Why are parents so fixated on reopening schools in-person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to learn how to parent. Maybe start living in joint families.

How dare you? I know how to parent. And if someone would pay me $100,000 a year to teach my child that would be one thing, but I am being expected to do that for free. I have a job. I cannot do it and also a second, unpaid job that I am not being paid for and that forces me to work an additional 8 hours for free. FIX DISTANCE LEARNING and take responsibility for your students.

So, I can come through zoom and wake your child up? I can give your child breakfast so that they can focus? I can take the legos, stuffed animals, and video games away from him so he can actually focus on learning? I can give him a quiet background so that he can learn? I can sit with him for 4 hours to review all that he/she refused to get during instructional time? I can do his assignments for him? I can prep him for tests since he missed a lot of assignments? I cannot do ANY of these things. I can provide instruction, encourage, mentor, and have additional zoom time within reason to help him/her but I cannot do all of the above. That is the parent's job.

No, I do all of those things (the ones that need to be done: most of them, apart from breakfast and quiet, he doesn’t need). What YOU can do is understand that I am now working two jobs, my own and yours, and that the latter I am not paid for. You spend one hour a day with my child and four other kids onscreen. Yet you assign 4 hours a day of work that my child cannot access on his own, so I have to access it for him. You provide a jumble of assignments so disorganized that it is impossible for me, let alone my child, to keep track of what has and hasn’t been completed. You make no attempt to check that my child understands what he is being taught, and leave it up to me to teach it when it becomes clear that he doesn’t. You place the entire responsibility for learning on me and my child, and take no responsibility or interest in your own part of the equation. If he’s not learning, that’s our problem. You can understand that we are in the middle of a lethal pandemic and at the very least acknowledge that, and accept that if work is not turned in on time that may have something to do with it. Your school could provide supervised online time for students to join and do their independent work with an adult present who can answer their questions, technological and educational, and make sure they complete their assignments to the best of their abilities. Instead of taking it for granted that “the parents will do it.”

This is exactly how I felt in the spring. Now things are actually fine. MCPS.

Ha. PP here. Upper NW DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to learn how to parent. Maybe start living in joint families.

How dare you? I know how to parent. And if someone would pay me $100,000 a year to teach my child that would be one thing, but I am being expected to do that for free. I have a job. I cannot do it and also a second, unpaid job that I am not being paid for and that forces me to work an additional 8 hours for free. FIX DISTANCE LEARNING and take responsibility for your students.

So, I can come through zoom and wake your child up? I can give your child breakfast so that they can focus? I can take the legos, stuffed animals, and video games away from him so he can actually focus on learning? I can give him a quiet background so that he can learn? I can sit with him for 4 hours to review all that he/she refused to get during instructional time? I can do his assignments for him? I can prep him for tests since he missed a lot of assignments? I cannot do ANY of these things. I can provide instruction, encourage, mentor, and have additional zoom time within reason to help him/her but I cannot do all of the above. That is the parent's job.

It's funny, because you actually can do most of these things, in a building called a school. You just refuse to.

+1

The problem with these arguments that DL provides an adequate education *as long as parents fill in all the gaps* is that if the job of teaching, especially at an elementary level, can be done over Zoom from your home while providing childcare to your own kids, then it probably shouldn't pay very much.

I know teachers are working a lot. The problem is that 90% of what they are doing isn't educating kids. They are troubleshooting technology, they are performing administrative tasks that administration to make unrealistic claims about attendance and participation. Even the actual instruction is so poor, not necessarily because the teachers are bad (though some of them are), but because none of them were trained to teach in this way and most do not have the skill set to do it effectively.

I am happy to admit that as a parent, I am doing a subpar job of helping my kid learn via DL. I'm trying my best, but I'm not an educator, I find the technology clunky and frustrating, and I'm distracted much of the time due to my own job and the stress of having the whole family working and learning in our house for months on end. But at least I can admit that. I'm not a good teacher! I am a great parent but I don't know much about how to teach a small child how to read. I would love to have an actual professional educator do it instead. But DL has not offered that.

So yeah, we should probably open schools, unless school districts can magically figure out how to make DL effective at teaching kids things like basic literacy. It's one or the other.

