This week I thought I would let you all in on an exchange I had with another of the friends/colleagues/acquaintances I asked to complete the Parent Questionnaire. Although this person did not ask to remain anonymous, s/he didn’t really respond to the questionnaire, except to recount some of her displeasure with the school system in general. I thought the explanations were really interesting.

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• Hi Jen. Thank you for including me in your research. I will be glad to help out … where I can. The thing is, my children are old: three in their 20’s, one just graduating from high school and one heading into his junior year. I really do not remember much about their Math work. My husband, kept me away from the schools and such because he didn’t want me arrested for arguing with the teachers over what they didn’t know. I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you; I’m just a bit out of touch….

  • Hi-I would never think you were ignoring me. I am actually interested in parents of older children as well- now that yours are almost formed- is your perspective different? I also wonder if I had asked the same questions about early childhood literacy if you would have a clearer memory? These are actually some of the things I am trying to get at. Your nonremembering and having this feeling that the teacher didn’t know this stuff is important to relay to teachers.

    Hi Jen – Given the training we (you and I) have had, learning the difference between objectives and outcomes, and even knowing the place/role of formative and summative assessment, I have found that I could not really rely on many of my children’s teachers and/or their effectiveness because of the short-comings I saw. I mean, one of my children was placed in detention because I did not complete a lunch form. The assistant principal had the audacity to tell me that it was “homework” and my son didn’t complete it. I’m sure you know how that story ended. But I will say this, if my family had been “well off” financially, I would have home-schooled my children. This has nothing to do with CPS per se, I just see how much they have missed out on. I find this really interesting because I am a product of the South–Mississippi in fact, the worst state for education–but I learned so much more than my children in elementary school.

  I think we can all learn a lot from this exchange. What do you think?