The Néw York Times blog published a debate about whether parents are to blame for “failing schools.”
The question is: “Do parents care enough about schools?”
Various writers offer their opinions.
The debate is based on President Obama’s assertion in his State of the Union address that parents don’t demand enough.
Of course, that begs the question of which schools are “failing” and how they are identified. It leaves aside the fact that the overwhelming majority of such schools enroll high proportions of students who are poor, are English language learners, have severe disabilities, and/or are racially segregated. It leaves aside inequitable resources that affect class size and availability of programs, after-school activities, music, technology, and other amenities that affluent districts take for granted.
Leonie Haimson has an excellent contribution arguing that this is an effort to shift blame from policy makers to parents
Brian Jones says that the question shifts blame from society–which is indifferent to children–to their parents, many of whom struggle for daily survival in a society that accepts poverty as inevitable.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
100 years ago the parents were blamed, an old strategy to turn the children over to the State.
Did a segment interview today on WBAI radio 99.5 about the Common Core and InBloom with Senator Jack Martins on Haskins and Hennelly. Tune in and make a donation. No media outlet is doing this. Express your support. This station is going down and could be off of the air with a 50 mile radius from the Empire State Bldg. Support interim manager, Bob Hennelly. Unions can contribute. Say I sent you.
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Did anybody else notice that no teachers–not one–was included in this “debate”?
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Brian Jones is a teacher, an amazing teacher at that 🙂 Glad that his and Leonie’s voice made it into this debate!
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Just more attempts to divide and conquer. The hope is that, when pressured, parents will blame teachers (and teachers will blame parents). If parents and teachers can be set against each other, the politicians and the billionaires can sit back and sweep up the damage. We can’t let this happen.
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Agree!
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Long Island Newsday poll……85% say “eliminate” the Common Core http://longisland.news12.com/polls/question-of-the-day-02-10-common-core-1.7012194
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Actually parents do. To a certain extent. One of the chapters of “Freakonomics” was devoted to looking at extensive data sets that produced some quite interesting predictors (and sacred cows that didn’t predict) of student achievement. It’s well worth reading. Parents income level is large, so is having books in the home. Joining PTA is not.
The point is that there are some things about parents that predict achievement. But of course may not cause it. Nor does it mean that if parents suddenly buy a lot of books it will raise test scores. Or winning the lottery.
We also know now how important early language acquisition is, and that’s largely a parent thing, and extremely difficult to change.
I would hazard that the underlying “thing” parents contribute is valuing learning and education and expectations.
Which would be the hardest things to change.
Of course the most immediate thing good parents could do now to affect test scores … is opt their child out.
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I spoke to a middle school principal in Massachusetts in the early 90s over my concerns that there seemed to be more teacher attention and resources given to the kids who were already at the top of the class and he laid it out clearly for me starting with the fact that he didn’t like it any more than I did. “But this is the way it is — the squeaky wheels get the grease. The kids whose parents are in my office all the time, or calling me, or putting pressure on to have their kids placed in honors classes are the ones who will get what they want, every time. They get all the attention. That’s just the way it is.”
This is not good education. This is not your kid being a better student. This is a farce.
I’d love to opt my child out, by the way. But in my school, this would be a way for me to be placed at the top of the non-supportive parent list.
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Are there any ramifications for being on the non-supportive parent list? Can you think of a way around them? An option C, if you will?
I think we need to quickly find religious reasons for opting out and cite those.
Hit your scripture. It’s been useful for such a myriad of causes over the course of history, surely God wouldn’t mind if we found words in the Good Book to protect our children. Then they can out that in their non-supportive parent pipe and evaluate it.
Seriously. I will get to work on that. Why not?
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Joanna,
I hear what you’re saying and I always keep eyes and ears open for maybe another parent or two willing to go along with me on the opt-out, just to soften the personal hit to my children who don’t want to be outcasts on test day. When you’re in a school where the teachers are testing gung-ho, and the administration is all in, it’s tough to be a resister and your kids will suffer the consequences both at school and in the community. This was especially true for me in the suburban Boston neighborhood I moved from. I might fare better in rural Indiana where I am now.
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NYSUT, the NYS teachers union, has called on the Board Of Regents to urge schools to provide alternate opt out locations so that students who are opting out don’t have to sit for two hours a day over a six day period twiddling their thumbs while watching the other students take the test.
