Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.
Just when I thought I would have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to be able to post anything here for today, I got something juicy right when I was about to leave the faculty room yesterday.

My co-teacher, having gotten the mobile number of the emergency contact person of one of his students from their course card, sent a text message to the presumed parent or guardian about the performance of the student.

The problem of the student in his class is that she does not attend his basic math class, but she attends other classes and she is being driven to school and fetched afterwards by her parents, everyday.

So he told the parent about the non-attendance of their child in his class. At the start, the parent was thankful for his information.

But when he would not identify who he was, a belated gesture borne of realizing that the intervention should have come from the office of the guidance counselor, and due to the conflicting testimony of the student herself when confronted by the parents, they became threatening.

My co-teacher stopped answering their messages, even their calls when they would say they were already in school wanting to meet with him. They did, after all, drive the student to school.

You are stupid, one text even went so far as to say. And there was a warning of going to a nearby police camp to be sued for libel.

Finally it was the student who sent him a text message, asking him not to tell her parents about her condition in class anymore.

The problem now is that the student really is failing, and that is due to absences at that, as well as missed exams.

So this may have blown over for now, but it may be stirred up again at the end of the term, on the giving of grades.

I do not know how long the student will be able to hold out from her parents that she failed in this subject.

Maybe they trust their daughter that much to be able to defend her against someone who might be her teacher that way.

My conclusion from this is that it is not just the students that have evolved from the way they were back when I was still one, but also the parents. The parents of today were the urban young professionals when I was studying.

I believe their mindset coupled with the lack of adaptation of good old fashioned family values with all of the liberties afforded today to the youth by all this instantaneous technology and media bombardment has made these kids into what they are today. And, as part of the guilt of absentee parenting (a topic in The Emotional Weather Report linked to Jessica Rules the Universe) defend their progeny to the death, regardless of what they did wrong. It is not anymore about choosing the best school that will teach your kids the right values; it is about justifying your upbringing of your kid against so-called teachers who choose to question your methods.

Wow, this certainly went into a direction and a depth that I did not expect when I started the post.

Session 2863 plans to pick quotes here for use elsewhere. Class dismissed.