New rule to punish parents for not being engaged? (Morgan: houses, high school)

[arjay57]

Looks like Cobb may be going after the parental units.

Students at one Cobb County high school would not be allowed to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities if their parents don’t attend meetings with teachers and act more “engaged” in their children’s academic work as part of a controversial proposal being considered by school leaders.

Cobb school board member David Morgan proposed the new policy and believes it will help boost academic achievement at Pebblebrook High School, a lower-performing school, though parents and education scholars argue it is unfair to poor and working families and punishes students for their parents’ inactions.

More...Cobb eyes new rule to punish students for poor parent engagement | www.myajc.com

[convextech]

I agree with this.


Most of us parents have had to go to meetings about our kids. It's a fact of life for us.


If, as a parent, you can't be bothered to care about your child's schoolwork, then chances are, you've been raising your kid to have the same lackadaisical attitude, and that would poison the team or group your child would be joining.

[toll_booth]

I get what they're trying to do in theory, but Morgan had better be ready for the backlash. I'm not implying that said backlash is merited so much that it will probably happen.

[onemanarmy]

I'm not oppose to this rule, but isn't there academic requirements to play sports, join clubs, etc? If the child is meeting the academic requirements, why punish them if their parents are not "engaged". Now, if the child is failing academically, that is enough to remove the from these programs. So why is this needed, are there a lot of unengaged parents with kids who are performing academically?

[fieldm]

If you can watch the real housewives, BS on the internet when you should be working then you should be able to go to PTA meetings

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by convextech

Most of us parents have had to go to meetings about our kids. It's a fact of life for us.

There is nothing wrong with your way to stay engaged, but I do the exact opposite. I never meet with my children's teachers unless there is an issue. I send the teacher an email at the start of the school year stating that I am available anytime, but unless they need to meet with me I see it as a waste of time. Under this proposal I would have to waste the teacher's time so my kids could continue extra curricular activities.

Just so there is no doubt. I'm not saying your method is wrong. I'm just pointing out that there are different ways to stay involved.

[sedimenjerry]

Parental involvement is important, but sometimes it's just not possible. Not everyone works a 9-5 (or similar) schedule. If a lack of parental involvement is deemed as negative for the student (which I think it is), I can't see restricting extracurricular or athletics as positive. For many students, after school activities are what help keep them out of trouble. If anything, those with inactive parents should be getting more attention. Maybe not play football but some sort of activity to get them invested if their parents don't.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

There is nothing wrong with your way to stay engaged, but I do the exact opposite. I never meet with my children's teachers unless there is an issue. I send the teacher an email at the start of the school year stating that I am available anytime, but unless they need to meet with me I see it as a waste of time. Under this proposal I would have to waste the teacher's time so my kids could continue extra curricular activities.

Just so there is no doubt. I'm not saying your method is wrong. I'm just pointing out that there are different ways to stay involved.

99% of my parents' involvement was with me directly making sure I did my work and all that. Rarely did they actually get involved because there was no need to. They would go to open houses but that was about it.

[arjay57]

I think a lot of this parental involvement stuff is overplayed.

Back in the day my parents didn't have much if any involvement at all. They provided food, shelter and clothing for us but they were busy and they were not academic types to begin with.

We younguns just got up, went to school and did our work. That was your job as a kid.

[Mattie]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

I'm not oppose to this rule, but isn't there academic requirements to play sports, join clubs, etc? If the child is meeting the academic requirements, why punish them if their parents are not "engaged". Now, if the child is failing academically, that is enough to remove the from these programs. So why is this needed, are there a lot of unengaged parents with kids who are performing academically?

That was my understanding too. Enforce the academic standards that are already in place,which puts the onus on the student, where it belongs. Parents should be involved, but the schools can't make it happen.