Yesterday was report card pick-up.  I got a chance to meet quite a few parents.  Some of the parents that I would have like to have seen didn't show up (typical).  After speaking to a few parents, I now understood why/how their child is the way that they are.  The parents aren't producing good fruit.  A lot of the students who failed was as a result of poor attendance.  I have no control over that and the parent seemed baffled by this.  Then the parents have the unmitigated gall to ask me what time does the class start.  It shouldn't matter.  If school begins at 8:00am, the child should be here ready to learn.

I think the best part of the night happened when a parent (who had to tell me she worked in Central Office) came to me and said "You gave my son an "F".  I politely explained to her that there were 17 assignments and her son turned in 5.  Now, she should know that she can look at his grades on line and so can he.  The on-line grading program calculates the average based upon the grades entered.  So this kid earned an "F" based on the assignments he submitted.  Once she had all of this information, she changed her tune.  She was now upset with the child and not me.

I probably will never understand how a parent and child can blame the teacher when they are only at school 6 hours out of the day.  The other 18 hours they are with their friends and family.  Their short comings are not as a result of the teacher, but as a result of the people they spend those 18 hours with.