When I get a note from the teacher "Tuesday is standardized testing day. Please emphasize to your child the importance of yadda yadda ya," it's like being on a computer chat line with customer service. Teacher only has a limited range of responses in her menu, and she doesn't really believe any of them, but can only select one. Just like the multiple choice tests my kid is taking today. And tomorrow. And the next day. I don't get a customer service survey on whether my kid is well-educated because, well, ensuring my child gets a quality education is my job as a parent. Some days it's rewarding, and some, like the last 24 hours, are exhausting. I'm a failure as a mom and I'm in wonderful, excellent company with every other mom on the planet, so at least there's no peer pressure -- we can all feel the gargantuan guilt together.
I feel for the teachers, especially those who didn't sign up for this tour of No Child Left Behind drill duty, but signed up years ago to simply teach. And yeah, I reminded my child this morning about the test and the importance of yadda yadda ya in solidarity with you.
From one failure to another: I feel your guilt! Lucky thing our kiddos love us anyway.
ReplyDeleteReally, this testing racket is just *awful.* My third-grader's teacher lost eight days to snow closures; had another seven days on two-hour delay, where it's the most productive hours that get axed; and now had to leave the kids with a substitute for two weeks after her mother had a stroke. She is just frantic about trying to meet all the third-grade benchmarks, though we're still weeks away from testing.
"Love, Guilt--what's the difference?" --Woody Allen.
ReplyDeleteMom's are da bomb.
I can tell you as a teacher, albeit not one that has to deal with the ISAT (Illinois standardized testing) bullshit ,that teachers feel the same way as you. Hence why they give you the limited menu of responses, they don't believe it either. We/they try their hardest, but I have never met a teacher in any of the states I have lived in, and I have worked in a public school in some capacity in three different states, who likes or agrees with the current NCLB or the standardized testing. And you are not a failure as a mother, you care for your children, you put clothes on them, give them food and you love them, that is all that most teachers want from the parents of their students.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the long response, but I had to comment.