How much is too much? I read recently in the New York Times, of parents able to go on line on a daily basis and check up on all their kids' activities at school. This is not a home school thing where they go in and track your work, but a number of programs have been designed to notify parents of their kid skipping a class or failing a test at school. While it is important for parents to be aware of what is going on in school, this completely detours from the relationship of a parent and kid. Growing up there where times that I did poorly on a stupid spelling test or on a science test, however I knew it wouldn't affect my overall grade and that eventually I could make it up. However, this program allows parents to know of each and every one of your grade without giving the child the time to tell them or explain anything to them. It makes it impossible for kids to mess up. When I was a kid I always resented getting yelled at or lectured for messing up one time out of a thousand, but no, parents pick that one time and never let up. These programs allow for continuous questioning and lecturing over simple mistakes kids our bound to make throughout school. This is not to say that the program may be beneficial to children with a history of skipping school or failing classes, but it leaves a large window of opportunity to get on to other children constantly about their school work even if they are an overall excellent student. I personally don't agree with the level this has been taken to. In the end, programs like ParentConnect are going to leave kids resentful of their parents, as well as make them not want to come home after school if they know all they are going to hear about is the C they got on their math test.Here is the site if you want to read more about it:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/fashion/04edline.html?ref=style
I agree that it is unnecessary for the parents to have access to this type of information. It a student is doing poorly, or skipping class to a point that it is affecting their education, the teacher should be the one contacting the parents to set up an appointment on what can be done to help the child succeed. It does take away from the parent/child relationship, because now instead of the child telling their parents (or not) what they did, it will the parents confronting the child and therefore probably creating an argument. Most everyone does poorly on a test or quiz at some point, and many students have skipped a class or two, but as long as its not screwing up their grades or learning then I don't see the harm in it. This reminds me also of the documentary we watched in class about stuff online, and how it is not necessary for parents to have access to their children's information online because it just makes them obsessive about it and overbearing.
This is a little much for me as well. I like the idea of having this program for students that do actually skip a lot of school and fail out of their classes, but honestly for every student. I definitely did not do perfect in school, however I made sure I got the grade I needed. Kids should be allowed to screw up once in a while, thats how they make themselves. Babied kids go to college and at times lose complete control because they were never given that freedom. All in All its a bad idea!
I can see myself as a parent wanting to check up on my children 24/7, but there is a time and a place for communication between parent and child. Parents need to be careful to give their children a sense of liberty and also enforce trust in the family. I do not think the Internet tracking system is a good idea if that is to happen.