I think they are calling this cruel and unusual punishment.
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I think Obama’s question was bizarre. If he wants parents to take more interest in their child’s education he should just say that, instead of telling parents they need to “demand more” from public schools. What a strange way to phrase it. It completely shifts responsibility from parents to public schools and makes parents consumers rather than participants.
I think it’s purely political. He can’t blame children, and he can’t blame parents, not directly anyway, because that’s politically problematic so we’re once again reaching for the all-purpose punching bag – public schools.
Ridiculous. Why wouldn’t parents “demand more” from themselves? Or students could demand more from themselves. No, we have to “demand more” from schools. That’s easy for me, as a parent! I’ll just make a lot of demands. Problem solved 🙂
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I’m not sure what you mean. I don’t feel any need to demand more from myself as a parent, or from the schools.
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I don’t think his question was bizarre at all; it’s the theme of the monied ed reformers – his backers. Can you say parent trigger?
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Ding ding ding you are right Chiara. Consumers, not participants. And the underlying message that we should expect schools to do things for us, provide more, take on a bigger role. Parents are out of the mix. Produce better results in our kids – just make it happen! The entire reform movement marginalizes parents and it shows in every aspect of this.
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I’ve heard this from Duncan, from our President, from teachers, administrators, and on public forums until it makes me want to scream. Making a blanket statement that parents are to blame for the problems in our schools, or low test scores, makes no more sense than making the blanket statement that teachers are completely at fault for the same and if we just fire them all and close the schools it will get better.
Which parents are to blame, and for what? Urban school parents, suburban? rural? Are we not involved enough or too involved, which is it?Are we helicopters or snowplow parents, or are we not demanding enough? demanding too much? not demanding the right thing? Should I be demanding just what my student needs (as most demanding parents do) with no thought for the other students in the classroom or their needs? If parents are to blame for low test scores are they also to be credited for schools that have high test scores? Are we saying any given student in the US public school system simply cannot be successful without the right parent(s) advocating for them? Is that really the school system we want?
Honestly if baffles me. If the problems of our schools are ever going to be worked out the blame game will have to end. I’ve nearly given up hope after having had children in public schools since 1983, and my youngest will not graduate until 2019.
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I don’t like how Obama (or Duncan, or Bush, etc.) talk about students because it strikes me as remarkably passive- as if students have no agency, no real role in this. I haven’t raised my older children to believe that’s true and I’m not raising my youngest to believe that either.
That’s what I meant.
If Obama wants to call someone to “action!” he should do so, instead of this attenuated idea where we “demand more” from schools, and that’s our role. I think that makes parents (and children) consumers, not participants.
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Actually Duncan’s and Obama’s words and actions pretty much spell out their view of other people’s kids – data points.
They and the other reformers don’t give children any agency. I like your word!
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Of course the parents should be blamed, there the ones with faulty jeans. If they didn’t have faulty jeans all them failing students would be more than college and career ready by the time their old enough to have they’re own set of jeans. It really is that simple, I saw a long report, must have been about two minutes, on my 109″ flat screen yesterday.
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What?? Genes??? What’s my brother Gene got to do with those jeans? He was college and career ready back when it wasn’t easy to be college and career ready! Never got nuthin less than an A+ in school.
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I got the most wonderful picture of faulty jeans causing academic failure. Probably because kids were falling down in the hallways when they tripped over the crotches of those faulty jeans. I haven’t decided how girls jeans affect their academic performance other than they are so dang tight they must encourage various infections not to mention cutting off blood circulation. I had one student who I regularly chided about pulling his pants up. His mother arrived for a meeting and the first thing out of her mouth was to tell him to hike them up. I got a good laugh out of that. He wasn’t sure how much he liked his mother and I getting along so well.
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Of course this could all be fixed if they would just get going on the jeans testing.
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First we haven’t determined really that every kid in school is actually failing a lot. But parents do share responsibility with the schools and educators. We have them 6 hours they have them 18. That said, if funding for before and after school programs, tutoring, counseling, arts, music, PE, all proven to help students with challenging homes were increased, instead of decreased, and teachers were allowed time to collaborate with parents so much could be done to help kids and their families. Of course that would require politicians and billionaires to care about all children and all families and to seek a solution that includes them all.