Regardless of DL, many of us have spent a lot of time filling in the gaps in elementary school. The issue many parents don't notice the gaps as they leave education to the school/teacher and aren't aware of it. With DL they are more aware. We had to do all the basics from handwriting, spelling, grammar, math facts and more at home. And, this was before DL. The issue is the curriculum, not DL vs. in person.

And, as a parent your responsibility is also education. Its also child care.

We are in a pandemic in 2020. We are lucky we have the option to DL. Otherwise we'd all be homeschooling.

“All kids living in the United States have the right to a free public education. And the Constitution requires that all kids be given equal educational opportunity no matter what their race, ethnic background, religion, or sex, or whether they are rich or poor, citizen or non-citizen.” ACLU, card-carrying member here. I WANT distance-learning. I do NOT want to send my child to in-person school in a pandemic. But I am not “lucky” to have distance-learning. And my responsibility as a parent is NOT education and childcare. Every developed nation except ours recognizes this. Even ours, back in the day, used to recognize it. And yet the “personal responsibility” moralizers do not have the self-respect to claim those human rights for themselves or anyone else. What on God’s green earth is wrong with you? Why are your standards for a civilized society so low?

[Anonymous]

I'm a big pro advocate of having kids back in school and have been since March. Raise my taxes, pay teachers more but make sure it goes to them and not towards administrative tasks or other pet projects from the county. Take away 30 million from grants that were going toward Metro or trails, I dont care. I fully admit that I am not an educator. My kid has learned more in 2 months back in private K than he learned in 6 months home with me. I fully admit that. I am in a different trade by choice.

But the fact that teachers are unwilling to go back and they think parents should fill the gaps on education is laughable. Of course parents should help with homework but our primary job isnt to teach our kids, which is what is happening. Schools need to be open for goodness sake. I wish Trump would have come out in May and say keep the schools closed forever because we would have been opened in Sept for sure.

[Anonymous]

Teachers: you are paid to do a job. If you are upset because you have to assist with blowing noses - teaching young children is not for you. Please, we know now how you truly feel in your heart about children.

Further - you have all of us inadequate (by yoUr standards) parents by the “proverbial” you know what’s - and for that matter, our kids’ education -
and you chose to walk. Duly noted.

You won. Our kids have gone 8 months without you.

Please quit. Unemployment lines are waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers: you are paid to do a job. If you are upset because you have to assist with blowing noses - teaching young children is not for you. Please, we know now how you truly feel in your heart about children.

Further - you have all of us inadequate (by yoUr standards) parents by the “proverbial” you know what’s - and for that matter, our kids’ education -
and you chose to walk. Duly noted.

You won. Our kids have gone 8 months without you.

Please quit. Unemployment lines are waiting.

And yet they're still plenty of open teacher and IA jobs posted. so why in the world should I quit when I can teach from home all year long?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers: you are paid to do a job. If you are upset because you have to assist with blowing noses - teaching young children is not for you. Please, we know now how you truly feel in your heart about children.

Further - you have all of us inadequate (by yoUr standards) parents by the “proverbial” you know what’s - and for that matter, our kids’ education -
and you chose to walk. Duly noted.

You won. Our kids have gone 8 months without you.

Please quit. Unemployment lines are waiting.

I agree with most of this but this is a major reason why I hate unions. They are extremely powerful and corrupt. Teachers wont quit and will say well you can become a teacher if you want to meanwhile full well knowing nothing will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers: you are paid to do a job. If you are upset because you have to assist with blowing noses - teaching young children is not for you. Please, we know now how you truly feel in your heart about children.

Further - you have all of us inadequate (by yoUr standards) parents by the “proverbial” you know what’s - and for that matter, our kids’ education -
and you chose to walk. Duly noted.

You won. Our kids have gone 8 months without you.

Please quit. Unemployment lines are waiting.

You can't collect unemployment if you quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers: you are paid to do a job. If you are upset because you have to assist with blowing noses - teaching young children is not for you. Please, we know now how you truly feel in your heart about children.

Further - you have all of us inadequate (by yoUr standards) parents by the “proverbial” you know what’s - and for that matter, our kids’ education -
and you chose to walk. Duly noted.

You won. Our kids have gone 8 months without you.

Please quit. Unemployment lines are waiting.

