Reply to Conservative confusion over schools

Forum Index » Political Discussion

Reply to "Conservative confusion over schools "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote]I'm curious, how often do parents engage with you directly to discuss this sort of issue? I'm thinking more conversations between parents and teachers would create a better situation than...whatever it is we have now. [/quote]

Parents rarely bring it up directly to teachers. It comes up occasionally, and when it does I find that parents - on both sides - are relieved to hear that whatever they thought was or wasn't happening isn't reality. 
It's amazing that teachers aren't often included in conversations about what's really happening in classrooms. There are two reasons for that, in my experience: The first is that the administration makes decisions that we don't necessarily agree with but we're not able to speak up without risking our jobs. The second is that teaching isn't well-respected in the US, and now far too many teachers have been silenced. 
I'm liberal and I teach in a district that believes in equity. It's not equality, it's trying to meet our students where they are and build them up. We haven't harmed our brightest students - we haven't done away with leveling middle school and high school classes according to ability, we haven't stopped the gifted program, and we continue to give standardized tests. We also have a diversity group, a tolerance group, after-school tutoring groups, and teachers that are married to same-sex partners, alongside the usual community service, band, art, foreign-language, etc. clubs. All of this in a lower-middle-class, Title 1 school. The high, the low, and the average achievers, white children and children of color, native-born and immigrants, Christians/Jews/Muslims/atheists can all have their needs met as much as any public entity can. Public school will never be perfect because of the varied needs its presented with, but the goal is to create an equity and a sense of belonging and acceptance that can carry over into the general public. 
It's about acknowledging the validity of everyone, the opposite of the divisiveness the right has been brainwashed to believe in. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics