Quote:
Originally Posted by alum
Let me clarify. From what I've seen as a parent and as a college administrator is that immigrant families and the families with fewer financial resources are more reluctant to fight with a school administrator than those families who have more resources or who are US-born citizens.
I believe that many immigrants at Eagle View ES would hesitate to confront Mrs. Tistadt if she was rude to their kids or to them. She would be able to get away with a certain amount of disrespect towards the students and their parents because there would be no complaints. Now if the immigrant family was at Haycock or any other McLean/Langley feeder (which I would infer would need a certain level of income to live in those pyramids), I think it would be a different story. The kids and their parents are treated with respect at these schools and those families have no hesitation complaining about anything whatsoever that doesn't go their way.
Mrs. Tistadt overstepped her bounds and at a minimum, needs to be put on administrative leave and to enroll in anger management classes.
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Although I completely disagree with your conclusion to punish her, I'm afraid you are right about the standards school personnel are held to.
My opinion does differ about lower SES families a little; my experience in Georgia is that some of the very worst kids and parents about blowing up any perceived slight or disrespect (much less the kind of insults here) into a huge deal are the kids at the bottom of the SES ladder. On some level, it makes sense they'd be sensitive to disrespect in a culture that values material success so much, no doubt, but I see the greatest amount of "you can't make me do that; you can't tell me what to do; you can't talk to me that way" attitude from lower SES kids, even when what's been said or asked is really just standard protocol for the school and is handled politely. (For example, we're supposed to take up cell phones if we see the kids using them and turn them into the front office to be picked up by parents.)
The richer kids are more likely to superficially play the game and are more manipulative, in my experience.
But as far as school staff, richer schools often have a surplus of applicants and if you are a jerk to the kids or parents, they will run you off. At a harder to staff school, they might be more disposed to let more go. I think that's a sad reality.