requesting teachers

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requesting teachers
By Ann

Should parents be allowed to request teachers? Many teachers will say yes. But the example given above about parents rushing to observe on the last days of school argues against allowing them to pick teachers. If they don't
realize that the last five days of school would not give them a valid picture, what else don't they know about picking the right teacher? Do they really know what type of teacher is best for their child? (However, at least they wanted to observe. In many schools parents choose teachers based on what they hear from other parents. They never even go into other classes, look at the type

and quality of work or watch the teacher-student interactions!)Many teachers say parents know their children better than anyone else. That is true in many ways, but it does not logically follow from this fact that a parent should be allowed to pick her child's teacher. It is interesting to reflect on the times that we all have dealt with difficult parents who didn't understand at all what we were doing and how to best help their children.
Many teachers support the practice of parents requesting teachers because they also support the importance of parents being involved in their child's education. This is very simplistic thinking. Yes, parent involvement is abolutely necessary. But we had better be very careful how we determine and encourage involvement. We are giving too much power away. If we want to be treated as professionals, we need to think (I do mean think as in an intellectual exercise, critical thinking skills, etc., not using our emotions, feelings; we have to think as teachers,not parents!)about how to involve parents appropriately.
The children have to come first, all children. Classes should be put together in such a way that every child will have the best chances for success. The factors to be considered when doing this are many (gender, economics, race, academic ability, personality conflicts, age, special need students,etc.) and will preclude most, if not all,parent requests.
This is a complicated issue. Do not think about how it works at your school. I know that it can appear to work and probably does at some sites. Transcend your personal situation (especially as a parent) and look at the potential for serious problems arising from parents requesting teachers. The problems far outweigh the positives. For ex. parent requests can result in classes which have: all the finacially better off kids , a gross gender imbalance, a teacher who is very weak on behavior management and all the behavior problems, many developmentally young kids without the benefit of models to provide that important zone of proximal development (Vyskotsky), a predominance of very needy students (socially, emotionally, academically), all or most of the ELL, big classes, small classes, etc, etc etc. There are also the staff relationships to consider. Are teachers competing to entertain students in order to get the most requests? Is this a popularity contest? How do new teachers fit into all of this? What happens when office staff start to recommend teachers? Is there the potential for teachers to recommend other teachers? (Jealousies and personality conflicts do exist on staffs. Is it possible that teacher X might despise teacher Y and tell parents not to pick Y?) Can tracking start early? For ex. if a certain group of teachers are always requested for the same group of kids, won't they remain together throughout their education in primary years? Do kids start to influence who their parents pick? ("I want Mr. so and so because Melissa is going to be in his class or because he has pets.")
This is a very dangerous practice that is encouraged for weak or wrong reasons. It needs to be closely examined and considered. The bottom line is that the children have to come first, not one child, all children. Parent requests put one child over all children. We can not pay lip service to putting children first. We must advocate first and foremost to do our best to meet the needs of all kids. This makes it next to impossible to even consider how to fit parent requests into the task of putting classes together.