Speaking as a REAL Music Teacher

The following is a quote from Dr. Steve Perry, educational reformer, and one of the scourges of teachers unions.  Taken from an interview on Larry King.

"Parents have an important role. But the parents are often blamed for that which the school is responsible for.  I have a son. I have two sons and they play the piano. And I don’t know how to play the piano. If my piano teacher ever came to our home and said, you know what, if you were a better pianist, your sons would be better piano — players, I’d fire him so quick he’d forget he ever taught my sons to play.  I paid that man to do this. We are asking parents who in some cases haven’t taken chemistry either in 12, 15, 20 years or if ever, to help a child with chemistry homework."

Indeed.

*Ahem*

Dear Dr. Perry,

I have been a musician for most of my life, and a teacher for half of it.  In addition to my job as a public school teacher, I have taught many a private student.  Some were outstanding.  Some, not so much.  The LAST thing I would tell a parent is:  "They suck as musicians because you do."  I might, however, point out that their child seems to avoid practicing, and that it shows.

You see, Dr. Perry, I do not expect the parents to know how to play the instrument in question.  I do however, expect the parents to monitor how much practicing is going on at home.  If, for example, the kid has not sat with the instrument for a day or two - you might want to go take the video game controller out of their hands and tell them they can have it back after they've gone through the assigned exercises a few times.  No, you do not need to tell them whether or not they have done it right - that is my job.  However, for the $40 you gave me, I spent an hour telling them how to do it, and watched them demonstrate it on their own.  What they were supposed to do, was go over it until it became an ingrained process.  But since they did sweet-fuck-all since last week, they can't even remember what I said, much less how to do it.  Therefore, you will spend another $40 so that I can re-teach what we went over... as well as run them through repetitions (that they were supposed to do on their own) and hope it sticks for next week.  Maybe, I'll have five or six minutes at the end of that hour to actually go over something new.

It's not about what you know - it's about what they were supposed to do to enable their own learning process.  If they practiced and they still didn't get it, then it would be an issue that I should rightfully address (without complaint) in the following lesson. 

 I'm sure my colleagues who teach chemistry (and every other subject) will agree - you don't need to have a running knowledge in the subjects we teach.  What you should be doing is making sure they make a go of the work we give them, as well as providing them with a safe, healthy, and focused environment  for them to do it in. Help them manage their time, and their priorities. Allow them to make choices, but hold them to the choices they make.  Asking you to encourage your child to uphold his or her end of the educational process would not constitute a desire for you to "do our job for us."  If you want us to be 100% responsible for your child's education, then please allow us to move into your home so that we can monitor your kid 24/7 - and give us the authority to punish them if they fail to use their time wisely. 

Be warned - that will cost a little more than $40 an hour.

Yours Truly, an American Teacher

Getting MORE than what you pay for?

I understand that under the shadow of SB 165, families have a right to opt out of making any kind of financial contribution to a public school program. I get that. What irritates me is people who want 'premium service' without having to pay a dime for it. And by 'premium service' - I don't mean just doing my job as best I can - every single one of my students deserves that no matter what they contribute monetarily. I'm not even talking about people who can afford to pay but choose not to - I've already accepted that as an inevitable outcome. I'm talking about people who want to be pampered for free - people who feel they have the right to make special requests, especially ones that cater more to the students preference, than any kind of real need.

For example - let's say you are a school basketball coach. Under state law, you have to allow students to play, and supply them with anything they might need (except maybe athletic shoes and socks) free of charge. Now imagine that a parent sends you an e-mail saying.

Dear Mr. Coach

We are writing to request that you reassign Bobby a new basketball jersey. The one you gave him is used, and he says it has an unpleasant smell. Also, it seems that none of the standard sizes fit his unique frame - he just looks kind of funny in the one he's wearing. Can you have one made that will fit him better? Thank you for your concern in this matter.

Sincerely, Nancy Needy

That's the kind of craziness that I'm talking about, and yes I have students/families like that. In fact, it was an e-mail like that one that prompted me to write this post.

I haven't responded yet. I think I'll wait until tomorrow - when I've had a chance to cool off a bit.

Happy 2011-2012!

Hello, Dear Readers, and welcome back!

Sorry for my long hiatus - I actually have a score of posts that I began to write in the last few months, but never finished. You should probably be thankful for that - as I go back and read the drafts, I'm finding them to be rather wordy, dreary reads that don't really say anything particularly interesting.

Anyway, today I will keep my comments to brief, bullet-point statements for your convenience:

* The new classroom is "cozy" to say in the least - stuff from two large rehearsal rooms squeezed into one portable. Nevertheless, yours truly did a kick-ass job of managing the space, and we are making it work.

* My kids this year are nice. Even my beginning class, which usually drives me nuts.

* The new football coach is turning out to be a really chill guy. This is important, because when football/band relations go bad, it can make my life a living hell.

* The youth orchestra I work for is kind of in trouble - not enough enrollment to keep the staff paid through the end of the year. We all agreed to stay on, regardless of pay, for one year at least, but we may be seeing the organization's swan song. It's sad, but at the same time the thought of getting my weekends back is kind of appealing.

So really, the year is starting out to be mostly awesome. Give me another month or so to see if the honeymoon goes sour. You'll be the first to know.