It’s 12:00 a.m., and when most children are all snuggly buggly wuggly in their widdle beds getting lots of shuteye for their big days at school tomorrow, mine is still awake.
Apparently, her class got in trouble today for excessive chattiness and in a brazen show of authoritative take-that-ness, her teacher slammed them with — wait for it — 60 definitions and 60 sentences. On top of science homework and algebra equations, Girl Child’s whole night has been spent with her face stuck in a dictionary and a marble composition book leading up to now, the stroke of midnight. I am not amused.
Usually, I ride with the teachers. I know how hard it is to deal with one kid, let alone 27 or 30 of those little suckers and all of their behavior issues and funky hormone-fueled attitudes, and then have to worry about educating them on top of that. So teachers are generally right at the top of my list of people who get respect, right along with ministers, marathon runners, and folks who can work at Red Lobster and resist the lure of those impeccable cheddar bay biscuits.
But this time, I think Mrs. Wilson was out of line. Whenever you give your students enough homework to carry them into the next day, you’re setting yourself up for grumblings from parents. So I’ll be stopping by in the morning just to chat with her and let her know, politely but very clearly, that her punishment was a bit harsh. I’m not totally PO’ed. Just more than a little irked.
There have been very few instances in my daughter’s eight-year academic career when I’ve felt so led to confront one of her teachers. Really, only one stands out in my mind, when Skylar came home in the second grade and told me she didn’t want to go to the Old Country Buffet anymore — which, at the time, was her absolute favorite place to eat — because her teacher called her greedy and told her gluttony is a sin.
You know how, when cartoon characters get mad, they get those little squiggly lines over their heads to indicate they’re steaming mad? Yeah, that was me. I didn’t flip any desks or win the Andrew Dice Clay cussing classic award, but I think I got my point across that it would behoove her to not rain judgment on my or anybody else’s child’s for their perceived sinful eating tendencies.
I was fine with her sharing her opinion about healthy eating or overeating or conscious eating. But to flat out call the kid a glutton? Sheesh.
At the root of this latest up-all-night fiasco, Mrs. Wilson is an old school teacher who’s been behind the desk for probably as long as I’ve been alive. So I hope all of that experience lets her know that she shouldn’t expect Girl Child and her fellow students to remember anything about these words or their definitions, besides they probably never want to see them again. Heck, I write and edit for a living and I'm probably not sharp enough to correctly absorb 60 new terms and their meanings overnight.
Miss Thing has asked if she can go to bed and wake up at 5:15 to finish her massive assignment, and I’ve left the decision to stay up (or not) to her. But I’ll be using this as fuel for my argument bright and early tomorrow myself.
Have you ever had to check one of your child’s teachers for something you didn’t agree with?
Image via CEBImagery.com/Flickr
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Comments 50
A 1st grade teacher for spanking my child. She wasn't a teacher after that!
A 3rd grade teacher who informed me that I needed to go clothes shopping because when my very tall daughter raised her had an inch of skin could be seen BuT only when her hand was raised.
The 3rd was a middle school band teacher. My child was late to class because her lock broke on her locker and interrupted class by coming in late and burping. The burping is a medical thing that happens when she gets very nervous or upset. I agreed she should be in trouble for interrupting but this teacher carried on the punishment for 2 weeks. I called a conference with the principle, teacher, my child, and myself. After hearing my side, my child's side, and the teachers side we all agreed we'd move on from there and make the best out of the 3/4 of school year that was left. The teacher just kept complaining about my child and being rude. The principle had to reprimand the teacher in front of us and tell her that if this continued during the meeting or in class there would be disciplinary action taken! You know its bad when a principle tells a teacher that in front of a parent and student. Needless to say my child dropped band!
I don't know what time she gets home but really it shouldn't be taking her that long to look up 60 words and write a sentence. She isn't in elementary school, my second grader has to write 10 sentences with his spelling words every week, it takes him about 15 minutes. If its taking her that long to do it, maybe that is a sign that the teacher's punisnment is justified.
60 definitions and 60 sentences? Sounds like they are getting off pretty light.
Maybe my study habits in high school were different than your daughter's, but even with 3 AP classes -- 1 of which was AP English where we had to write 3 essays a week and read 4 books a month -- I went to bed at 10 o'clock and still completed ALL my homework. Did your daughter watch TV, play on the computer, talk/text with her friends on her cell at any point between 3pm and midnight? If she did any of those things before tackling her homework, you don't have a leg to stand on when talking to this teacher. You're teaching your child that actions may have consequences, but Mommy will bail you out if you don't manage your time very well.
I agree with everyone else. Maybe next time they'll think before they chat it up. God forbid kids get some old school punishment these days (yet we complain they're skipping school and running rampant).