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If you have an evening job that pays $10/hr, then clearly you should skip parent-teacher conference and picking up the report card. It might make you a "bad" parent to skip the conference, but it makes you a worse parent to skip work and not be paid. Jobs like that certainly do not give you paid time off to go to parent-teacher conference.
If you receive $25 for attending parent-teacher conference, now you can attend and be able to make up the financial shortfall from having to take unpaid time off from work.
Clearly the rare parent in this situation can arrange to meet with the teacher one-on-one at a convenient time, or to pick up the report card when they are not working. I know in this economy people often work 2 jobs to make ends meet, but where there is a will there is a way.
And I bet there are some parents who are in the above situation who already solve the problem in the way I have described, and don't need to be bribed.
If you have an evening job that pays $10/hr, then clearly you should skip parent-teacher conference and picking up the report card. It might make you a "bad" parent to skip the conference, but it makes you a worse parent to skip work and not be paid. Jobs like that certainly do not give you paid time off to go to parent-teacher conference.
If you receive $25 for attending parent-teacher conference, now you can attend and be able to make up the financial shortfall from having to take unpaid time off from work.
This, absolutely. I had 44 of around 140 parents come to pick up report cards and visit my class. Probably many of them skipped my class because there was a line, and they already had the report card. It's not always neglect that keeps some parents away. A lot of our parents don't have reliable transportation, and one person may be trying to drive everyone who has a job to work and back. Taking off work at an odd time and going to the school might not fit into the day.
Clearly the rare parent in this situation can arrange to meet with the teacher one-on-one at a convenient time, or to pick up the report card when they are not working. I know in this economy people often work 2 jobs to make ends meet, but where there is a will there is a way.
And I bet there are some parents who are in the above situation who already solve the problem in the way I have described, and don't need to be bribed.
It may be rare in your neck of the woods, but most of my students come from families that have to piece together a number of part-time jobs without benefits such as personal or sick leave. The ends don't always meet, no matter how determined you are. Be thankful if you don't know what I mean.
Has it gotten so bad that now the city is paying parents to get involved? Rahm Emanuel is planning on paying parents to look at their kids report cards and attend parent teacher meetings. "Parents will receive the vouchers provided they pick up their students' report cards and participate in parent-teacher conferences." No wonder the world mocks our educational system, it should be incentive enough to want to see your kids succeed and do better than you.
Why not? We train kids from the time they're little that you only do things to get things. We give stickers for good work, pizzas for reading so many books...it should come as no surprise that we now are dealing with adults who have no intrinsic motivation to do what is right.
It may be rare in your neck of the woods, but most of my students come from families that have to piece together a number of part-time jobs without benefits such as personal or sick leave. The ends don't always meet, no matter how determined you are. Be thankful if you don't know what I mean.
I am sure the conferences are announced in advance and hours could be juggled, shifts traded, etc.
Quit making excuses for people. If they wanted it they could get it.
Why do they require that the report cards be picked up? If a parent can't pick up the card and authorizes it, why can't they send the card home with the child?
Why do they require that the report cards be picked up? If a parent can't pick up the card and authorizes it, why can't they send the card home with the child?
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyonpa
Or read it on there smart phone, or get it mail'ed to them
Sending it home with the child will insure that the parent never sees it if it isn't a good report card. Same for snail mail as kids often get the mail when the parents are working.
Many of these parents don't have smart phones or access to email.
You seem to have no idea of the situation in inner city Chicago.
Aside from that it is not just picking up the report card that we are speaking about, but attending parent conferences. I know how hard it is to get these parents in to conferences because I taught in an inner city high school. It was not necessarily that the parents did not care (though that was true of some). Many of the kids parents had multiple children of different ages and mom could not be in 5 places at once. And often dad worked at a job where his pay would be docked if he took off for anything school related. My high school kids often were kept home to babysit the younger siblings if mom had to go to the doctor. They often were the translators for the whole family as dad spoke broken English, but mom spoke no English at all.
The reality is just not the truth in these places.
I am not sure that the $25 gift certificate will work, but I suppose it is worth a try. Also, I would bet that Walgreens is providing the funding for this rather than the city.
Compulsory schooling is so worthless. If it weren't, then why is it crumbling before our very eyes? Yes, people have kids and have no intention of being real parents (most people who have kids), that is part of it. But then you send these kids to a prison for most of the day to be molded into 'good workers' and consumer whores. Humans can only handle so much. Its fear and greed driven and its about to collapse.
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