A couple nights ago we had the second of our parent-teacher conference nights at my high school. Because I am an ESOL teacher, I wasn’t expecting many of my parents to make it. You probably know the reasons. Parents are working two and three jobs and can’t forgo the income to meet me. They feel uncomfortable trying to navigate our system. They didn’t get the announcement in their home language.
So I was expecting to get some work accomplished while many of my colleagues spent the evening talking with thirty parents or better. I figured I’d get the usual four or so.
Instead, I got the big zero.
What happened?
Well, I didn’t push it with my students this year. At all. That usually helps to get me a few parents, I suppose. I didn’t take the time to personally call any of the parents. My school (as noted above) didn’t send the announcements in the home language.
But I think this situation begs a bigger question. We know that routinely very few ESOL parents show up, so the question is, who is the event really for? We could argue this point, but it’s for the mostly middle and upper-middle class parents who “get” school and want the chance to come in and advocate more for their kids. I don’t begrudge them that opportunity, but I wonder why we spend so much energy on an event that doesn’t improve outcomes for students who need the most help.
Possible solutions include better campaigning to get parents in the building, taking the teachers to their communities, and creating a more inviting environment. Maybe we’d get to 25 percent of parents that way (in a best-case scenario).
But that’s still not good enough for me. I want to see every one of our at-risk students and immigrant students and poor students being given the attention they deserve. I want their teachers to be aware of their circumstances because they have meaningful relationships with students where the students look up to their teachers as mentors. I want school to be a place where the students are aware of each other’s backgrounds and can appreciate the strengths and challenges they bring.
Instead, it’s me back in my classroom, trying to make my little dent with my sixty-odd ESOL students in my three classes, frustrated with an inequitable system, but not shouting with outrage about why and how we need to change it.
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