Stone Life

Not two days after the aforementioned letter went out to every parent in school, I received a fresh barrage of parents doing exactly that which the principal addressed/pleaded with them in the lengthy, heart-felt correspondence. Yes, my tongueless-brother, there has been, and, apparently, continues to be a rash of parents rescuing their children.

I am not one to stand on the high-horse of my moral superiority and claim the divine-right-of-teachers that many of my colleagues raise like a banner, a superiority based on God knows what, but, somehow, a position elevated above the parents. They know what is right for someone else's kid, because they have experience, love, objectivity, faith...etc, all rolled into one. I know that I know nothing about kids - I do not want to; I do not treat them like I 'love' them, because I don't; I do not view them from a parents perspective - and, maybe (let us be honest - hopefully), this will never change. Can one not educate apart from love and tenderness? I think back to high school; Mr. Choate, did he 'love' me? - No!, I do not think he even knew my name. I respected him and learned from him because he brought his subjects to life by being excited by it. I, too, love the subject I teach. Where I to stay at home all day, I would still study literature, but, this way, people are forced to listen to me talk about it.

Can one educate while loving kids? - certainly, but I think it makes their job more difficult, not less. I have no problem, when a student is caught cheating (as was the case with one of my parent meetings), I do not have to debate whether enforcing the rules is the right thing to do for THAT person; I get the luxury of being black and white. How the hell else will they learn responsibility and consequences if they are never punished for what they do? I balk at anyone, and there have been/will be plenty who defy this position, who claims that a lack of affectionate regard for a student is synonymous with being disinterested in their education - I call b-llsh-t on that. I think either way can, possibly, maybe, be effective, though I am not sure I could go as far as to say equally, but how does 'love' shielding from the realities of consequences help them more than just for that moment? Yes, it is painful to make mistakes; yes, there will be repercussions that may preclude one from one privilege or another; yes, certain things could be overlooked, there could be do-overs and makeups, but is this BEST?


Were I to stand of previously denied "high horse", perhaps I would say....

"Stop coddling your children, you're making them weak - they should/will have the crap beaten out of them by life at some point because of you. Stop prolonging the inevitability of failure."

"Get an effing job! If you have nothing better to do than schedule meeting after meeting with me every time your daughter gets looked at wrong, you are not busy enough."

"Yes, I am young; yes, I am arrogant; yes, I am childless, but....I know this pains you, so I will wait a moment..... I still might be qualified, even MORE qualified than you, to make certain educational decisions. Sucks, doesn't it?"

"It might be time to come to grips with the fact that your child is not as smart or perfect as you thought. I hate to break it to you, but you birthed a human being, not a sainted-robot."

"No matter how hard your will it, your child's successes in life will not make up for your failures."

"Yes, you are right in your thinking - You indeed have more money in your wallet than I will make this entire year, but do you think your little power-play works to your advantage? Reminding me how little I get paid only further enforces the fact that, truly, I am not compensated enough to put out the kind of effort that is required to deal with you."

"Let's use some logic; who do you think is more likely to lie to you, the teacher who could care less whether you agree or disagree with him, who is an ADULT, or your child, who fears the heavy hand of mom, a hand obviously, inclined towards overreaction, which is only further proven by the fact that you rushed to the school to bitch at me."

"Although it would pain me dearly, please, oh please, follow through on your threats. You are right, you pay too much money at this school to 'put up with this'. Just on the principal of things, I would pull your child from this hell-hole. It will be difficult, undoubtedly we will have a day of mourning, but I am sure we will find a way to muddle through with one less a--hole taking up every off-period that I have each week."

....but, like I said before, I would never elevate myself in such a way.