Then you're back to just saying that because some parents can't or won't help their kids with project homework, parents shouldn't be allowed to help at all. I completely disagree with this. Of course there's a third option--kids who don't have help can do the projects on their own. That's what happens to some kids in our school. And guess what---many of them don't learn how to do these projects as well as they would if they had a parent helping. I believe the right answer is supporting those parents to help them learn how to help their kids better, not banning family projects.
Your views on parent involvement are just different from mine. You wouldn't be happy at our school or in our district, so it's good that you've found a school where the philosophy is more similar to your views.
Right. You never used the words "not a big deal," so you couldn't possibly have made a big deal out of it. However, I actually *did* use those words ("I don't spend very much time looking over my 3d grader's homework. I don't see this as a big deal either"), and somehow that entitles you to infer that I mean just the opposite.
This is very much like the volunteering I've done in our school, mainly in the primary grades. Another things parents do in my school is book clubs. I consider this sort of volunteering a big plus for our school.
That is nice though that you were allowed to tell them how to spell things. Back when dd was that age, the local schools followed some philosophy that the teacher or aide should not ever tell a child how to spell a word. It was pretty nutty, and one of the reasons I decided to move.
I taught dd how to pass an oral German exam (after she failed it the first time), so I am not completely useless either ;). This summer I may have to teach her French. Shudder!
I don't think that is what she and others are saying. They are saying that when the school expects a high level of parental involvement, like having parents correct home work and do science projects, then kids whose parents can't do those things are put at a great disadvantage. They would be at less of a disadvantage if it were assumed that the school/teacher had to do ALL the teaching necessary.
" I believe the right answer is supporting those parents to help them learn how to help their kids better, not banning family projects."
The problem is that there will always be a certain contingency of parents who absolutely either can't or won't help their children. If the school is counting on parental help to ensure that children learn the basic concepts, those children are completely out of luck.
I personally don't have a problem with parents monitoring their children's homework or being involved in their studies. At the moment, I've basically taken over English lessons entirely for the kids and am as involved in directing ds's math curriculum as his teacher (for various complicated reasons). I just have a problem with schools depending on parental participation for the teaching of basic concepts. It should be absolutely possible for a child to leave school with a reasonably decent grasp of the basics regardless of parental participation. If schools demand parental participation to even teach the basics, many children will simply fail to learn even the basics...which is, of course, exactly what is happening right now.
Is it really so hard for schools to teach the fundamentals without requiring parental participation? It doesn't seem to me that the Swedish system is failing to teach the basics, despite the fact that direct parental participation is not expected.
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Then you're back to just saying that because some parents can't or won't help their kids with project homework, parents shouldn't be allowed to help at all. I completely disagree with this. Of course there's a third option--kids who don't have help can do the projects on their own. That's what happens to some kids in our school. And guess what---many of them don't learn how to do these projects as well as they would if they had a parent helping. I believe the right answer is supporting those parents to help them learn how to help their kids better, not banning family projects.
Your views on parent involvement are just different from mine. You wouldn't be happy at our school or in our district, so it's good that you've found a school where the philosophy is more similar to your views.
Right. You never used the words "not a big deal," so you couldn't possibly have made a big deal out of it. However, I actually *did* use those words ("I don't spend very much time looking over my 3d grader's homework. I don't see this as a big deal either"), and somehow that entitles you to infer that I mean just the opposite.
Clearly this conversation is a waste of time.
" I believe the right answer is supporting those parents to help them learn how to help their kids better, not banning family projects."
The problem is that there will always be a certain contingency of parents who absolutely either can't or won't help their children. If the school is counting on parental help to ensure that children learn the basic concepts, those children are completely out of luck.
I personally don't have a problem with parents monitoring their children's homework or being involved in their studies. At the moment, I've basically taken over English lessons entirely for the kids and am as involved in directing ds's math curriculum as his teacher (for various complicated reasons). I just have a problem with schools depending on parental participation for the teaching of basic concepts. It should be absolutely possible for a child to leave school with a reasonably decent grasp of the basics regardless of parental participation. If schools demand parental participation to even teach the basics, many children will simply fail to learn even the basics...which is, of course, exactly what is happening right now.
Is it really so hard for schools to teach the fundamentals without requiring parental participation? It doesn't seem to me that the Swedish system is failing to teach the basics, despite the fact that direct parental participation is not expected.
I totally agree.
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