Parents' requests for teacher

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Parents' requests for teacher
By Mary

I have to say, as both a parent of a now college-age daughter and as a teacher, that I believe permitting parents to request specific teachers is a slippery slope that should be avoided. While it may be true that parents
know their own children best, we cannot dismiss the possibility of unknown personal agendas at work that, in fact, may not be in the child's best interests in optimizing his or her learning experience. With my daughter, I appreciated having the opportunity to verbalize my perceptions of her strenghths and weaknesses, however, I would never have presumed to request one particular teacher

over another and,especially, I would never have pulled rank (I was also very active in PTO, volunteered in classroom, new staff well, etc) to demand what I wanted unless I had very specific, concrete, valid reasons to believe that she was in physical, emotional,or academic jeopardy if placed in a particular teacher's class. Because I was an active participant in my child's learning I trusted the teaching professionals to look out for her, and all the students', best interests.

As teachers, we know that the group dynamics in the group each year plays a significant role in how learning will take place for all of the kids. One very important facet of the process for any student, whether it is my own child or a child I teach, is to learn how to deal with and make the best of situations that may not be ideal. Kids, and parents, need to realize that it's not always about what's best for them at the expense of what's best for others, too. Not all learning takes place within the confines of the scope and sequence of the curriculum. Kids, and teachers, learn probably just as much by the day-to-day interactions that arise. The perceived needs of one child should not automatically take precedence over those of other students at the same grade level simply because one parent ,or group of parents, has a louder voice or more political clout in the district. Maybe that's naivite on my part, but placement with a particular teacher should be made on the basis of what is most suitable for all involved and not because of a popularity contest. Those of us who have been around awhile have most likely experienced *the class from hell* put together with the most difficult learning, behavioral, and discipline issues. That's horrible for any teacher to be subjected to. Administrations that encourage this to happen either by giving in to the most vocal or politically-connected parents do a great disservice both to the teachers and the kids who have to endure unbalanced classes. Just my thoughts.