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I'm sure that's what the act says. But colleges don't always follow it that way, or at least they did not in the past. When I was a freshman in college (1997, quite a while after 1974), there was a student who was 17, and did not get along with his roommate. Since he was not yet 18, he was not allowed to switch to a different room unless his parents came to campus to sign a form. Since they lived out of state, several hours away, they were unable to do so. So, he was stuck with that roommate until his 18th birthday. The following year, there was a girl (not sure if she was 17 or 18, but you say it doesn't matter) whose parents got a call from the school, saying that she was using very few of her meal plan meals, and that they should switch her to a smaller meal plan. Her parents got the call since they were the ones paying for the meal plan. She was really upset, since she did not want her parents to know that she was skipping meals, and often eating off campus when she did eat.
Meal plans and roommate assignments are not academic records.
What's protected under FERPA are academic records -- things like grades, disciplinary actions, asking a professor for information about your kid's behavior in class, etc.
If your child seeks healthcare at the campus health center, that also isn't covered under FERPA. But HIPPA does still apply if your child is over age 18. So, that's another thing for parents to be aware of if you have concerns about, say, your child's mental health. If your child is under 18 (i.e., a minor) you can request health records from the campus health center (or an off campus hospital) with no problem. But, if they're over 18 (i.e., a legal adult) you should ask the college what forms they require for that access (usually, a medical power of attorney of a HIPPA authorization form). Some colleges can be real sticklers about this, so you need to check directly with the college your child attends, or will be attending, for what they require.
As I said above, we did require our children to sign the FERPA waiver as a condition of Mom and Dad paying tuition, and we also had them sign the medical access paperwork before they left for college.
We never had to use either. However, it never hurts to be prepared for emergencies.
In all seriousness, however, if you're sending your kid to college and you feel the need to have access to information about every single thing they do while on campus, then perhaps you should keep them living at home with you and not send them to college at all.
There will be plenty of things that happen in college that you won't know anything about. And, speaking as the parent of two adults in their late 20s, it only gets worse after college.
But, then again, I didn't tell my dear departed parents about everything in my life when I became an adult either.
As a society, we used to value the work of actual experts. Now we are told that experts are ivory tower elites who are out of touch with mainstream America. The dumb just keeps on coming.
I believe for the most part we still do respect experts in their fields. In education however we have been mislead so often by ivory tower experts" that trust has been lost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RosieSD
...
Times have changed, apparently.
The biggest thing that has changed is cost. When I went it cost my parents very little. And no debt. Today for our daughter we pay a significant amount even with scholarships and her summer job and part time job during the school year. And she will still have debt. When you're paying that much for something, your expectations change.
Meal plans and roommate assignments are not academic records.
What's protected under FERPA are academic records -- things like grades, disciplinary actions, asking a professor for information about your kid's behavior in class, etc.
If your child seeks healthcare at the campus health center, that also isn't covered under FERPA. But HIPPA does still apply if your child is over age 18. So, that's another thing for parents to be aware of if you have concerns about, say, your child's mental health. If your child is under 18 (i.e., a minor) you can request health records from the campus health center (or an off campus hospital) with no problem. But, if they're over 18 (i.e., a legal adult) you should ask the college what forms they require for that access (usually, a medical power of attorney of a HIPPA authorization form). Some colleges can be real sticklers about this, so you need to check directly with the college your child attends, or will be attending, for what they require.
As I said above, we did require our children to sign the FERPA waiver as a condition of Mom and Dad paying tuition, and we also had them sign the medical access paperwork before they left for college.
We never had to use either. However, it never hurts to be prepared for emergencies.
In all seriousness, however, if you're sending your kid to college and you feel the need to have access to information about every single thing they do while on campus, then perhaps you should keep them living at home with you and not send them to college at all.
There will be plenty of things that happen in college that you won't know anything about. And, speaking as the parent of two adults in their late 20s, it only gets worse after college.
But, then again, I didn't tell my dear departed parents about everything in my life when I became an adult either.
Yet, somehow, I survived.
They need to read Julie Lythcott-Haims book - How to Raise An Adult, describing helicopter parents of college students. Unbelievable!
I believe for the most part we still do respect experts in their fields. In education however we have been mislead so often by ivory tower experts" that trust has been lost......
Part of the problem is that many, if not most, education academicians who design programs, test theories and introduce reforms have spent little or no time in the classrooms where the various programs are aimed or actually implementing their programs.
An anecdote: when I took Methods of Teaching Secondary Social Studies the instructor, a full professor with a couple sets of letters after her name, had spent, by her account, a grand total of 3 months teaching in a high school. She was very open with the fact that she had been unable to effectively teach in a secondary school.
