A teacher in California now grades parents on their attendance at schools since schools are in charge of the family and can blackmail them about their kid's education. Make no mistake about it, however well-intentioned it may be: this teacher is blackmailing parents by threatening to punish their child with a grade. And taxpayers actually pay for this privilege.
My daughter attended a public high school and this manipulation of grades is common. There were zero grades given for classes that did not divulge the name of the student who messed up a desk, there were grades offered/withheld for expensive, last-minute projects. There were threatening notes/class introductions that needed signed.
At first my daughter, homeschooled until high school when she decided to try the local school, would cry when hearing such things. She was scared to get a zero grade and she didn't even know which student had caused the issue. But she has gotten used to such tactics: group punishments and threats like this are very common.
For a look at an activist teacher who abolished grading and the manipulations it invoked, see Joe Bower's blog. And perhaps this post will help some teachers out there under ever-greater pressure to perform.
We do not need to start grading families and parents,
and we do not need to start paying for test performance,
we do not need a better, tighter assembly-line with more enforcement:
we need to free teachers from this ranking and enforcement role and start employing both subject-specialists as well as coaches, coordinators, and adults who enjoy working and sharing with young people and their families. We need schools to be a social service provided for families instead of families being compelled to provide their children for the people with jobs in the schools.
At first my daughter, homeschooled until high school when she decided to try the local school, would cry when hearing such things. She was scared to get a zero grade and she didn't even know which student had caused the issue. But she has gotten used to such tactics: group punishments and threats like this are very common.
For a look at an activist teacher who abolished grading and the manipulations it invoked, see Joe Bower's blog. And perhaps this post will help some teachers out there under ever-greater pressure to perform.
We do not need to start grading families and parents,
and we do not need to start paying for test performance,
we do not need a better, tighter assembly-line with more enforcement:
we need to free teachers from this ranking and enforcement role and start employing both subject-specialists as well as coaches, coordinators, and adults who enjoy working and sharing with young people and their families. We need schools to be a social service provided for families instead of families being compelled to provide their children for the people with jobs in the schools.
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