A retired teacher’s blunt message about parents and schools sparked a heated debate online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a 2017 open letter published by the Augusta Chronicle<\/em>, retired teacher Lisa Roberson argued that teachers are often blamed for problems that begin outside the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her message was direct:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe teachers are not the problem! Parents are the problem!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Roberson said many teachers deal with students who arrive at school without basic supplies, proper manners, respect, or the preparation needed to learn effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also claimed that teachers sometimes spend their own money buying supplies for students while trying to manage children who don’t complete homework or follow classroom rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But her biggest concern wasn’t about the students themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was about parental involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roberson challenged parents to ask themselves some uncomfortable questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are they attending parent-teacher meetings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are they communicating regularly with their children’s teachers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are they checking that homework is completed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do their children arrive at school with the supplies they need?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, perhaps most importantly, are parents teaching their children basic respect and responsibility at home?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her argument was that teachers can guide, educate, and support children, but they cannot replace the role of parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her conclusion was simple and blunt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTeachers cannot do their jobs and the parents\u2019 job.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter quickly spread across social media, with some readers praising Roberson for speaking honestly and others arguing that the challenges facing schools are much more complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of which side people take, her message continues to raise an important question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n How much responsibility should parents take for what happens in the classroom?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A retired teacher’s blunt message about parents and schools sparked a heated debate online. In a 2017 open letter published by the Augusta Chronicle, retired teacher Lisa Roberson argued that teachers are often blamed for problems that begin outside the classroom. Her message was direct: \u201cThe teachers are not the problem! Parents are the problem!\u201d …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17801,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17799\/revisions\/17801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}