Indulge Me...

So indulge me if you will - I need to rant.

Tonight I received an e-mail from the parent of one of my students (a rather good student - I was kind of surprised) telling me that her daughter would not be at our competition tomorrow (this was barely 24 hours before we are competing!) because she was going out of town to see some family. To give you some background to understand the situation: at the beginning of the season (like 4 months ago) I gave them a schedule with all of our competitions. At that time, I also discussed our contract with them that contains all my rules and expectations. Then they took a copy of that contract home for their parents to read and for both of them to sign stating that they agreed to follow those rules. This is required for anyone who wants to participate. Well... in that contract it lays out a VERY detailed attendance policy which states, among other things, that they are not allowed to miss any competitions. The only way they could get approved to miss a competition is because they are in the hospital dying or a family member is dying. This is, obviously because their absence does not effect only themselves. They are a part of the team and are all dependant on each other. The rest of the team is hurt if they are gone. The contract goes on to further state that if they miss a performance for any reason other than an extreme emergency - they will receive a failing grade for the course.

So, this parent telling me all of a sudden that her daughter won't be competing TOMORROW for a not even remotely okay reason and then also saying that she hopes the consequences won't be too severe is CRAZY! Absolutely freaking ridiculous! And totally unacceptable!!! Why would that be okay? How are kids supposed to learn to make and KEEP commitments??? How are kids ever supposed to learn that our choices have consequences if their parents are constantly trying to shield them from the consequences of their actions and teaching them that they are the exception to the rule????

HELLO PEOPLE!!!

What kind of a world are we creating for ourselves? And for our children?

Parents aren't doing their kids any favors by doing things like that. They need to learn those lessons now. What are they going to do when they grow up and get out into the real world? Are they going to call up their parents and have their parents come down to their college and whine to their professors to change their grade? (I've dealt with that too. Another nightmare. Last term. Grrrr..... I had to change a girl's grade who should have already been at an F, but I graciously gave her a C+ and then I had to change her grade to a B+. Grrrrrrr...... Everlasting bitterness and rage!)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........ Its times like this that make me question why I am a teacher. I love it normally. But instances like this are SO frustrating.

Anyways, I read a quote today that I think is most excellent and very appropriate for this situation. I wish I had saved it. Basically it just said that when we try and shield others from the consequences of their actions we create a world full of fools. Below, I will put a few more quotes. I invite you to ponder and to make a pledge that you will not be one of those stupid parents.

"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." - Les Brown

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you, never excuse yourself. " Henry Ward Beecher

"Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility. " Albert Schweitzer

"In each action we must look beyond the action at our past, present, and future state, and at others whom it affects, and see the relations of all those things. And then we shall be very cautious." Blaise Pascal (Pensées)

"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities." Josiah Stamp