Tag Archive for 'Parents'

Give Me Harvard or Give Me Death

Published by Robert Pondiscio on November 10, 2009 in Assessment and Testing, Parents and accountability. 0 Comments

Parental anxiety is ruining playtime, notes the Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss.  It’s not news that lots of preschool parents have become “super-anxious trying to give their kids a leg up on kindergarten,” Strauss writes at The Answer Sheet.  “But I didn’t realize just how nutty things had become until I talked to several dozen preschool program directors.”

Among the examples she cites: parents begging school directors to let their 1 1/2 -year-olds into programs for 2-year-olds “because Danny and Olivia are so incredibly advanced”; demanding to know why 2-year-olds aren’t being given the alphabet to copy over and over and memorize; and enrolling their kids in so many activities that three year olds fall asleep at their desks.

“People! This is the only time your child has to be a child!” she writes.  I was in complete agreement until I got to this line:  “The reason for all of this is No Child Left Behind, which has pushed curriculum down into the earliest grades and put the focus on high-stakes standardized tests that start as early as third grade.”

“I’m sorry, but blaming NCLB for elite parents pushing preschoolers too hard on academics and activities is BS,” says New America’s Sara Mead on Twitter.  Agreed.  A generation ago, New York Magazine wrote a cover story about the fierce competition among Manhattan parents to get Danny and Olivia into just the right preschool, just the right prep school, just the right college–and the relentless pressure on even the youngest kids.  The legendary cover line: “Give Me Harvard or Give Me Death.”

There’s plenty wrong with NCLB and blunt-force accountability.  But if it disappeared tomorrow, Danny and Olivia would not suddenly be kickin’ it on the playground.  Well, maybe for 1o minutes after piano lessons and before the gourmet cooking class…

Obesity and Belligerence

Published by Robert Pondiscio on June 17, 2009 in Education News and Parents. 2 Comments

“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.”

Barry Goldwater never met MeMe Roth.  The New York Times (HT: Joanne Jacobs) has a piece about the Upper West Side Manhattan mother who is waging war on junk food in her child’s school.  But it’s not the school lunches that have MeMe’s knickers in a knot.

What sets her off is the junk food served on special occasions: the cupcakes that come out for every birthday, the doughnuts her children were once given in gym, the sugary “Fun-Dip” packets that some parent provided the whole class on Valentine’s Day…When offered any food at school other than the school lunch, Ms. Roth’s children — who shall go nameless since it seems they have enough on, or off, their plates — are instructed to deposit the item into a piece of Tupperware their mother calls a “junk food collector.”

Ms. Roth, who runs a group called National Action Against Obesity, has something of a record on this issue.  “The police were called to a Y.M.C.A. in 2007 when she absconded with the sprinkles and syrups on a table where members were being served ice cream,” notes the Times’ Susan Dominus.  ”That was Ms. Roth who called Santa Claus fat on television that Christmas, and she has a continuing campaign against the humble Girl Scout cookies, on the premise that no community activity should promote unhealthy eating.”

When the Roths lived in Millburn, New Jersey, MeMe (Me! Me!) waged a similar campaign against bagels and Pringles in school lunches leading to an e-mail from a PTA member that counseled “Please, consider moving.”   Sounds like P.S. 9 is thinking the same thing.   School safety officials have reportedly suggested the Roths request a health and safety transfer.

A commenter on the Times’ message board sums up the issue neatly and economically:  “Obesity is unhealthy. And so is belligerence.”

Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be…

Published by Robert Pondiscio on June 4, 2009 in No category. 4 Comments

…reality show stars.  Honestly, where are these kids’ parents?

Britain Prepares a Crackdown on Student Discipline

Published by Robert Pondiscio on April 15, 2009 in Education News and Parents. 5 Comments

A British government study into classroom behavior calls for holding parents accountable for their child’s classroom behavior, including fines for condoning truancy.  “More schools will also be encouraged to use traditional methods such as detentions, suspensions, isolation rooms and lunchtime curfews to punish badly behaved pupils,” London’s Telegraph reports.  ”They will be told to order pupils to remove caps and confiscate mobile phones. Guidance also calls on schools to punish rowdy behavior, bullying and fighting outside the school gates, including incidents on public transport, to stop poor behavior spilling onto the streets.”

The conclusions are presented in a major review by Sir Alan Steer, the Government’s leading behaviour expert. They came as teachers warned that existing methods were failing as a “reward culture” seen in banks was spreading to schools. Jules Donaldson, from the NASUWT teachers’ union, claimed some headteachers were fuelling the problem by handing out prizes if children promise to behave instead of setting proper boundaries.

“Children can’t learn if classes are disrupted by bad behaviour,” said Ed Balls, Britain’s Schools Secretary. ”That’s why parents tell me they want tough and fair discipline in every school. That means we must all play our part and back our teachers when they use their powers to keep good order.  Everyone needs to share the responsibility of maintaining discipline, including governing bodies and parents. Where parents are unable to do this, it’s right that local authorities should consistently use parenting contracts as a way to support and help parents face up to their responsibilities.”

