Teachers' Concerns about Parents

03/10/2005

Teachers' Concerns about Parents

"When anger rises, think of the consequences." - Confucius

Teachers' Concerns about Parents

The cover of the February 21 issue of Time Magazine boldly proclaimed, "What Teachers Hate About Parents" along with the subhead.....: "Pushy dads. Hovering moms. Parents who don't show up at all. Are kids paying the price?" In this cover story, Nancy Gibbs reports on the growing frustrations teachers have with parents. Teachers say parent management is a bigger struggle than finding enough funding or maintaining discipline or enduring the toils of testing.

According to the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, the hassles of dealing with parents is one reason that 40% to 50% of new teachers are gone from the profession within five years. Even master teachers who love their work, says Harvard education professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, call this "the most treacherous part of their jobs."

You can find this story online at the Time web site, but you must be a Time subscriber to view the entire article at: http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0561

For positive views on working with parents in the preschool setting, check out the Beginnings Workshops on "Parent Involvement" and "Parent Conferences" at http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0560

REMEBER: Beginnings Workshops are on sale at a 30% discount this week!

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.