Dear Parents:
Neither prefacing your comments with "I know you have enough to deal with already" nor concluding them with "Ha ha, I know, I'm the kind of parent every teacher dreads!" will negate either of the facts that you have just so graciously pointed out. These disclaimers only serve to increase your culpability.
Sincerely at your service,
Mr. P.
Dear Parent,
ReplyDeleteYour child misbehaves in my class because you are a bad parent.
I do not answer questions in e-mails that you can answer in 2 seconds by searching for it on google.
My tutoring hours are posted on the website.
Most assuredly yours,
Mr. B
It's like when someone apologizes for her messy house. What she really means is, "I know I'm a slob, but I don't want you to think I also have low standards." The parents are saying, "I know I'm being a jerk, but I don't want you to think I'm too stupid to realize it."
ReplyDeleteAs for you, Mr. B., you may be right about the reason for the kids' bad behavior, but I am far, far too superstitious to ever suggest such a thing about someone else's kid, myself. It would make me the deserving target of some cosmic come-uppance: one of my kids would do something _terrible_, and everyone would assume I was to blame. So I think you're either way more rational than I am, or not a parent.