Anonymous wrote:It's insane. I cannot believe what kids can get away with. Serious behavior issues have no consequences. 99 percent of the behavior issues I see are boys. Constant and blatant disrespect to teachers and fellow students. Clearly their parents do not follow up about their behavior at home....no parenting or consequences. Many hire au pairs and nannies so their kids never actually are parented. The kids are entitled shits at the age of 9. Imagine when they're in high school. I cringe.

Anonymous wrote:Hi Op, on the girls versus boys behavior issue. My son (5th grade) who is a very well behaved kid according to his teachers regularly tells me how unfair he thinks the teachers and in particular the teacher’s aides are, always being harsh on boys and very nice to girls.

He says “they never say anything when the girls say mean things, create drama, tattle tell etc..but boys get punished even when they just say - i am done I don’t want to deal with the girls group they are just too mean-. It is not fair. Teachers just prefer girls”.

I can actually see why thishappens. Boys are louder, take space, are annoying and that’s the key disruptive behavior to tackle. I get it and I try to explain that to my son. I have my son and my girl’s friends at home regularly and know the difference.

BUT, my question to you is : do you get the sense that boys generally tend to feel like they are indeed less favored by the teachers in school (fairly or unfairly)? It is a current political trope, and not one I want to believe. But it is a recurring complaint from my son (who again is a straight A student with no discipline issue himself, he comments on what he sees). Not sure if this is generalized or not

Anonymous wrote:Is you reading specialist helpful for lesson planning and WIN time planning? Is there someone to help with math?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:How do you truly feel about the horrible behaviors that are now being left in the classroom?

And the complete failure of modern parenting.

Many parents do a good job.

Sounds to me like she is saying only the girl parents do. 🙄

Anonymous wrote:Hi Op, thank you so much for doing this. Would you mind clarifying when you are the one answering or commenting ? Maybe by starting with “op here:” or “OP-“

Helps to follow your specific answers

Anonymous wrote:I have a question for OP. Do you think this culture of teachers bashing "parents" online is helpful? Do you think it changes behavior? Do you think it inspires sympathy for people in your profession? Do you think it makes you look good?

Anonymous wrote:What do you think about the parents who are convinced there kids are geniuses and want to have them taught advanced work? Like moving grades ahead in math etc

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Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

My kids are zero screens so throwing it back to the family doesn’t work in this case, the problem is schools.

We are an extremely low-screen family (no phones or personal tablets at all, just some limited TV time with family plus a typing class on the computer and that's about it) and I agree with the teacher that the problem is in the homes. My kids are not being destroyed by screen time at school -- they get some limited Chromebook time during solo work time and the teachers often use a smart board to teach. This does not in any way undo our low screen approach and my kids have great attention spans, are comfortable with books and pencil and paper, and aren't being exposed to inappropriate content.

The issue is that other parents allow liberal screen use at home, are sending even elementary kids to school with phones and tablets, and dont' seem to care. These kids have all this exposure to garbage content, especially on YouTube and TikTok (don't even get me started with elementary age kids having access to TikTok, it is absolutely rotting their brains). They are coming to school with info about that content, plus have awful attention spans, are disruptive, try to abuse the use of Chromebooks in class, never read outside school. These kids are actively diminishing the educational experience and the teachers can't do anything about it.

Your beef is with other parents, but there's nothing you can do about it. They don't care and think people like you and I are crazy and condescending.

I can be upset that MCPS uses screens in schools unnecessarily and also know that other parents are coming to school with terrible attention spans because of their screen use. MCPS is supposed to educate my kids. I can’t do anything about other parents (and yes most of them think we are being holier than thou by making this choice for our families). So yeah I don’t appreciate the way teachers simply don’t care about screen time because they assume all the kids are getting even more at home.

How much time do you spend on screens?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

My kids are zero screens so throwing it back to the family doesn’t work in this case, the problem is schools.

We are an extremely low-screen family (no phones or personal tablets at all, just some limited TV time with family plus a typing class on the computer and that's about it) and I agree with the teacher that the problem is in the homes. My kids are not being destroyed by screen time at school -- they get some limited Chromebook time during solo work time and the teachers often use a smart board to teach. This does not in any way undo our low screen approach and my kids have great attention spans, are comfortable with books and pencil and paper, and aren't being exposed to inappropriate content.

