Jeez, What Was Ron Clark Thinking? is a new post at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School.
It’s about a recent ill-advised commentary on teachers and parents that acclaimed author and teacher Ron Clark wrote for CNN this past week.
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Personally….I think he said some spot on things Empathy is one thing, but parents need to hear some of this.
Is this the information that you lead a phone call with…no. But let’s be real; many parents are in extreme disconnect about their students and a little tough love may be in order. The unprecedented attack on the profession may mean that we need to stop turning the other cheek all the time. I for one am tired of getting slapped in the face by parents. And I will admit…it’s not all of them…it’s not most of them. But they tell us that for every put down a kid gets, they need 4 put ups to counteract it…I think the same goes for teachers. The only problem is, we only hear the put downs. The parents who swear their little angels are exactly that. Who is giving us the “put up?” Education is a 3-way street….students, parents and teachers. We all have a part, but it seems that only teachers are the one’s taking the blame and responsibility.
Keishla,
I am all for honest communication with parents. I think, though, that Clark confused being “right” with being “effective.” Accountability comes after a relationship is built. If that doesn’t happen first, at least in my experience, we teachers can be “right” all we want, but that doesn’t meant that some parents are going to want to work with us.
Larry