<p>Thumper, got it. Your point then was totally different from the one made earlier by Wis, that parents shouldn’t ditch public schools for private. Instead they should make public schools better for all kids. Then someone else suggested that the way to make public schools better is to get involved with the school board and volunteer. That’s why I got confused, thank you fr the clarification.</p>
<p>Why do you believe parents should volunteer their time at their kids’ school if the school doesn’t need it?</p>
<p>Please stop TWISTING what I say to suit your own opinions. Parents bring a wonderful perspective to schools. It has nothing to do with resources. Some of the best funded and high performing schools in my area have parent and community volunteers…these are good for the schools.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine ANY SCHOOL that would not welcome volunteers. Even the MOST prestgious private prep schools have volunteers who come into the schools…or do things that benefit the school (capital marketing campaigns, alum associations, etc).</p>
<p>Teriwtt-
It goes without say that there are a ton of volunteer opoprtunities in the private schools as well as the public schools. To name but a few that pop into my head: Organizing teacher appreciation events, assisiting the faculty with college fairs, hosting out-of town teams who are attending local sporting events, helping with community wide school events , helping to man the sports concession stand. Thare are a ton more- these are but a few. </p>
<p>And yes, is is less likely to run into the parents o the private school kids in teh local market when they may live across town. Thank heavens for cellphones, texts, emails, facebook, and Friday night dinners!</p>
<p>There are parents who can bring their expertise into a school setting…either as mentors for the students, as volunteers who can do specific tasks, or as interested individuals who just WANT to contribute to the school community. </p>
<p>Look…if you don’t want to volunteer your time in your child’s school…that’s fine. To be honest, schools would rather have folks volunteer who are actually INTERESTED in being there and want to make a contribution in “in kind” services to the school. If someone doesn’t want to do so…fine. Personally I think I offered as much to the school as I gained by being there. For example, just preparing presentations to the board of education was a task I enjoyed…and was valuable for them…and the departments I assisted. It was my choice to do this.</p>
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<p>Why do YOU think volunteering in the schools not desirable? Why?</p>
<p>I am not saying it is not desirable, Thumper. I am saying it is neither undesirable nor desirable. It just is. You clearly liked it, and so you should do it. I find little value in it, so I shouldn’t. Isn’t it really that simple? However, when I hear absolute statements like everybody should volunteer, I worry about peer pressure and how that erodes individual freedom.</p>
<p>I am still not sure what wonderful perspective parents can bring to the school. Speaking for myself, what perspective would I bring if I, say, man the concession stand. I will probably make a big mess anyway, but that aside, how does that enrich the kids?</p>
<p>You mentioned mentoring kids. That is the only one that resonated with me. I do think that parents are better role models than teachers, as parents come from all different kinds of work, while teachers are concentrated. So the kids benefit from variety. So thank you. That is something I agree can bring a lot of value to kids.</p>
<p>See, it was not that hard. I am not unreasonable. I just have a habit of asking the why’s. That’s my training as a scientist.</p>
<p>IP, against my better judgment, I will address the latest comment. I say that this against my better judgment because I am convinced you do KNOW the answers to most of your WHYs, but find it incredibly entertaining to play mental games with the members of this forum, often to the point of alienating an entire group of people for no good reasons.</p>
<p>Anyway, with this said, here’s a partial answer to some of your questions:</p>
<p>If I man the concession stand. I will probably make a big mess anyway, but how does that enrich the kids?</p>
<p>Well, I can tell you that as a kid I found it tremendously “cool” to see the parents of friends (or mine) selling the hotdogs at the football games or volunteering to man the cafeteria lines for our lunches? Why was it cool? It did show that parents considered the school as more than a place where one gains knowledge and graduates with a diploma. The parents showed that the school was a COMMUNITY and recognized that these enjoyable and rewarding volunteer opportunities promoted the interaction among parents, faculty, staff, and students.</p>
<p>Rather than being given your drink by an unknown and nameless person, it was heartwarming to recognize a parent who knew you by name. Those interactions between parents and students were always priceless, even when they included being called “to order” for “misbehaving” by one of the dragon mommies --no Tiger moms in my days! It also meant that students got to meet parents they did not know that well … on their turf, namely the school grounds! In a world where people constantly race BY one another, it was nice to see a community of people come together and share small slices of life. As cliche as it might sound, this was what the series Friday Night Lights depicted so well. But it is not only about sporting events! </p>
<p>Was the enrichment tangible in academic terms? Not at all, as the school knew how to draw a line between parental contributions and parental … interferences. Did the almost constant presence of parents on the school campus enrich the life of the students? You betcha! </p>
<p>You clearly liked it, and so you should do it. I find little value in it, so I shouldn’t.</p>
<p>That is your right, and you should not be blamed for taking a different position. For what it is worth, at “my” school where parental volunteering was omnipresent, it was easy to recognize that volunteering was not an easy concept to understand for members of a different culture. Perhaps it was fear of getting too close to other parents, perhaps a fear that the language barriers were too difficult to overcome, perhaps that time was simply not as available as the volunteers … but few Asian parents ever showed up for volunteering gigs or even school events. </p>
<p>I think it was their loss; not to mention the loss of ALL the students!</p>
<p>Xiggi, Thank you. I didn’t actually know the answers. It is still unclear to me how academically schools can be made better through parent volunteers, as was the topic, but I guess I would have to wait for someone else on that front.</p>
<p>However, I think you are wrong on one aspect, and I would like to correct you.</p>
