Comments on: Are Daily Progress Reports From Stan’s Kids Teachers Too Much?

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:05:31 +0000

I have to say I agree with Stan. It is not overkill to be involved in your childs life. The idea that wanting to know how your child is doing inschool and holding them accountable for their behavior is being a bad parent or a micromanager is fundamentally wrong. How can we raise the next generation to be responsible, respectful people if they have no consequences or guidance and encouragement from the people who mean the most to them? Correcting a problem before it gets too big is responsible. Praising your child for their hard work is responsible.
I believe the idea of letting kids do what they do because they are kids leads to situations in which kids think they are not accountable to anyone and they can do what they want. Case in point, the poor boy in Florida who was doused with alcohol and set on fire because he reported some boys who stole his dad’s bike.
Learning boundaries and accountablility starts at day one. The situations become more complex as we age. The foundations establish for our children give them the tools to make good choices in life. The future of our society depends on the standards we instill in our children. It is our jobs to be involved and interested in our children’s lives. We are responsible for future generations.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:59:17 +0000

My school district here in Texas has an online system where teachers post all assignments, calendars, notes, presentation, etc. and the gradebooks with attendance are live for viewing, so it makes it pretty easy to stay on top of things for both the student and parent!

By: teina

teina — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:56:12 +0000

i think it depends. every situation is different. my sister gets one about her son, because he is a kid that gets bored and tends to act up in class. my son is the opposite so i don’t feel like i need a daily or even weekly report. Every situation is different, just like every kid and teacher….

By: JD

JD — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:10:58 +0000

I’m of the opinion that there is no place for micromanagement of anyone for any reason. I don’t think that there would ever be a need for anything more than a weekly updates. At the same time, I understand there are special circumstances that don’t apply here.

Teach the kids to be mature and responsible for their actions. If the child has a bad day, or a bad grade, no one should care. The process of education is to learn from your mistakes. Sure a parent should be concerned, but give the kids room to grow and develop for themselves. If there is a problem that the teacher would feel warrants contacting the parent the teacher would do so.

But there’s a big question that needs to be answered… Are the kids doing well in school, or do they need the extra attention? It sounds like the kids are good students, if this is the case then daily reports is excessive.

Parents need to take responsibility and be proactive with their children. This appears to be part of a bigger problem. It sounds like Stan is trying to find a way to fill a void, of not being in daily contact with his kids. That is sad. If there is a problem in communication and connecting with his kids they need to find a way to make that work. Then there won’t be this excessive need to “keep in touch” through a third party. In today’s society we tend to put the blame others for our own for situations. We should be willing blame ourselves rather than others for our own problems. This is nowhere more common than around kids, parents like to avoid looking at themselves and their families for things that they should take responsibility for.

Hopefully this can be resolved, because no parent wants to be on the outside of their kid’s lives. But we all are… let remember how difficult it was for our parents to keep in touch with us as kids.

By: Gina Lewis (Teacher)

Gina Lewis (Teacher) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:03:11 +0000

It is a computer generated program that parents can sign-up with. It does not require any extra work for the teacher at all. It just generates an email from the recently inputted grades and the nutritional program lets you know what your children eat and the balance so that parents can see what to input into the account. It too goes into effect every time their meal card is swiped. We all have a lot of options in our life, this is one! Get off Stan’s back-he is being a good parent, more need to! GO STAN!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:54:11 +0000

I agree with Stan. Waiting until report card time is not being proactive enough. You can’t help your child if you don’t know what is going on. If your childs teacher is willing to work out arrangements with you to ensure that your child is going to succeed, I say do it!!! My son is in 3rd grade. He is a good boy, but school is not his first priority. His attitude at shool and at home are very different. At school he is not focused and will try to get away with whatever he can, thinking that I will not find out about it. I couldn’t understand why he was doing so poorly at school, but while doing homework with me at home…. he flew through it. I spoke to his teacher and we came up with a system much like Stan’s email system. Since then my sons grades have improved and my son has shown a greater respect for his teacher, knowing that we are in constant contact. I totally support Stan!!

By: Holly

Holly — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:53:59 +0000

Stan mentioned Power School. This is a great program, we have it Idaho. Parents & students are issued a password at registration and can access grades as soon as they are entered into the system. I think it might be excessive for an email to be sent daily, but only if it has to be done by the teacher. I have a feeling that it may be an automatic setting, and you need to get off of Stan’s back for having an interest in how the kids are doing. So many parents don’t have a clue or even care.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:50:04 +0000

I live in Washington and Power School IS the teacher’s official gradebook. The report Stan gets (I get one too but it’s once a week) is something automatically sent. It does not take away from the teachers time from teaching. Power School is our best friend! and our daughter’s worst friend! We know what grade she gets on a test or project a lot of times before she does. If she is continually getting lower grades is a certain subject, it gives her a jump on getting some extra help.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:47:19 +0000

I get daily progress reports about my kids in school because I TALK TO MY KIDS! Yes, parenting means being informed of your child’s progress, but it also requires interaction with your kids. Just receiving these reports doesn’t make you a good parent or a bad one. It’s what you do with the information. So Stan doesn’t trust his kid to provide true updates, that’s his real problem! The daily report is just a band-aid covering the real issue.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:43:50 +0000

Yes I think he is being to much for the kids. Whn I was in school I had to bring a progress report home every Friday. I hated it but looking back on it I believe it was nessasary. I am not sure what everyday shows you that once a week wouldn’t. Life is stressful enough do you need to put that preasure on your children already?