Another thing driving education policy today are people like that noted educator Bill Gates and his eponymous foundation, the Broad Foundation for administrators, Apple Computers and Pearson Education.
I don't know about the OP, but over the years, I have encountered a number of teachers that are very quick to blame symptoms of my child's learning disability as a product of poor parenting and have suggested that I take a parenting class as the solution to addressing it. That seems like a more logical solution to them than providing learning disability accommodations.
These teachers are sometimes young, they are always childless, and come across as the type that don't want to do one minute more work than their job requires. They don't want to spend time incorporating 504s, much less researching best practices on teaching a child with a LD. I suspect they are may have a reputation of doing less work than their job requires, but admin is very good at circling the wagons.
Suggesting that they incorporate communication methods or classroom management policies that the teachers that are always get recognized as being outstanding teachers use never goes over very well.
I suspect that the teachers on this board tend to go above and beyond, but please keep in mind that us parents have to deal with the slacker teachers also. It is frustrating to deal with when your child's education and self-esteem are on the line.
As a former teacher and principal (now retired), that's a fair assessment of the situation.
Another thing driving education policy today are people like that noted educator Bill Gates and his eponymous foundation, the Broad Foundation for administrators, Apple Computers and Pearson Education.
Slightly off topic, but one of the most important lessons I learned about being a parent I learned from my daughter's wonderful and wise second grade teacher.
At the start of second grade, for four days in a row my daughter forgot to put her lunch into her backpack in the morning.
Four days in a row, I ran her lunch down to the school and brought it to her classroom.
On the fourth day, Ms. Bauer smiled and then stepped outside and said to me, "tomorrow, don't bring A's lunch to her if she forgets to put it in her backpack. She won't starve. But, she will learn how to remember to plan better and make sure she has everything she needs for school on her own. As a parent, your real job is to teach her how to do things for herself, not to do things for her."
I almost had a heart attack at the idea of my poor baby not having her lunch for a day. But, sure enough, the next day, my daughter left her lunch at home again.
I took Mrs. Bauer's advice and didn't bring the lunch to school even though all day I pictured my daughter wilting away from hunger.
But, Mrs. Bauer was right: my daughter never forgot her lunch again. And every morning from then on she also made sure that her backpack had everything else she needed for school that day in it without me nagging her about it.
Mrs. Bauer taught ME many other important things about being a parent and helping my kids grow up to be responsible adults (my son had her as well). She was the best parenting teacher I ever had. I've thought of things she taught me about my kids and being a parent many times over the years when I was tempted to fix things for my kids that they could fix for themselves.
Mrs. Bauer has been retired for many years now, but both of my kids -- now in their late 20s -- also recall her fondly and talk about her and things that she taught them quite often.
Now, obviously, not every teacher is going to be a Mrs. Bauer. Both of my kids also had plenty of duds as teachers (as well as one or two truly horrible teachers).
But another lesson I learned from Mrs. Bauer: if every time you go into your child's classroom you're in battle mode thinking you always know what's best, it's a sure bet you'll probably miss learning important lessons yourself.
That's a very good post.
It reminded of one of my tactics when I would have a parent who wanted to come in and solve his/her child's problem for them. Of course, sometimes that was necessary. Other times I would persuade the parent to let me coach the child on how to approach a teacher. With only rare exceptions, children (middle school age) successfully advocated for themselves after just a little coaching. Only rarely did another adult have to intervene. Helping children become problem-solvers and self-advocates is never a bad thing, even though sometimes they will need some help.
I don't know about the OP, but over the years, I have encountered a number of teachers that are very quick to blame symptoms of my child's learning disability as a product of poor parenting and have suggested that I take a parenting class as the solution to addressing it. That seems like a more logical solution to them than providing learning disability accommodations.
These teachers are sometimes young, they are always childless, and come across as the type that don't want to do one minute more work than their job requires. They don't want to spend time incorporating 504s, much less researching best practices on teaching a child with a LD. I suspect they are may have a reputation of doing less work than their job requires, but admin is very good at circling the wagons.
Suggesting that they incorporate communication methods or classroom management policies that the teachers that are always get recognized as being outstanding teachers use never goes over very well.
I suspect that the teachers on this board tend to go above and beyond, but please keep in mind that us parents have to deal with the slacker teachers also. It is frustrating to deal with when your child's education and self-esteem are on the line.
