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This is what would bother me. I do not feel that anyone from a government school should be sent to my house to evaluate the environment for any reason.
BTW-I am a teacher (not currently working) and I would not like this from a teacher's standpoint either. I think it could be dangerous for the teachers and it places them in a position of evaluating someone else's home environment.
I agree with Momma_bear. I would much prefer to meet my child's teacher in at school, in the classroom where my child will be spending 6 hours a day for the next 10 months. Having the teacher come to my home tells me nothing about the environment my child will be in either.
I also agree it sounds a little unsafe for the teacher and no way a teacher is walking out o this without passing some sort of judgement, whether positive or negative, though it could be totally off base. First impressions are not always the most accurate.
Come on, you know perfectly well the kid who lives in the 4000 sq ft house, with manicured lawn, a Mercedes parked in front is going to be seen differently than the kid who lives in a rusted-out trailer with a beat up pick up truck and snarling hounds in the front!
There you go....,go to the local animal shelter, "foster" some mean-looking dogs, put them in the front yard, put up a sign, beware of dog, and another sign, bell broke, please knock----------bet the "teacher patrol" will run off!
Seriously, we used to have what was called Welcome Walk, the teachers came in pairs, and never came inside. We never knew until they came who would be the kids teachers. I had my kids write a short letter of introduction about themselves, and included a small photo of the child. I was pleased to see the picture on the teacher's desk, they told me it was much appreciated in getting to know them, all those kids look alike!
But seriously, I felt it to be invasive, and a way of 'ranking" the kids. Those in nice houses with stay-at-home moms were naturally going to be seen in a different light than those in cramped trailers or small apts. You know perfectly well they are forming opinions as they visit, even if that's not the purpose (just what is the purpose of those home visits?). and of course, if they came across a house like you see on those shows, clean up this mess, or hoarders, well, of course that will send off alarms.
I think we can all agree (hopefully?) that if it is mandatory with an intent to sniff out bad situations it is an abuse of power BUT if it is voluntary and an attempt to bridge the parent teacher gap than it is obviously a positive thing, right?
Frankly, the level of paranoia, mistrust and downright rudeness on this thread is as comical as it is sad. Heaven forbid a school should try to work in partnership with families. The people crying about this are the first ones to raise a stink when test scores fall or the dropout rate rises.
Test scores mean nothing. Passing a multiple choice math test and reading test at the rate of 55% means nothing to any parent or any student. It only matters to administrators and politicians. Dropout rates reported by schools and school districts have been under-reported for decades and are flawed. Public schools are broken. I worked over 30 years in a public high school in California.
Test scores mean nothing. Passing a multiple choice math test and reading test at the rate of 55% means nothing to any parent or any student. It only matters to administrators and politicians. Dropout rates reported by schools and school districts have been under-reported for decades and are flawed. Public schools are broken. I worked over 30 years in a public high school in California.
That doesn't stop people from making a stink about it.
Come on, you know perfectly well the kid who lives in the 4000 sq ft house, with manicured lawn, a Mercedes parked in front is going to be seen differently than the kid who lives in a rusted-out trailer with a beat up pick up truck and snarling hounds in the front!
There you go....,go to the local animal shelter, "foster" some mean-looking dogs, put them in the front yard, put up a sign, beware of dog, and another sign, bell broke, please knock----------bet the "teacher patrol" will run off!
Seriously, we used to have what was called Welcome Walk, the teachers came in pairs, and never came inside. We never knew until they came who would be the kids teachers. I had my kids write a short letter of introduction about themselves, and included a small photo of the child. I was pleased to see the picture on the teacher's desk, they told me it was much appreciated in getting to know them, all those kids look alike!
But seriously, I felt it to be invasive, and a way of 'ranking" the kids. Those in nice houses with stay-at-home moms were naturally going to be seen in a different light than those in cramped trailers or small apts. You know perfectly well they are forming opinions as they visit, even if that's not the purpose (just what is the purpose of those home visits?). and of course, if they came across a house like you see on those shows, clean up this mess, or hoarders, well, of course that will send off alarms.
Of course, teachers are human and form opinions. The fact is that home issues do have an effect on the child and his learning. OTOH, teachers are less likely to be judgmental when they actually get a chance to meet the parents and family in a less threatening way. So many parents will not come to school to meet teachers because they had bad experiences with school themselves. This is a chance to break that cycle. I would love it if every parent could come to school for parent conferences and meet the teacher nights. The fact is that the ones that teachers most need to see do NOT come to these functions. We need to reach out to these parents in some way.
We need to reach out to these parents in some way.
My guess is that if the conferences were held at the teacher's house attendance would sky-rocket. A chance to see how the teacher lives? The non-attending parents would go just to see if the dishes are washed.
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