That is your job not mine Part I

Traditionally it has been understood that a child’s education goes far beyond the walls of the school and that parents have as much a roll in educating their child as teachers do. Whether it be monitoring homework or working to develop the behaviours that are necessary for success in school, it is accepted that parents play a crucial part in their child’s education.

In the past two decades however parental involvement in the education of children has been waning. For an ever-growing group of parents, it is believed that education only occurs between 8am and 3pm behind the closed doors of their neighbourhood school and god help the teacher that attempts to include them in the pedagogical process.

Even with a parent on side, getting a kid to do homework can be much like digging twenty-foot ditch with a teaspoon, futile at best. Without parental support you have a better chance of getting the dirt from said ditch to complete the work.

Recently a young colleague of mine in her second year of teaching was having a great deal of difficulty getting one of her students to complete their homework. The situation had become so bad that the child was in danger of failing the term because of incomplete assignments. As is required by school procedure, phone calls were made emails and even written notices had been sent but all to no avail.

In a last ditch effort to contact the child’s parent the teacher called home late one evening and finally got the father on the phone.

Now it is important to note that contacting a parent is not something most teachers enjoy doing. In a world where hostility toward teachers is common place and being verbally berated by angry parents is more the rule than the exception the young teacher expected the worst.

Before she could utter a word beyond her name, the father began the verbal barrage.

"Who do you think you are expecting me to do your job!?"

"If you want to make sure his homework done you come and make sure it gets done!"

"Homework is not the responsibility of me or my wife so stop harassing us!"

and with that it was over. The saga of the missing homework had been concluded. The child had been relegated to failure because the parents didn’t care enough to take the time and ensure homework was at the very least attempted if not completed.