Herein lies the problem. I would never suggest that teachers be required to have children of their own, but without them, it may take longer for them to learn that some things are just out of the parents' control. I remember when I was young and childless, we learned in all these child abuse seminars that if a child had an unexplained injury, that was a sign of abuse. Once I had my own, I learned that those things happen, even if you're a SAHM (or D). Kid falls, gets a bruise, and you have no idea when/where this happened. Etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RosieSD
Meal plans and roommate assignments are not academic records.
What's protected under FERPA are academic records -- things like grades, disciplinary actions, asking a professor for information about your kid's behavior in class, etc.
If your child seeks healthcare at the campus health center, that also isn't covered under FERPA. But HIPPA does still apply if your child is over age 18. So, that's another thing for parents to be aware of if you have concerns about, say, your child's mental health. If your child is under 18 (i.e., a minor) you can request health records from the campus health center (or an off campus hospital) with no problem. But, if they're over 18 (i.e., a legal adult) you should ask the college what forms they require for that access (usually, a medical power of attorney of a HIPPA authorization form). Some colleges can be real sticklers about this, so you need to check directly with the college your child attends, or will be attending, for what they require.
As I said above, we did require our children to sign the FERPA waiver as a condition of Mom and Dad paying tuition, and we also had them sign the medical access paperwork before they left for college.
We never had to use either. However, it never hurts to be prepared for emergencies.
In all seriousness, however, if you're sending your kid to college and you feel the need to have access to information about every single thing they do while on campus, then perhaps you should keep them living at home with you and not send them to college at all.
There will be plenty of things that happen in college that you won't know anything about. And, speaking as the parent of two adults in their late 20s, it only gets worse after college.
But, then again, I didn't tell my dear departed parents about everything in my life when I became an adult either.
Yet, somehow, I survived.
Yes, but some (most IME) student health centers take that to extremes. They won't allow parents to make appointments for their kids, whereas at any other doctor's office, you can make an appointment for anybody. I have been known to make appointments for my husband. My friend had a son with mental health issues who was away at college. The health center would not allow her to make an appt. for him, even though she lived 1000 miles away and wasn't going to come along. Sometimes it's like if you have the appointment you'll keep it and get help, but you just can't get around to making the appt. in the first place. The kid ended up dropping out of school, surely not just for that reason, but it didn't help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RosieSD
Slightly off topic, but one of the most important lessons I learned about being a parent I learned from my daughter's wonderful and wise second grade teacher.
At the start of second grade, for four days in a row my daughter forgot to put her lunch into her backpack in the morning.
Four days in a row, I ran her lunch down to the school and brought it to her classroom.
On the fourth day, Ms. Bauer smiled and then stepped outside and said to me, "tomorrow, don't bring A's lunch to her if she forgets to put it in her backpack. She won't starve. But, she will learn how to remember to plan better and make sure she has everything she needs for school on her own. As a parent, your real job is to teach her how to do things for herself, not to do things for her."
I almost had a heart attack at the idea of my poor baby not having her lunch for a day. But, sure enough, the next day, my daughter left her lunch at home again.
I took Mrs. Bauer's advice and didn't bring the lunch to school even though all day I pictured my daughter wilting away from hunger.
But, Mrs. Bauer was right: my daughter never forgot her lunch again. And every morning from then on she also made sure that her backpack had everything else she needed for school that day in it without me nagging her about it.
Mrs. Bauer taught ME many other important things about being a parent and helping my kids grow up to be responsible adults (my son had her as well). She was the best parenting teacher I ever had. I've thought of things she taught me about my kids and being a parent many times over the years when I was tempted to fix things for my kids that they could fix for themselves.
Mrs. Bauer has been retired for many years now, but both of my kids -- now in their late 20s -- also recall her fondly and talk about her and things that she taught them quite often.
Now, obviously, not every teacher is going to be a Mrs. Bauer. Both of my kids also had plenty of duds as teachers (as well as one or two truly horrible teachers).
But another lesson I learned from Mrs. Bauer: if every time you go into your child's classroom you're in battle mode thinking you always know what's best, it's a sure bet you'll probably miss learning important lessons yourself.
You're lucky your daughter learned that lesson after just one day w/o lunch. I have one who did not/does not learn that quickly, and she's 30 now. Oh, we tried, believe me. My kids' elementary and middle schools actually had rules that kids couldn't call the parents to bring in homework, etc. (This was pre-cell phone days.) I will say, my kids never missed their bus, like some kids did quite frequently.
When "children" go to college, their parents need to butt out. College is for adults, not babies. I pity the student whose parents hover nearby, thinking THEY know better than the educator and interfering with the educational process.
Most colleges won't even give the parents access to their kid's grades without permission from the student. My mother found that out with Syracuse University back in the 1980s.
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