Teaching is a difficult job under the best of circumstances. Men and women become teachers to help children become successful in many areas. While many people would rather not deal with 60 - 70 kids a day, all day, these professional men and women have chosen a career, and a challenge, which makes them braver than most of us. So it is important for parents to support teachers in their efforts. Teachers are also under tremendous pressure being expected to work with reduced resources and adapting to constant changes and updates in curriculum.

When you drop your child off at school or watch them board the school bus, you have committed them for seven to 8 hours into the hands of the educational system, and particularly into the hands of professional schoolteachers. Regardless of the individual values and lessons of life you have taught your child, the school system will uniformly teach your child the basics of cultural literacy from an academic standpoint. However, it is up to you, not the teacher, to teach your child to learn and to appreciate learning.

Disciplinary problems with many children are problems teachers face everyday. Problem children are a distraction to the learning of other children and many teachers do their best under the restraints of school policies and procedures to maintain an unruly child. But when the child has no home training or proper social skills, there is little a teacher can do or a parent can expect from the teacher. When teachers bring the problem to the attention of the parent many of them stand behind the wall of denial blind to the fact that they may have an unruly child.

Kids may come home and tell parents that their teacher doesn't like them and picks on them, and depending on the level of trust in the parent-child relationship, the situation is handled various ways. Sometimes the right way and sometimes the wrong way. Either way, there is a problem and many times the child can be found in the wrong. If a child is having trouble in class and claims the teacher does not like them, there is always the teacher's side of the story. One way to know for sure that there is a serious problem is when the teacher calls home.

If a teacher calls to report on your child's behavior, take the report seriously. Teachers are busy. They are not going to take the time to call unless they truly feel it is important. If your child engaged in inappropriate behavior, discipline him or her. Let your child know that you are going to back the teacher, and that your expectations for your child's behavior in school are the same as the teacher's.

If you do disagree with a teacher, discuss your concerns with the teacher in private. Never let your child become involved in these matters. Typically, if children see the adults in their lives disagreeing over what should happen to them, they will take advantage of the situation by playing one adult against the other. In the end, the only people who get hurt are the kids.

Your child will go to school for a long time, and you should expect disagreements with his or her school on occasion. It's okay to disagree, as long as it's done privately among adults. Of course, if your child is harmed or treated unjustly, other action may be required. But for the most part, schools try to provide a safe environment for all students, and they need parent's support to do so.

© 2003 by AfroStaff