"That's just it. Keeping the lines of communication open with kids of this age is hard work. Difficult to do within a family, even more difficult when your family has 130 children.
And honestly, there is quite a bit of resistance for that endeavor with some middle school teachers. The faculty where I teach is an odd mix of teachers with elementary school backgrounds and secondary school backgrounds. Some of them will tell you straight out that they are in the school to teach a subject, not do any of that "touchy-feely stuff".
I agree with them. School is not your "family". Your family is your family.
I support the teachers who just want to teach and not do any "touchy feely" stuff. That's my job as one of their parents, and their job as a teacher is challenging enough as it is.
Their role as a teacher (in my opinion, of course) is to make sure the kids master the topics, and to have a fair understanding of their academic interests.
I was disappointed that this year's science teacher had no idea that my daughter was obsessed with genetics and wants to become a geneticist-that's something that she needed to be aware of, rather than "she's turning into a lovely young lady". I mean seriously, is that all you've figured out about my kid?
It drives my kids nuts when they ask them "how are you feeling today about your life" sort of stuff. They're like, can you just teach me the subject?
