Meeting The Parents

Tonight, or more exactly, this afternoon is the Parent-Teacher Meeting where I teach. It should be the best opportunity to meet with the parents of my students.

Yes, I wrote "should," because attendance is no great shakes.

In absolute honesty, I enjoy these meetings. I remember my days of going to these meetings as a parent, and I sympathize with the parents. It's not easy, not if your kids are gifted, problematic, dyslexic (used as a general term for all mild learning disabilities), any combination or all of the above. When my kids were in school I had to deal with it all, from hostile teachers and administration to explaining to fawning teachers that even a gifted student works very hard. It's disappointing to meet parents who have no idea who and what their kids really are and need.

When my kids were little, it was considered a great achievement and privilege if they got suitable "testing accommodations." We did everything to help our kids take advantage, even if it cost a lot of money. Today parents don't realize that if their son gets the right to use an electric dictionary, they must buy it immediately. Otherwise, what's the point? If a child has the right to oral testing, he must have a walkman. I stopped recording tests, since the kids never came with the necessary equipment. Actually I wish I had one with a loudspeaker which would proclaim:

"No, I'm not your dictionary!"

In recent years, the parents of the kids who need the most help don't show up, or they don't come to sit and talk to me. And davka I have professional experience counseling parents of kids with learning and study problems.

Let's see what happens today.

ps Blogger's spellcheck seems disabled; let's see if I can catch all the typos myself.