Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Skip A Conference, Go To Jail?

I'm all for having parents involved in the education of their children, but I cannot justify this extreme suggestion:

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is pushing for a law that calls for jail time for parents who skip parent-teacher conferences, a plan some call inspired and others consider the nanny state run amok.

Worthy pitched her plan Tuesday to the Detroit City Council and is shopping it to the Wayne County Commission and state Legislature. Drawing a link between parental involvement and youth crime, Worthy wants a sponsor to guide the idea to law.

Her plan would require parents to attend at least one conference per year or face three days in jail. Parents of those excelling in school would be exempt, as would those whose health issues make travel difficult and those "actively engaged" with teachers through e-mail, phone calls or letters.

Just who I'd want to deal with--a parent who's present only because of the threat of jail time.

7 comments:

DADvocate said...

It's beyond nanny statism, it's fascism. Pure and simple.

Anonymous said...

I support this on one condition: That every time a parent DOES attend a parent-teacher conference, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy spends three days in jail.

mrelliott said...

All right. Who let the monkeys out of the zoo???

And.....who put them in charge???

Beth said...

This is ridiculous! If a parent doesn't want to be involved in their children's education (which to me is unconscionable)then putting them in jail will do nothing to change this.

www.gettycorn.blogspot.com

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Don't they have enough REAL CRIMES to prosecute there? Or do they get juicy "court costs" as part of the deal?? Maybe it's a money-making scheme. :)

Anonymous said...

The Straw Man is all good and fun. But what level of accountability to a child's education should lie with parents?

As of now, all the "accountability" measures are aimed at schools and teachers. Students spend 13% of their waking hours at school. We get that 13% to make them masters of enormous quantities of academic content. In the meantime, the home is accountable for nothing.

Do you argue that parents have NO accountability, and that any attempt to make them accountable is nanny-statism?

I'm sorry, but that's as ridiculous as the story in the post.

Darren said...

One of the perks for being a (seeming) newbie here is that I don't blast you for saying or implying stupid things. Instead of asking if I think "that parents have NO accountability", I suggest you try this little experiment:
1. guess, just guess, what a West Point graduate, parent, and teacher thinks about personal responsibility, and
2. actually search the archives here for the word "responsibility" to find out what I actually believe on the topic, or
3. ask what I believe without the snarky implication.