The 4th Video: Home-School Relationship

I'm glad to say that I have not met any teacher who was as unreasonable as the one shown in the first scenario. It's crucial that, even though you may disagree wholeheartedly to a parent's opinions, personal values or decisions, he/she still deserve some respect and freedom of choice. Furthermore, in this day and age, our students are no longer viewed as "students", but "clients". This results in a severe change in how we treat and are treated by our "clients". Therefore, our clients' parents are, simply by association, clients as well.

I'd like to share an experience I had in my former school with you. May I? :)

I had a student in my p.3 class who was, diagnosed by the Special Needs Officer of that school, as having a learning disability. What made the situation worse was that his parents were in denial of his disability and hence, did not equip the child with the proper knowledge and skills to cope being in a standard classroom. This will sometimes have a very negative impact on both the students and I. An example of a severe class interruption would be during one of his anger outbursts (I feel that as he is also the only child, he is very much doted on and pampered) - he was angry at one of his groupmates so he took out his scissors and starting jabbing it at her. When I reprimanded him, he turned his anger towards me and started kicking and throwing his chair around. I had to evacuate the class (it was recess-time anyway) and brought in my Cooperating Teacher (CT) to help me handle the situation. Truth be told, I was very scared, flustered and overwhelmed. 

When my CT pulled me aside to share with me stories on this student, I realised how immense a parent's influence on a child. Because of his parents' values and behaviour, my student never learned how to cope with having autism, and ultimately how to manage his emotions. According to my CT, she has a hard time trying to handle this particular student, as she was new as this (as was I) and the lack of support and understanding from the parents aggravated the issue. I left the school before I could see whether I've made an impact in this student's life. 

Anyone would like to share their own stories?

Ain