A teacher’s union survey of 10,000 teachers in Britain shows an average of 50 minutes of lost classroom each day due to misbehavior.

Who’s To Blame for Bad Schools? Look in the Mirror

Published by Robert Pondiscio on January 27, 2009 in Education Leadership, Education News, Higher Education and Parents. 16 Comments

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=OXQs8ykQ0dg&amp;feature">http://youtube.com/watch?v=OXQs8ykQ0dg&amp;feature</a>

Nevada’s public education system is a “disaster” says the state’s university chancellor, and Nevadans have no one to blame but themselves.  In a remarkable and scathing “State of the System” speech ostensibly to rail against proposed cuts to the state’s education budget, James Rogers calls Nevada’s parents to account.

The state of K-16 education in Nevada is where the public–that is you out there–has allowed it to sink.  Your only relationship with the education system is to ship your unprepared kids to school not with the expectation of success, but with the demand that an education system, inadequately funded, develop and/or repair children that you as a parent did not prepare for school or support while your children attended school.  If you want a competent and productive education system, tell your Governor and legislators to fund it. They do what they think you want them to do.  That’s why they’re called public servants.  It is the public–that means you– that has created this disaster of a public education system. 

It’s a blistering Jeremiad.  Nevadans once hoped to see their kids go to college, but today are satisfied if their children graduate from eighth grade, Rogers says.  And don’t blame educators for the state’s poor schools.  The founder and owner of Sunbelt Communications Company, which owns and operates 16 NBC and FOX affiliate television stations in five western states, Rogers says when he became Nevada’s chancellor five years ago he came to the job with a sense that education was “an overweight, lazy, unproductive massive intellect, with no direction and little desire to get there fast.” 

Well I have looked at the alleged inefficiencies, not only in higher education but in K through 12.  The majority of educators work very hard, are much smarter than their critics, and are far more organized and efficient than their critics.  If they have a shortcoming it is that they are for the most part not aggressive, mean-spirited people, but are instead caring, concerned individuals who want to teach, not fight….and the success of your children is more important than their own success.

Neither are school administrators to blame, according to Rogers.  “I have looked at the administration of the education system,” he notes. ”I find them no less productive than the administrators of the television stations I own or the banks of which I have served as a board member over the last 28 years.”

The state’s Republican party has fired back saying Rogers “owes every caring parent in the state a public apology.  For Chancellor Rogers to blame the failure of the government-run education system on parents is nothing short of outrageous.”

Rogers aired his speech on his Nevada TV stations.  You can watch it in two parts on YouTube, Part I here, Part II here.

Classic Fairytales “Too Dark” For Today’s Toddlers?

Published by Robert Pondiscio on January 9, 2009 in Education News and Parents. 3 Comments

A British website surveyed 3,000 parents to find out what mom and dad are reading to their children before bed.  It turns out one-fourth of “mums” have put aside dark, scary and non-PC traditional tales like Snow White and Rapunzel in favor of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Gruffalo.  According to TheBabyWebsite.com:

  • Snow White seems to have fallen by the wayside because the Wicked Witch was deemed too frightening – but a handful won’t read it because they feel the dwarf reference is not PC.
  • Rapunzel is considered ‘too dark’ and Cinderella has been dumped because she is forced to do the housework and sit on cinders.
  • A third of parents won’t read ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ because she walks alone through woods and finds her grandmother has been eaten by a wolf.
  • A fifth of parents don’t like to tell their children about ‘The Gingerbread Man’ as he gets eaten by a fox.

However two out of three parents in the survey believe “traditional fairy tales have stronger morality messages than many of today’s popular bedtime stories.”  They’re just too scary to read before bed. 

The top ten bedtime stories of 2008 were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Mr Men by Roger Hargreaves, The Gruffalo, Winnie the Pooh, Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort, Thomas and Friends from The Railway Series, The Wind in the Willows, What a Noisy Pinky Ponk! by Andrew Davenport, Charlie and Lola by Lauren Child and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

The site also offers a list of top ten most neglected fairytales.  It includes Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk.

Cleveland Schools Frustrated By Tardiness

Published by Robert Pondiscio on November 7, 2008 in Education Practice and School News. 3 Comments

School officials in Cleveland are concerned with chronic student tardiness.  Just over 24 percent of elementary students were late more than 15 days during the 2006-07 school year. By high school, it’s more than 41 percent, reports Cleveland.com

Tardiness is epidemic in the district, with double-digit percentages of students showing up late at some schools on any given day. School board members want to put an end to what they see as a casual attitude toward education, not only among children but also by parents seen dropping them off well after what are typically 8 a.m. starts.

Some blame not lax attitudes, but children seeing younger siblings off to school for working single parents, long walks and rides on multiple public buses in a district that limits transportation. Metal detectors at the schools also may prevent students from getting to class on time.