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Julie – most parents work. They leave in the AM, get back in the PM. Afterwards it’s dinner, then homework, a little down time with their kids, shower and teeth brushing, story time, and bed. At most an hour or two of interaction with their children. And that’s if their child is not involved in any outside activities.
Where do you get eighteen hours?
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And if there’s a project due or a test – maybe a half hour.
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Shared responsibility means something different to every teacher. My children have had teachers who only expected parents to handle their parenting role — get them to school on time, take care of discipline, make sure their clothed and fed and ready for the school day. I’ve had others that expected me to take over the teaching schedule from the time my child walked in the door until they got on the bus the next morning, with emails detailing my assignment each evening and over weekends.
I believe in the separation of home and school. I expect my children to behave well at school, take their education seriously, and do their own work. At home, family time is family time and there is so little of it that I don’t like ceding it to the schools.
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Jamie – I agree. I didn’t have children to be little robots. I loved my kids and resented all the homework. I wanted to spend time with them. I even hated bedtime – I loved the stolen extra minutes to cuddle them close.
I made sure my children had an enriched life – full of opportunities to introduce and explore their interests. I raised well rounded kids – school was just a small part of the experience.
I don’t like being lumped in with others who are also being accused of having subpar parenting skills. This is true for some, but the majority love their children and do their best to provide, sometimes in difficult circumstances.
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I think it may be a good strategy that they keep blaming parents and could work in our favor. I always believed that parents are the strongest force to shutting this CCSS project down.
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I don’t know what they are talking about. I have “demanded a lot more” from my local school, starting with a play-based kindergarten, world languages, ample time outdoors everyday and formative assessments rather than computerized standardized testing. In fact, I have lengthy evidence-based list of demands, should the president ever want to see them.
I could continue to “demand a lot more” but it seems I would be doing that until I was blue in the face.
Parents don’t need to “demand more”, Mr. President. It is the politicians who need to listen more and do more.
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When we stop looking for someone to blame and just accept that fighting entropy in any fashion is life, maybe answers will flow like a river. A little mythology please. Rather than ponder the blame, can we please accept the human condition and get on with figuring out systems that uplift as many people as possible?
Good grief I am getting tired of people wondering who to blame. Study your lessons. Build your comprehension (not for test at your ascension) but for not wasting time. We are wasting time and energy with the frickin blame game.
We are in this together. Let’s act like it.
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Well said, Joanna Best.
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Peter Smyth – In all human cultures language acquisition happens without the slightest need for any formal instruction. It is extremally unlikely that differences in parenting style have much effect. The reason for this is that basic linguistic ability is vital in all human societies and the complexity of human languages indicates that human language has been around for a long time. So there has been strong evolutionary selection for quite a long time which by now should have pretty well optimized the human genome for language acquisition.
Thus language acquisition is probably much like learning to stand or walk which are also extraordinarlly complex activities which however virtually all children develop competence in without any formal training.
The language acquisition abilities of hominids were probably pretty well optimized many tens of thousands of years before the existence of any books. Humans whose children acquired lingustics abilities poorly should have been eliminated from the gene pool long long ago.
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Jim, I should have said “vocabulary acquisition.” Some kids enter school with a much richer vocabulary than others. They understand more words.
Young kids pick up vocabulary from their surrounding, mostly people. Most likely parents, but also siblings and other.
I agree that language acquisition is going to happen. The nature of he language is the variable.
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And we mustn’t forget that there is the “accepted” language and then there are the dialects or other versions of the same language, such as eubonics. A child from the inner city or even a different socio economic group may have a much different vocabulary from those in the white middle class suburbs. The elite in the upper 1 to 5 percent probably have some words we plebes are unfamiliar with (I’m guessing special words to describe the rest of the population – not necessarily kind words).
Just because there are differences doesn’t make one group better than another. The Americans making policies are so arrogant that they think their way is the only right way. Perhaps that is what is at the heart of this whole education issue. We are looking down our noses at those who have not reached the always moving, unattainable bar reserved for the elite. What’s to say that those above the bar are more skilled than those below. It depends upon what you are measuring and our stick is full of excrement.
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