My MiL is one of "those" parents. I've watched my SiL and BiL go from grade school to high school and on to college in the last 15 years.

She's argued with teachers on assignments, illness related absences, her kids needing "special assistance". She even had my SiL register as "handicapped" for college so she could get special consideration if she missed too many classes. She had their family doctor fill out the paperwork. I'm not fucking kidding. She's bad-mouthed every teacher they've ever had. She insists that her son is under-achieving in high school now because he refuses to "suck up" to the teachers.

DH was bright and over-achieving as a child. His sibs didn't quite get up to his level but it's not for the lack of trying on my MiL's part.

I'm the product of 17 years of public school eduction (from grade school to a public university). I can honestly say I had fantastic teachers who appreciated my abilities and pushed me to achieve as much as I possibly could. One of my high school teachers noticed my interest in Shakespeare and offered to teach a class provided I could gather the requisite 14 students to sign up for it. I got 18 kids signed up and it was the best class I've ever had. That's the kind of thing I respect my public school teachers for.

I ran into my GRADE SCHOOL librarian last year. She's 82. She met Owen and we chatted about how I used to hide out in the library reading instead of going out to recess. She is a fantastic woman who touched my life more than a lot of people.

I know not all public schools are that good, but I think a lot of parents (none here) that expect teachers to be miracle workers.

Kristin, that's sorta crazy! What with the meetings and grading and teaching. No wonder you're exhausted! I'm not even gonna complain that I have a boring 3-hour conference call tomorrow because at least I don't have to pay attention and I can play solitare while it's going on.

My daughter's algebra class has quarterly cumulative tests and the mid term and final will be cumulative also. But with Algebra there's probably no real way for it not to be. I do know they have cumulative finals in Spanish too. I think that last year there was no final in Social Studies but this year will cover everything learned in the last two years. Talk about stressful! I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday let alone what I learned over a year ago! I don't think they have a final in Language Arts but I think this is because the subject matter is so varied there's no way to make up a comprehensive test.

illness related absences

When I was 15, I had AN ORGAN REMOVED and my mother refused the extension my English teacher offered for my term paper. "It's due Friday. If she hasn't done it yet, she's in trouble."

I hadn't and I got my ass KICKED.

cum finals in Spanish

Do they go to the SPP School for the Pervy?

Um yeah, SPP's School for Pervy girls... man that's an embarassing typo!

When I was 15, I had AN ORGAN REMOVED and my mother refused the extension my English teacher offered for my term paper. "It's due Friday. If she hasn't done it yet, she's in trouble."

This is perhaps going just a teensy bit too far in the other direction. Maybe?

It explains KBug's fascination with Nawty Worm.

This is perhaps going just a teensy bit too far in the other direction. Maybe?

Not really. This was my habit. Last minute girl. I was given the specs for the term paper in January. I had the surgery in May.

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.

The hell?

What are the parents going to do when the kid grows up? Go to the kid's boss and say, "it's not fair to expect little Bratleigh to have month-end figures for you every month--it's too stressful."

Lot of public school teachers here. Just saying.

I know. YMMV with schools and teachers. I'm just being a parent who will be annoying involved in his daughter's education. Unless Annabel turns out to be a super-prodigy who gets her PhD in physics at 9, she's going into Seattle Schools.

And I, honestly, was the product of some really terrible public schooling. I had 2-3 teachers in high school who gave a rat's ass about me or about education. The rest were too busy getting drunk or writing out detention slips or planning on their retirement to teach.