school with safety and discipline issues and make their jobs easier. They thought parents would be a distraction.

[afrocentric]

Originally Posted by Babydoll

I had a commitee meeting yesterday at my child's school. On this commitee , I am one of two parent representatives. The question arises: Why arent parents more involved in the school?

I told the faculty that the parents dont feel welcome or needed at the school and if they felt more welcome their presence would help the school with safety and discipline issues and make their jobs easier. They thought parents would be a distraction.

Maybe some parents have demanding jobs. Or that some parents don't have transportations. I don't even think that most parents know that they can communicate to the teachers by calling or emailing. If I don't make it to the meetings, I'll email or make a call.

[MzKwietStorm]

Well the issue with my daughter's school is everything either starts at 4 or 5. The average working person gets off around that time. If they had programs that started around 6 that wouldn't be so bad. But I'll still schedule a time to meet with her teacher to discuss any concerns I may have.

[Babydoll]

Originally Posted by blackGOP17

That statement right there is abhorrent to my senses. No wonder some government schools are failing children so badly. It is because of this attitude that they have toward parents that entrust them to be the partner in the education of their children. How the h*** is the parent a "distraction"?

Exactly, that's the same way I felt. I understand when people dont have time. But, there are a lot of parnets who dont work and have a lot of time on their hands. They will drop their kids off at a function, but wont offer to stay and help out. They just dont understand how much they are needed.

Parents wouldn't be a distraction. If they were always there, the kids wouldn't become accustomed to their presence.

I'm there so often, some of the students think I work there.

We hadd 50 kids at an after school activity and none of the teachers wanted to stay. I know they are worn out by the time 3pm gets here. But, the parents dropped the kids off for an hour and came back, when we needed then there to make the event a success.

[ardamus]

I always wondered this. When I see parents that are real close with their kids, its great because it seems like the parents took time out to find out what interests the child has. And from there, a better relationship has been built. And kids that seem so distant from their parents to have more of a typical parent-to-child relationship where it seems like anything can happen; all because of a little bit of misunderstanding.

[matrixone05]

I think it is ridiculous that they would consider parents a distraction. I agree that the time of most school events exclude a lot of parents, or limit their participation, but there are still some that are available. That is one of the problems with the educational system. The more parents are involved, the more children know what is expected of them and the more they strive to live up to those expectations.

[MakaVeli_Pac]

reason why some parents arent more involved in their kids schools is because Lack of education and expect the teachers to do it all for them. Parents today arent as dedicated like they were when we were going to school.It's a sad world we live in

[Evil_eyez]

This is a important issue that teachers face. There have been situation where a class is comprised of almost 30 kids and only 5 parents are consistently coming.
As someone that is in the teaching profession, we take into consideration that people work so we schedule our meetings round 6.30-7.00. There is also provision for those parents that work at nite to come in during school hours. At the beginning on the year we give our phone numbers so that we are reachable.
But it just seems that some parents just don't give a damn and they act somewhat inconvienced when approached on matters pertaining to their child/children. There are those parents that say that "your the teacher, thats what your getting paid to do...so just deal with the matter!"
This attitude discourages me as a young teacher. Parents need to realise that teachers and parents need to work together. If the children notice that their parents and their teachers are working together it might limit the misbehaviour and poor academic performance.

[pink_panther]

Well in Sweden parenths have to go to school with their children if the children are doing to bad or skipping school et c.

Their parenths will get their normal working wage from the state. The children thinks its embaracing at first, but then the get used to it and when its finished they are in pace and stop skipping school.

And they will not loose their jobs, Thought I might have to add that cause I know americans have no civil rights.

[sonflour_2001]

Originally Posted by pink_panther

Well in Sweden parenths have to go to school with their children if the children are doing to bad or skipping school et c.

Their parenths will get their normal working wage from the state. The children thinks its embaracing at first, but then the get used to it and when its finished they are in pace and stop skipping school.

And they will not loose their jobs, Thought I might have to add that cause I know americans have no civil rights.

Sweden has a lot of beautiful things going for it right now. In fact it's one of the most popular countries for immigration and it's population is being damaged because of it.

Sonflour