Rose, Jyothi, Lana, Shivu and other teachers around... the teaching profession is a tough one. I've always felt so. Especially in the West where children are far less compliant/obedient and there's greater expectation from the tutors.
Maybe not all of you are unlucky enough to deal with such complaints.. but, by chance I came across an article that spoke of how teachers were being constantly harassed by parents these days, and I was reminded of y'all!
Pasting some of the sillier anecdotes that the teachers shared - others were too horrible for me to even paste here...
Funny parents that teachers have had to deal with
1) I once had a student in my daycare class tell me about how he drank bleach' to whiten his teeth. Of course, to me, that was concerning so I voiced my concern to his mother. She just rolled her eyes at me and said He doesn't drink it. he just swishes his mouth in it. I watch him. It's not like I would let him swallow it. what kind of parent do you think I am?'
2) We showed a mother CCTV footage of her son stealing a teacher's wallet. The mother said that we had used our digital editing department to super-imporse her son's head onto another student's body'
We didn't even have a library, let alone digital editing department!
3) One of the parents asked me if I work in special education because I couldn't' get a job teaching regular kids'
4) I teach first grade in a very poor area. We went on a field trip and the cost was 12$ per student. We do have a fund set up for students who can't pay, but we try not to advertise the fact because then every parent wants a free ride.
Anyway, I had one student who couldn't afford to go, so I told the parents that I would take care of the cost. They immediately wanted me to pay for both of them to go as chaperones in the trip (another 15$). I explained very politely, that we do not pay for adults on school trips.
Next day, they called to complain that I was discriminating against them.
5) A parent complained to me that it was unfair to give his child Zero' on assignments he didn't do, because no one explained that NOT doing assignments would affect the overall grade!
6) I was called a racist by the parents because I did not give her child an A' for a paper she wrote on president Obama. They did not take into consideration the fact that it was poorly written, had no factual evidence and completely disorganized.
7) A parent once asked me to send home a copy of test questions ahead in time since her son was struggling so much and he could prepare in advance
8) I once tossed a piece of candy towards a student. She didn't catch it and it hit her forehead. She went complaining to her parents.
They came and confronted me. I explained that when I'd asked their daughter to come get the candy from the table, she was the one who'd asked me to toss it. But they didn't listen and called me racist for picking on their daughter since she was a Mexican.
I was fired up Are you serious? Is this some sort of joke?'
The mom said Absolutely not! I can tell you're racist by looking right at you!'
To which I responded I don't know if you noticed. But I'm Mexican too!'
9) I once had a parent ask me to do grocery shopping with her.
10) I once had a parent ask me to collect her kids from the car everyday before school.
11) I once had a parent ask me to babysit her children over the weekend!
12) I had a parent try to get me removed from the job because I did not accept her daughter's plagiarised homework. She was caught cheating on 3 different occasions and I failed her. The next day, the parent makes a call to the district claiming I was harassing her daughter! Boy, that was fun!
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
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