Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler for September 18, 2023

No pressure…

The activities are elective but there will be assessment.

Will there be snacks?

Aw, leave well enough alone.

My previous life the kids were in a private school. Mandatory 100 hours volunteer service for every parent. I didn’t offer 100 hours but I did pressure wash the entire school sidewalks, parking lot, building and covered play area.

I remember during the little league/Scouting years, there were a lot of “dump and run” parents.

Back when I was a teenager, our church had a fund drive. We were the only Catholic Church in the area NOT to have a grade school associated with it. This was an EXTREME embarrassment to the parish. Also the diocese was upset that the parish was not pulling it’s weight with raising revenue.

If you didn’t pledge enough, your child would not be accepted. If you had more than one child, the first child was $100 a month, the second $75 a month and children after that $50 a month (good Irish Catholic mothers can churn those babies out).

However why should the church get $75 or $50 for a seat they can sell for $100. That’s where annual pledges were audited.

I attended this church from age 10 on when we moved into the parish. I left to join the service immediately after college. When I decided to get married several years later, they said, “Who are you? We don’t see your name in our ledger books. You can’t be a Catholic in good standing.”

I think that’s when my mom stopped attending.

Been there, done that!

It’s said when parents are involved, kids feel more secure and do better in their school work.

I certainly did my share….but it’s always the same parents who volunteer….the majority couldn’t care less.

Geez, this sounds like the Boy Scouts. Once they get their hooks into you they want you to volunteer for everything.

The problem of parent involvement was different where I taught. There were 5 parent/teacher session each year, which were rarely attended. About once a year, usually in early April, at least one pair would ask me why I hadn’t sent a report card home since September. They hadn’t worried about it for 5 grading periods. A little late? Not unusual.

However, the best thing to come out of that was when I showed them that cards had been sent and then showed them the grades [usually not great]. They looked at me and at each other. Then one or the other took a breath, kinda straightened up, and said ‘Uh huh’ with that certain the light dawns tone. It signaled recognition of the root of the problem and also a likely outcome for the next time folks met offspring.

Would like to have been there for that, but I wouldn’t have been able to schedule all those sessions.

The point being, we lived in a small rural community, with just over 1300 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. So had they and a lot of other parents attended the sessions earlier in the year or contacted me, that revelation would have come earlier and Bismuth or Ermintrude might have found a reason to shape up or -more likely- put up a better front.

define school activities…