Posted on 11/11/2008 6:40:40 PM PST by reaganaut1
JERICHO, N.Y. — For school officials here, the numbers did not add up. Even as enrollment swelled to 3,200, from 2,600 a decade ago, attendance at Parent-Teacher Association meetings shriveled by half. Even as more students got accepted to Ivy League schools, turnout for the guidance department’s information nights was so anemic that counselors cajoled students to come — and bring along their parents.
Then teachers and administrators noticed something else: Jericho High School’s 90-member orchestra had become 70 percent Asian-American (the student body over all is about 30 percent Asian-American), but it still played for a mostly white audience at concerts with many empty seats.
The Chinese and Korean families that flocked to Jericho for its stellar schools shared their Jewish and Italian predecessors’ priorities on excellent education. But the new diversity of the district has revealed a cultural chasm over the meaning of parental involvement. Many of the Asian-Americans whose children now make up a third of the district’s enrollment grew up in places where parents showed up on campus only when their children were in trouble.
“They think, ‘My kids are doing well — why should I come?’ ” said Sophia Bae, 38, a Korean immigrant who shied away from P.T.A. meetings when she first moved here from Queens four years ago. Now a member of the organization, she invites other Koreans to her home and encourages them to participate in pretzel sales. “They don’t realize it’s necessary to come and join the school to understand their kids’ lives.”
...
[T]he district’s superintendent, Henry L. Grishman, sees parental involvement in all aspects of school life as critical to improving communication and helping students become emotionally well-adjusted and socially successful.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This PTA crap has started in India too now. PTA are held in my kids’ school every 2 months and “both parents MUST attend”. Though many fathers stay away, moms attend because they are allowed to see the answer papers of the tests taken in the 2 months. I was called specifically to the school by the principal as I skipped the PTA for more than 2 years. Since my kid was doing OK, I was not too happy and asked the principal how many times her parents were called to her school. She was pretty well miffed and said “I didn’t do anything to have them called up”. I said “Exactly” and walked off. (Both the principal and my wife were stunned :) )
That sums up well what I’ve always thought of the PTA, which is why I never had any interest in participating. Join the PTA? No thanks.
Wow, another hero from India. You folks are giving me hope!
Good! Ah-dzhu tschoh-ah-yo! Keep on doing what you’re doing! Never mind the PTA, keep to the subjects that are important, not the politics of the schools!
I grew up in the next town over from Jericho, NY. Best school systme in the country. We had a great public education. I hope it’s still that way today. And no, my mother never went to a PTA meeting...ever.
That’s how it is in my town, too. No point in my attending PTA meetings because I already pay high taxes. I’m sure not going to fund raise more than I already do by working. Today, the teachers were off while many of the taxpayers, including my husband and I, worked.
Two of my kids go to public school, and two are homeschooled. The PS is not interested in me except as a fund raiser and payer of fees (class trip, activity fee, bus fee). Meanwhile, I can’t even get the high school teachers to answer my emails.
Agree invented problem - invented by the schools and PTA who aren’t getting their $ donations.
I spend a lot of time going over homework with my kids - especially social studies and science where I continually find issues with the texts. I discuss these with them and make sure that they understand the difference between truth and getting a good grade. A’s and Bs only on the report cards every time, voracious readers, and willing to ask questions. What more could I ask.
I do not nor will I likely ever be a PTA/PTOer. I do go to school board meetings and ask questions periodically - which pisses em off.
See it isn’t about participation, it’s about patronization. They think it is their school - not mine and my neighbors. They think they get to call the shots with my kids. They’re wrong, I’m right. I refuse to play by their rules.
The PTA wants their money to support the NEA-led pograms. The PTA is not good for this country. Parent organizations that are autonomous to individual schools are the way to go.
There is something to that. I watched relatives become ardent Greens and Progressives as their children were inculcated in the schools. The parents were definitely inculcated right along with them.
Having lived in Asian communities most of my life, I can tell you immediately what they were doing instead of wasting time at PTA meetings:
WORKING.
What a stupid article this is.
I'm not going to air family dirty laundry, but suffice it to say that homeschooling is viewed with stereotypes, while loving, but naive parents fail to see that their beloved public school child (in the "best" school systems in the country) have picked up some Goth dressing habits, and so on, and don't see the red flags.
Maybe they want to have the Asian parents indoctrinated themselves in the PTA meetings, stuck with fundraising, or other superfluous issues (let's ignore any history revisionism, etc.), and perhaps they are trying to shame those parents into becoming involved?
Alinksy himself saw colleges and universities as radicalization centers. Obama wants to deepen that process, and go into younger years.
Hello, we are partially in this mess because parents have naively turned their children over to the secular schools. The days of not paying attention are over. I'm not picking on every public school, but as a whole, when you look in its history, and it's currents failings and resulting brain-dead products, it certainly should raise an eyebrow.
For those considering homeschooling, don't be afraid, and don't buy into the "leave it to the professionals" mentality. My theory is that if you love your children and you can read, you've got the potential for a successful homeschool (and I bet the illiterate parent with wisdom could find a way!).
I’ve had parents tell me the public school PTA sessions are:
1. We need more money to do what we’re supposed to do.
2. Here’s the latest fund raiser, give us more money.
3. If the kids aren’t doing good, it’s because parents aren’t involved enough.
4. We have teachers, teachers’ aides and administrators galore, but we really need you to take time off work to monitor the lunch room, pick up trash, escort field trips - if you don’t you really don’t care about your child’s education. But don’t you DARE criticize the Politically Correct lessons, because we’re the hard working, hard trained professionals.
Which is why my firstborn is in private school.
she has no courage...”
Oh I don’t know....she married you!!!! ;D
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