Dr. Laura,
I'm a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom to a 7-year-old boy, 5-year-old girl, and a crazy 2-year-old boy. Thanks for all of your encouragement over the years!
I just wanted to share my thoughts about the level of parental involvement in education today. I think there are two extremes right now: parents who are over involved and parents who are not involved at all, with a few average parents in between. I'd like to comment about the over-involved folks. It seems to me the trend is to get your kid diagnosed with some disorder, (there seems to be hundreds now), and then demand every possible accommodation for your child. I've seen this with friends and family, and I feel so bad for the teachers and the children.
I used to work in a psychology clinic and we would frequently have parents come in to have their children tested for disorders. When the results came back and the psychologist told them that their kid was fine, they would come back and want the child tested for something else they had read or heard about. This would go on until some diagnosis was made.
Of course there are some parents who don't have children with "issues" that still demand special treatment. I'd like to share one example: My brother is a janitor at a middle school and they don't pay him enough! One day the mother of a student called, asked to speak to him, and then began to yell at him. Her son had lost his binder and he told his mom the janitor took it and threw it away. Of course this was not true and my brother tried to explain that to this woman, but to no avail. He eventually hung up on her. She then stormed the main office and yelled at not only my brother, but the principal as well. This woman really could not believe her child could have lost his binder; it had to be someone else's fault! Of course the boy eventually found his binder, and of course there was no apology from the mother.
What will happen when these kids, who have never faced failure when they become adults and possibly go to college? Will their parents show up and yell at the professors?
Keep up the good fight Dr. Laura! I wish more people would listen to your show!
Candiss
