Not joking

Huh. That's... really sad actually. My niece has BID, and sometimes when she was little she'd get overwhelmed and the meds were the only thing that helped her focus and be able to sit still so I can see if it was necessary but still.... wow

But I have experienced enough of the syndrome she's describing to not dismiss it as sensationalism.

The sensationalism part comes from the way it lumps in a number of issues (probably the ones where she looked at various stats, and not the things she looked at in her own research) under one roof. Like I said, there was interesting stuff in there, but on the whole, it seemed to be over-reaching.

I'd have to ask Dad if he saw an increase in that sort of parent, but as he taught high school level, they might not have yet hit when he retired a couple of years ago.

But I have experienced enough of the syndrome she's describing to not dismiss it as sensationalism.

There was a mom in Ben's second grade class last year who argued abotu everything. The initial spelling tests were unfair to poor little HerChild because the expectations weren't clear, the day of the test wasn't clear (um, Friday is usual, dingbat), the bonus write-a-sentence option on the test wasn't properly explained. And this is second grade.

It's not even simply grades, in my experience. It's a culture of expectation, of things being done for the child, of every experience being Positive! and Beneficial! It may be nice, I guess, but it's not a lot like life, if you ask me. We had a Mother/Son Sports Night where two hours of the planning meeting (I kid you not) were spent trying to determine what would best serve the kids as a "take home gift". I suggested that the evening of playing dodgeball with Mom was enough to go away with, and got a resoundig veto.

It goes with the "everyone gets a trophy so noone feels bad" crap. If children have a bad experience with something, it'll make them SAD! And they won't want to do it again!

Being told that no teacher in the school can give a cumulative final exam because it's "too difficult" for the students to remember the beginning of the year...while simultaneously also decreeing that teachers are not allowed to give midterm exams because they are "too stressful", for example.

Yes, this is the situation I am currently facing. The school used to have midterms, but parental pressure changed all that.

Annabel is one gorgeous kid. Wow.

I'm pissy and tired and defensive. I've been here since 7:30 this morning and still have hours of grading to do tonight. I also haven't eaten all day and went to three meetings between teaching and planning and writing six billion parent emails and answering voicemails. I may not be in the best state of mind right now to be having this discussion. I'm sorry. I'll try to come back when I'm not so frazzled.

Kristin, I totally sympathize. I think public school teachers rock, and between parental pressure and the dictates of state-mandated curriculum, you're not left a lot of room to be creative and really challenge the kids, I bet.

Ben and Jake have had one mediocre teacher between them, and even he was just depressed, I think. Teaching is a hard, hard gig.

No midterms and no cumulative exams?

Boggle.

Can you do end of section tests or is there no way to assess what learning goes on?

of things being done for the child

This I've seen a lot of. In fact, my son's 4th grade teacher gave F's to several of the kids on their first book report because it was obvious to her that the parents had done the work not the kids.