Parenting by Proxy...thats what Dr. Laura calls it. Some people don't like her views, but in this case I think she hit the nail on the head.
In this society, parents are so busy with other things that occupy their lives that they don't have the time to raise their children as well as, or better than they were raised. The result, children who act out in school, and the parents who don't want to admit it.
When a teacher tells a parent about their misbehaving child, the parent sees that as a reflection on himself, and they know that those behavioral problems can (and should be) attributed to the lack of direction the child receives at home. So, instead of admitting to, and trying to rectify the behavioral problems, they deny, deny, deny.
Here in Boston they had a 2 week period that consisted of small incidents of violence directed at teachers or students in class.
In one case, (if it wasn't so tragic it would be funny) a teacher was assaulted by the mother of her first grade student--in class! The mother said (are you ready for this) that she had to defend her son, because this teacher, like his kindergarten teacher last year, was picking on her son because if his unruly behavior. What??? She can't even face the fact that her son has a chronic problem, instead she wants to blame the teachers.
Its frightening because I have a family full of teachers (all under 35 years old) and they face so much from the school board, the state, now they have to fend off attacks from students and parents.
Wow..it really is 2001, huh.
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