The issue is that other parents allow liberal screen use at home, are sending even elementary kids to school with phones and tablets, and dont' seem to care. These kids have all this exposure to garbage content, especially on YouTube and TikTok (don't even get me started with elementary age kids having access to TikTok, it is absolutely rotting their brains). They are coming to school with info about that content, plus have awful attention spans, are disruptive, try to abuse the use of Chromebooks in class, never read outside school. These kids are actively diminishing the educational experience and the teachers can't do anything about it.

Your beef is with other parents, but there's nothing you can do about it. They don't care and think people like you and I are crazy and condescending.

I can be upset that MCPS uses screens in schools unnecessarily and also know that other parents are coming to school with terrible attention spans because of their screen use. MCPS is supposed to educate my kids. I can’t do anything about other parents (and yes most of them think we are being holier than thou by making this choice for our families). So yeah I don’t appreciate the way teachers simply don’t care about screen time because they assume all the kids are getting even more at home.

How much time do you spend on screens?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

My kids are zero screens so throwing it back to the family doesn’t work in this case, the problem is schools.

We are an extremely low-screen family (no phones or personal tablets at all, just some limited TV time with family plus a typing class on the computer and that's about it) and I agree with the teacher that the problem is in the homes. My kids are not being destroyed by screen time at school -- they get some limited Chromebook time during solo work time and the teachers often use a smart board to teach. This does not in any way undo our low screen approach and my kids have great attention spans, are comfortable with books and pencil and paper, and aren't being exposed to inappropriate content.

The issue is that other parents allow liberal screen use at home, are sending even elementary kids to school with phones and tablets, and dont' seem to care. These kids have all this exposure to garbage content, especially on YouTube and TikTok (don't even get me started with elementary age kids having access to TikTok, it is absolutely rotting their brains). They are coming to school with info about that content, plus have awful attention spans, are disruptive, try to abuse the use of Chromebooks in class, never read outside school. These kids are actively diminishing the educational experience and the teachers can't do anything about it.

Your beef is with other parents, but there's nothing you can do about it. They don't care and think people like you and I are crazy and condescending.

I can be upset that MCPS uses screens in schools unnecessarily and also know that other parents are coming to school with terrible attention spans because of their screen use. MCPS is supposed to educate my kids. I can’t do anything about other parents (and yes most of them think we are being holier than thou by making this choice for our families). So yeah I don’t appreciate the way teachers simply don’t care about screen time because they assume all the kids are getting even more at home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

18 is a high class size for a private. There are entire grade levels in MCPS elementary schools that also have class sizes of 18-20.

However, I'm glad there's no behavioral issues though. It really does make a difference!

I actually applied for a job at a private school a few years back. The pay was at least 10k lower and wasn't going to go up every year (I make over 110k currently). The benefits sucked. I was totally thrown by the fact that most of the teaching staff there had Bachelor's or Master's degrees....but not in teaching. Not sure how you can teach well or understand how kids learn without a teaching degree. Having content knowledge isn't enough. The way they select the curriculum they use also seemed questionable. Where's the accountability and transparency?

Wishing your daughter all the best!

At our private, each classrom is 15-18, trending lower for the younger grades in ES. Our same DD had a classroom size of 25 in K in public, and 30 in 2nd grade.

I think a big draw at privates for teachers is your kid can attend for reduced or free tuition (in our case, the all-girls school has a brother school where teachers can send their sons), and they provide free on-site pre-K only for teacher's children (our school starts at 3rd grade). I guess the lower salaries are addressed by those benefits, at least for teachers with children.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I have a question for OP. Do you think this culture of teachers bashing "parents" online is helpful? Do you think it changes behavior? Do you think it inspires sympathy for people in your profession? Do you think it makes you look good?

DP here, but also a teacher.

For every one post where a teacher is “bashing” a parent, there are easily 20 in which posters are tearing apart teachers.

And what often passes for “bashing” is a comment regarding what may/may not be happening at home. And as a teacher, I can tell you we often hear what happens at home. Out of the mouth of babes…

There are more parents than teachers and only a tiny minority of either group posts on DCUM and a tiny minority of them bashes the other group as a group. Using the other group as an excuse for talking sh&t about all teachers or parents is a.lame excuse and just makes you look worse.

As for what you hear from kids, if you are attributing that to "parents" as a group, that is going to piss people off and not going engender much sympathy. Because it's a dumb a petty thing to do.