This is exactly what I’m saying. I don’t want to blow Johnny’s nose (exposing myself to whatever germs making him sick) so I hate children. Got it. Enjoy blowing your own children’s noses this year, or maybe try teaching them to do it themselves. I’m so tired of being expected to mother my students and being scoffed at by parents who refuse to assist with homework, open their child’s folder, read with their child, or participate in their child’s education in any way because it’s “not their job”. I have literally had parents send in baby wipes with their fourth grader and ask me to clean their face thoroughly throughout the day. The answer is no.
Why don’t you quit your own job? It seems like if it’s really challenging for you to wrangle one child and assist them with the academic work designed and delivered by someone else, then you probably have no business trying to manage the complexities of the working world. Unemployment lines are waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s nobody worse than public school teachers refusing to go to work all year while putting their own precious Larlas in private school, preschool or daycare.

+1000000. Any teacher who doesn’t want to go back to work should have their own children regardless of age home with them
All day.

That's nice. And totally not required.

See a professional for your anger issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to learn how to parent. Maybe start living in joint families.

How dare you? I know how to parent. And if someone would pay me $100,000 a year to teach my child that would be one thing, but I am being expected to do that for free. I have a job. I cannot do it and also a second, unpaid job that I am not being paid for and that forces me to work an additional 8 hours for free. FIX DISTANCE LEARNING and take responsibility for your students.

So, I can come through zoom and wake your child up? I can give your child breakfast so that they can focus? I can take the legos, stuffed animals, and video games away from him so he can actually focus on learning? I can give him a quiet background so that he can learn? I can sit with him for 4 hours to review all that he/she refused to get during instructional time? I can do his assignments for him? I can prep him for tests since he missed a lot of assignments? I cannot do ANY of these things. I can provide instruction, encourage, mentor, and have additional zoom time within reason to help him/her but I cannot do all of the above. That is the parent's job.

It's funny, because you actually can do most of these things, in a building called a school. You just refuse to.

+1

The problem with these arguments that DL provides an adequate education *as long as parents fill in all the gaps* is that if the job of teaching, especially at an elementary level, can be done over Zoom from your home while providing childcare to your own kids, then it probably shouldn't pay very much.

I know teachers are working a lot. The problem is that 90% of what they are doing isn't educating kids. They are troubleshooting technology, they are performing administrative tasks that administration to make unrealistic claims about attendance and participation. Even the actual instruction is so poor, not necessarily because the teachers are bad (though some of them are), but because none of them were trained to teach in this way and most do not have the skill set to do it effectively.

I am happy to admit that as a parent, I am doing a subpar job of helping my kid learn via DL. I'm trying my best, but I'm not an educator, I find the technology clunky and frustrating, and I'm distracted much of the time due to my own job and the stress of having the whole family working and learning in our house for months on end. But at least I can admit that. I'm not a good teacher! I am a great parent but I don't know much about how to teach a small child how to read. I would love to have an actual professional educator do it instead. But DL has not offered that.

So yeah, we should probably open schools, unless school districts can magically figure out how to make DL effective at teaching kids things like basic literacy. It's one or the other.

Regardless of DL, many of us have spent a lot of time filling in the gaps in elementary school. The issue many parents don't notice the gaps as they leave education to the school/teacher and aren't aware of it. With DL they are more aware. We had to do all the basics from handwriting, spelling, grammar, math facts and more at home. And, this was before DL. The issue is the curriculum, not DL vs. in person.

And, as a parent your responsibility is also education. Its also child care.

We are in a pandemic in 2020. We are lucky we have the option to DL. Otherwise we'd all be homeschooling.

“All kids living in the United States have the right to a free public education. And the Constitution requires that all kids be given equal educational opportunity no matter what their race, ethnic background, religion, or sex, or whether they are rich or poor, citizen or non-citizen.” ACLU, card-carrying member here. I WANT distance-learning. I do NOT want to send my child to in-person school in a pandemic. But I am not “lucky” to have distance-learning. And my responsibility as a parent is NOT education and childcare. Every developed nation except ours recognizes this. Even ours, back in the day, used to recognize it. And yet the “personal responsibility” moralizers do not have the self-respect to claim those human rights for themselves or anyone else. What on God’s green earth is wrong with you? Why are your standards for a civilized society so low?

in that very long post, the main point that you pointed out is that everyone deserves a free education. The delivery mode or quality of that education is never specified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we have dumped so many social responsibilities on the school system—childcare, food, social skills, counseling, etc.—that we are just in a state of shock when they assert that their main job is education.

