A Ridiculous Conversation

for GoDogGo Café  Haibun Wednesday: Something Ridiculous

A long time ago, in my former life as a teacher, I had many parent conferences that were so ridiculous I couldn’t help but shake my head. Sometimes the foolishness comes from the parent and sometimes from the student. The old apple/tree adage is typically true.

At one conference with four teachers, two parents, and twin students the parents’ lack of understanding shined through. One student was in Core A, my core. The other student was in Core B, my partners core. We attempted to explain to the parents that their child was copying their sibling’s homework in history. We showed them the proof. The other core was a chapter ahead of ours. The outline questions were similar for both chapters, but not the same. Both siblings had the exact answers on their homework. The parents still refused to accept that their children had cheated. Even when they were shown that one child was supposed to be writing about Mesopotamia and the other about the Roman Empire. The student in our core, answered the questions incorrectly, because they were not on the same chapter. The parents still refused to believe copying had taken place.

At another conference we had a mother and her son. The mother was distraught and wanted us to try and convince her son to take his ADD medication. Trust me, I had seen numerous cases where this medication was IMHO incorrectly given to students. But this child displayed every symptom to the N^th degree and when on the medication, he could focus and be a happier student. The parents were divorced and apparently the dad did not want his son on the medication. The father’s reasoning was flawed to say the least. The son shared with us, that his dad told him that he took the medication once and still had the same behaviors. After calming talking with the young man, I asked him if he did or did not see a difference when he was on the medication. He admitted his life was easier when he took the small dosage prescribed. He further said that he didn’t feel he needed the prescription because it didn’t work. He explained that the next day he needed the medicine again. I jumped in with the best analogy I could think of. I asked the young man if he ate dinner every day. He confirmed he did. I asked him why. He said he was hungry every evening. I explained that just as his body needed to be refueled every day to work properly, his body needed to be given the medication that helped him every day. I further used another student as an example. He had a friend in my class that was an insulin dependent diabetic. I asked him if he understood about the need for the other student to take regular insulin injections. He instantly connected the dots about the body needing medication.

Fall starts a new year
Preparing for the next grade
Opportunities

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