I've been griping for a long time about the way my students feel entitled to excellent grades without putting in the work. It gets on my nerves something awful, and I know I'm not the only one. Most real teachers--the ones that care about imparting knowledge, rather than just the paycheck, benefits, and the summer vacation--hate that attitude, too. Why else would one have given a commencement address telling students that they're not that special, after all?
Whose fault is it? It's not the teachers' fault: the kids arrive in our class with the entitlement mentality already in place. It's not the child-rearing experts' fault: they don't raise the kids, they just try to justify their own jobs by coming up with new theories.
It's the parents. Parents are the ones who are so blinded by love for their little sprogs that they buy into the self-esteem boosting BS the "experts" shovel. Parents are the ones who seem to feel that their child's "special snowflake" perfection illustrates just what wonderful parents they are. And when all that is pushed aside, parents are the ones that just don't want to deal with the meltdowns when their kid loses a game, doesn't earn a good grade after being told how smart and perfect they are, or doesn't get that toy they wanted.
I love my kids dearly. I love them too much to let them turn into selfish, self-centered, irritating little entitled monsters. That means I have to be the bad guy, sometimes. No, I don't like it, but that is what being a parent--an adult--is about.
It's why I don't like most kids I see/meet out in public: most of the parents either are afraid of harming their delicate little children's delicate little egos, or they don't want to be bothered with doing the hard work, and dealing with the fallout of "no." Or both.
Well-intentioned, selfish, lazy parents. They can fuck off.
3 comments:
Yeah, I've dealt with parents who wanted nothing less than the best for their children--get this award, that honor, that invite to whatever special group--but they didn't understand that their children, no matter how much their potential, are not doing the work expected of them. And I wind up feeling under the gun/getting ulcers because I don't want these parents to come down on me or worse complain about me to my bosses.
My FO goes to illness in pets. I just want my cat to get interested in eating again.
Amen to that, Kate--we just lost our cat (just a bit over 10 yrs old) last Sunday. I'll keep your kitty in my prayers.
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat! Ten years is a longtime companion. :(
Thank you for the prayers. She did ask for more breakfast this morning (in between naps).
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