And they haven't been doing their main job--education--since March.

Wrong.

They've been working. Just not effectively.

Wrong again.

If your kids are struggling, step up, be a parent and help them succeed in their learning during a pandemic.

[Anonymous]

I actually agree with the PP that you quoted.. If you refuse to go back to teach but put your own kids in private school or daycare you are as bad as Newsome in CA. What's good for thee but not for me. Hypocrisy at it's finest! To be elite in America is great isnt it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s nobody worse than public school teachers refusing to go to work all year while putting their own precious Larlas in private school, preschool or daycare.

+1000000. Any teacher who doesn’t want to go back to work should have their own children regardless of age home with them
All day.

That's nice. And totally not required.

See a professional for your anger issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we have dumped so many social responsibilities on the school system—childcare, food, social skills, counseling, etc.—that we are just in a state of shock when they assert that their main job is education.

And they haven't been doing their main job--education--since March.

Wrong.

They've been working. Just not effectively.

Wrong again.

If your kids are struggling, step up, be a parent and help them succeed in their learning during a pandemic.

Sounds like you agree then that teachers aren't effectively teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to learn how to parent. Maybe start living in joint families.

How dare you? I know how to parent. And if someone would pay me $100,000 a year to teach my child that would be one thing, but I am being expected to do that for free. I have a job. I cannot do it and also a second, unpaid job that I am not being paid for and that forces me to work an additional 8 hours for free. FIX DISTANCE LEARNING and take responsibility for your students.

So, I can come through zoom and wake your child up? I can give your child breakfast so that they can focus? I can take the legos, stuffed animals, and video games away from him so he can actually focus on learning? I can give him a quiet background so that he can learn? I can sit with him for 4 hours to review all that he/she refused to get during instructional time? I can do his assignments for him? I can prep him for tests since he missed a lot of assignments? I cannot do ANY of these things. I can provide instruction, encourage, mentor, and have additional zoom time within reason to help him/her but I cannot do all of the above. That is the parent's job.

It's funny, because you actually can do most of these things, in a building called a school. You just refuse to.

+1

The problem with these arguments that DL provides an adequate education *as long as parents fill in all the gaps* is that if the job of teaching, especially at an elementary level, can be done over Zoom from your home while providing childcare to your own kids, then it probably shouldn't pay very much.

I know teachers are working a lot. The problem is that 90% of what they are doing isn't educating kids. They are troubleshooting technology, they are performing administrative tasks that administration to make unrealistic claims about attendance and participation. Even the actual instruction is so poor, not necessarily because the teachers are bad (though some of them are), but because none of them were trained to teach in this way and most do not have the skill set to do it effectively.

I am happy to admit that as a parent, I am doing a subpar job of helping my kid learn via DL. I'm trying my best, but I'm not an educator, I find the technology clunky and frustrating, and I'm distracted much of the time due to my own job and the stress of having the whole family working and learning in our house for months on end. But at least I can admit that. I'm not a good teacher! I am a great parent but I don't know much about how to teach a small child how to read. I would love to have an actual professional educator do it instead. But DL has not offered that.

So yeah, we should probably open schools, unless school districts can magically figure out how to make DL effective at teaching kids things like basic literacy. It's one or the other.

+1 Spot on.

The parents who tend to talk about how much their child is learning in DL are people who don't really understand education and confuse "quiet and not bothering me in front of a screen" with actual learning.

I know you really wish super duper hard that your narrative were true, but it just isn't.

We know our kids are learning (not "quiet and not bothering me in front of a screen" because we TALK to our children, ENGAGE with them, and we know exactly what they are learning. Try eating meals with your kids and finding out what they are leaning. If their answer is "nothing," then HELP THEM. You don't work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Use your time to help your kids instead of endlessly, endlessly bitching on the internet aqbout how it's somebody else's job to parent your kids.

[Anonymous]

Parents need to sign up to become teachers. Change professions and become teachers. I will welcome the new teachers who have changed professions and are educated enough to teach kids. SO who is signing up?

- Parent.