This behavior I just cannot fathom. In my day, teenagers were embarrassed to be seen in public with their parents. The thought of getting a parent to harass one of my teachers over my grades simply did not ever occur to me: not that either of my parents would ever have done it, of course. (They'd have come down on ME for not doing better, and rightfully so I think, which is one reason I did my best not to give them cause to do so.) The first time I saw a COLLEGE student do this, in 1990, I just couldn’t believe it. That this has become COMMON bodes ill for this society’s future.
(Whew, I’m glad this is a “manliness” joke that doesn’t involve water buffalo.)
I've had a mother berating me for the exercise I asked her darling to do, which involved doing research at the local town hall. She's a business woman and apparently the officials there had called her asking why her kid was being so damn nosy...
And of course on numerous times parents in the (public) oral defense of thesis. I would *never* have wanted my parents near in a situation like that.
Agreed. I always preferred to take my punishment at school and keep it at school. The less my parents knew, the better. Of course, I teach at a school in which students routinely fail and (somebody will) continue to pay outrageous amounts of tuition money. Had I failed a class in college, I would not be a professor today because of the brain damage inflicted upon be due to beatings for wasting their hard earned in-state tuition payments.
Ooh. . .I used to love Goofus and Gallant. This is a cool update.
I've only had one experience of being berated by a parent, but it was a scary one: a father who was very, very angry (at me, and I suspect also at himself) over the (well-justified) plagiarism allegation I had filed against his daughter. He didn't quite threaten me, but he came close. The fact that he could get my home phone # from the syllabus, and use it very early in the morning (and could have used the local phone directory to find my address) convinced me to stop putting the number on the syllabus.
And by the way, where's Sam Folkchurch these days? I miss her cartoons.
I doubt many of these cases are the student asking mommy to call. Mommy is there, on top of them, checking what they do - and making that call. The student may or may not object. It is a normal part of life in many families. It is a logical continuation of the play-date culture, where everything is scheduled and planned and paid for.
I understand what you're reporting, but nevertheless: if either of my parents had taken the initiative to call one of my teachers when I was in school (and of course they wouldn't have, but for the sake of argument, suppose one of them had), in order to berate my teacher over a poor grade that I'd made, I'd have died of embarrassment. This goes doubly so, if they'd done this to one of my professors when I was in college. I simply would not have been able to handle the shame, the utter disgrace, which of course at that age is even more mortifying. I'm just too astonished by the concept for further words. Flabbergasted is about right.
This behavior I just cannot fathom. In my day, teenagers were embarrassed to be seen in public with their parents. The thought of getting a parent to harass one of my teachers over my grades simply did not ever occur to me: not that either of my parents would ever have done it, of course. (They'd have come down on ME for not doing better, and rightfully so I think, which is one reason I did my best not to give them cause to do so.) The first time I saw a COLLEGE student do this, in 1990, I just couldn’t believe it. That this has become COMMON bodes ill for this society’s future.
ReplyDelete(Whew, I’m glad this is a “manliness” joke that doesn’t involve water buffalo.)
I've had a mother berating me for the exercise I asked her darling to do, which involved doing research at the local town hall. She's a business woman and apparently the officials there had called her asking why her kid was being so damn nosy...
ReplyDeleteAnd of course on numerous times parents in the (public) oral defense of thesis. I would *never* have wanted my parents near in a situation like that.
Agreed. I always preferred to take my punishment at school and keep it at school. The less my parents knew, the better. Of course, I teach at a school in which students routinely fail and (somebody will) continue to pay outrageous amounts of tuition money. Had I failed a class in college, I would not be a professor today because of the brain damage inflicted upon be due to beatings for wasting their hard earned in-state tuition payments.
ReplyDeleteOoh. . .I used to love Goofus and Gallant. This is a cool update.
ReplyDeleteI've only had one experience of being berated by a parent, but it was a scary one: a father who was very, very angry (at me, and I suspect also at himself) over the (well-justified) plagiarism allegation I had filed against his daughter. He didn't quite threaten me, but he came close. The fact that he could get my home phone # from the syllabus, and use it very early in the morning (and could have used the local phone directory to find my address) convinced me to stop putting the number on the syllabus.
And by the way, where's Sam Folkchurch these days? I miss her cartoons.
I doubt many of these cases are the student asking mommy to call. Mommy is there, on top of them, checking what they do - and making that call. The student may or may not object. It is a normal part of life in many families. It is a logical continuation of the play-date culture, where everything is scheduled and planned and paid for.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI understand what you're reporting, but nevertheless: if either of my parents had taken the initiative to call one of my teachers when I was in school (and of course they wouldn't have, but for the sake of argument, suppose one of them had), in order to berate my teacher over a poor grade that I'd made, I'd have died of embarrassment. This goes doubly so, if they'd done this to one of my professors when I was in college. I simply would not have been able to handle the shame, the utter disgrace, which of course at that age is even more mortifying. I'm just too astonished by the concept for further words. Flabbergasted is about right.
Delete