At the city’s John Marshall High School, tardiness continues despite detentions, phone calls to parents and other strategies to curb it, says Principal Rhonda Saegert.  She reminds the students that they would be fired from their jobs for being late.  “A lot of times I will hear, ‘But this is not my job,’” Saegert says “I say, ‘You need to treat it as if it were your job.’

The Dark Side of High Achievement

Published by Robert Pondiscio on September 15, 2008 in Education Leadership and Education Practice. 0 Comments

Is there room for average students at a high-achieving school?  An open letter on ednews.org from an anonymous parent calling himself John Dewey to the Principal of Langley High School, McLean, Virginia, takes exception to that principal’s assertion that the “middle child” – unexceptional academically or in extracurricular activities -may not be happy at his school.

Langley is widely considered one of the top public high schools in the country.  A new principal, Matthew Ragone, has just come on board and wrote a piece in the school’s newsletter.

One topic of discussion has been the concept of the ‘Middle Child’.  The ‘Middle Child” is the type of student who does not feel at home at Langley because, while they may be smart and academically focused, they are not academically superior like many of their peers.  Nor are they outstanding in extracurricular activities.  This student does not enjoy the prospect of coming to school to face the intense competition, which is ubiquitous in excellent schools, only to be disappointed.

There is no simple answer to this problem.  In my ideal world every student will walk through the front door on September 2 with an exuberant, positive attitude and feel comfortable and be happy throughout the entire year.  Of course that does not happen.  As we start the school year, the Instructional Council will open dialogue with the general faculty and I will talk with parents at PTSA meetings and parent coffees to solicit your input and ideas.  As the discussion continues with all the stakeholders, I am confident we will find a way to serve the ‘Middle Child’.”

Dewey’s advice to principal Rangone:  “Your message should be ‘There are no middle children here. Every child matters; every child is as important as the next.’ And you should mean it. You should provide a culture in which students who aren’t getting the material are identified and the school works with them after school or in special sessions to make sure they understand.”

Dewey, however, does not expect his plea to be heard.  “My experience tells me that Mr. Ragone is not going to be persuaded to change one thing about Langley except perhaps to make things even more competitive, reduce the number of top performers, and make the middle of the bell curve even larger,” he writes. “Isn’t that the name of the game in the ‘winner takes all’ environment that passes for high quality education these days?”

In fairness to Rangone, his missive sounds like he’s concerned (if inartfully so) about the middle child, not suggesting to parents that they go elsewhere. 

(Hat tip: Kitchen Table Math and Joanne Jacobs)

Father (and Mother) Knows Best

Published by Robert Pondiscio on September 9, 2008 in Parents. 1 Comment

If you really want to reform education, Messrs. McCain and Obama, forget the unions, policy wonks and the business community, and heed the words of those who have skin in the game: parents.  Elizabeth Green of the New York Sun has a piece about a new group trying to inject parents’ point of view on ed reform into the campaign.

Leading the charge are two groups, Chicago-based Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), and New York’s Class Size Matters.  “There’s a complete disconnect between what we’re being told by the politicians and the businesspeople about what we should want schools to do, and what parents want schools to do,” PURE’s executive director, Julie Woestehoff, tells the Sun. ”But frankly what parents want schools to do is better for their children. They know best.”

Naturally, there’s a manifesto in which PURE offers its own ed reform ideas. Titled “Common Sense Educational Reforms,” it differs sharply from both the “Broader Bolder” group’s and the Education Equality Project, led by Joel Klein and Al Sharpton.  The parents’ wish list includes increased parental involvement, lower class sizes, and a “rich, well-rounded curriculum.” 

Sounds good so far.  I’m all for giving parents the biggest, loudest megaphone on education issues.  They are, after all, the consumer.  On the other hand, the manifesto sounds suspiciously non-parental in its demand for kids to have ”project-based learning in a curriculum connected to their own lives and culture, with progress evaluated by high-quality, appropriate assessment tools that are primarily classroom-based.”  The group is also decidedly anti-charter schools, which will be a hard sell to parents whose kids have been spared from a life of educational neglect by charters.  

A Slow Motion Train Wreck

Published by Robert Pondiscio on August 10, 2008 in No category. 2 Comments

A fight after school in Florida leaves one middle schooler dead, and and his classmate facing a stark choice: a 10 year sentence  for manslaughter or a trial for second-degree murder.  The Ledger, a newspaper in Lakeland, Florida, looks at the background of the two boys.  This troubling story of uprooted lives, absentee parents, racial tensions, illness and crime is like watching a slow-motion train wreck. 

The role of the school in this story is limited to a single paragraph in which school officials say “it wasn’t a race thing. It was a kid thing, a pride thing, a turf thing. Fights are common in middle school.”  The lives of these two boys are by no means remarkable by the standards of inner city youth.  Thus the unasked question in this story: Do schools have a role in preventing events like this from occuring? What is the lesson to be learned here?