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<p>This is the fundamental difference in philosophy between Asian and non-Asian parents. You seem to think it is language and cultural barriers. I am sure it is for some. But for someone like me, who is as Americanized as they come except for a few things like education, sports preferences, and family values, those are not the reason to not volunteer. </p>
<p>It is simply that I, and people like me, see school very differently than do you, or many other parents. We have our community. We have our work. Our kids have their schools. These are all different things to us. Even in some parts of the country where in some high schools Asians are 70-80% of all students, the socialization among parents is not really there. That’s not where we make friends. We make friends in college and grad school, and stick to that.</p>
<p>You can criticize that, or you can learn that, and accept that. USA needs to get used to multi-culturalism. The LACs are not doing a very good job at that. Once they do, then the misconceptions on both sides will go away. In the mean time, I will keep asking questions as to why the non-Asians behave in a certain way. I encourage you to do the same instead of sticking to your uninformed bias and asking Asians to just see the light and change.</p>
<p>PS: I would be beyond royally upset if another parent disciplined my kid. Teachers are a different matter. Is that common in the USA!?</p>
<p>I am ONE of the many awesome super moderators who volunteer my time on CC (yea, what a concept). Someone might metaphorically slap my wrist because some people might have read my post and thought I was suggesting that this phenomena can only be present in public school systems, but I only mentioned public school systems because that’s the only one my kids ever attended. However, there is a private high school (as well as several parochial elementary schools within ten miles of where I live) which draws a few of our district’s 8th graders every year, so these are families who I’ve known since their kids were in kindergarten; I hear from them what parent volunteer activities are available in the private schools. But because I have not participated in them directly, I cannot contribute any information as to what kind of experience it is (does it foster long-term friendships like some of our parents enjoy). But it seems that jym626 has provided some insight. By the way, at least two of our close friends that I met through volunteering are CC members (although they have not contributed to this thread), because I told them about the wonderful resource of CC. In fact, we rarely post on the same threads as our knowledge and interests as it pertains to college application/admissions are somewhat different. </p>
<p>So I was just being proactive and addressing the limitations I have in the private school realm before someone assumed I was suggesting otherwise (which likely would have happened). It’s not a popular opinion. It was something I thought to add after I’d already hit Post Quick Reply and wanted to make sure I clarified my stance before anyone thought I was insulting the volunteer parenting models of private schools and got upset. If a newcomer sees that as not welcoming, well, than they’re free to report the post.</p>
<p>I also think a lot of the school-is-a-community mindset comes from small town and suburban mores. So many Asians grew up in mega cities with millions of people. It’s like New York. So, the whole community around a school angle is something that never really occurs to Asian parents like me. But it is an interesting angle for sure. I never considered it. Of course, in my community of friends, I would volunteer to do many things. That’s because I am volunteering for my friends.</p>
<p>I would, too, and as a parent volunteer, that is never part of our job description. If I am working with a kid who is misbehaving, it is my responsibility to report it to the teacher and let them handle the consequences.</p>
If this was such a concern and if there was an iota of truth to this, schools would have no problem getting more than enough people to volunteer. The parents would be falling all over themselves at the sign-up sheets for the volunteer opportunities because of the “peer pressure”. That is absurd. In my experience is its a small handful of dedicated parents who do the lions share of the work. As they say, 10% of the people do 90% of the work. Some parents try to convince themselves that they are too important or too busy or too unskilled in an area to be of help. They can make all the excuses they want, but public or private school, the community of students, teachers, and parent volunteers make the system run successfully.</p>
<p>You know Teri, I thought about it, and I would really feel uncomfortable if another parent was working with my kid. Think about it. Teachers have background checks done. Parents have no such requirements. I prefer to stick to the paid professionals. JMHO.</p>
<p>So sad, and so sad this is what you are teaching your son. How about volunteering to show your son that you are concerned about the world beyond your backyard…unless you’re not. This may be a very big cultural difference.</p>
<p>I am extremely concerned Lima. I give substantial amounts (about quarter of my total tax burden) to political candidates whose positions echo mine (or so I thought for Obama). I make big charitable contributions, both here and abroad (about quarter of my total tax burden again).</p>
<p>But I don’t (and won’t) run for office, or volunteer. I have a skill. I am better off making things better as pertains to that skill, earning money, and leveraging that money to enable others who have skills in other areas to fix the many issues I see in the world.</p>
<p>It is the most efficient use of resources to match requirements to skill.</p>
<p>There are plenty of American parents who don’t volunteer (I always did), and by high school the numbers are much less. Do you think women who work full time and have 4 kids have time to volunteer? Some just don’t like to, even if they have time.</p>
At the Board level, parents and others are there for their expertise in, say, construction, security, law, finance, accounting, but (most pointedly) NOT curriculum, program, staff management or teacher stuff. The educational program and management thereof is in the hands of the Head of the school, and the Board evaluates the Head generally on such once a year in their review and at time of contract renewal. Certain Board Members and other parents often comprise a committee to search for the next Head. Board members are often very generous donors, and also fund-raisers.</p>
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<li>Parent involvement at the PTA level involves stuff like: driving kids to field trips, running class parties or celebrations, teacher appreciation events, running fundraisers.
Once again, parents are most specifically NOT allowed to be part of the academic curriculum in any way.</li>
</ol>
<p>The Parent involvement does enhance the quality of the students’ experience at the school as follows:
scholarships/more diverse student body/outreach into the larger community
teacher enrichment programs during the summer
more supplies and resources for the teachers
extras for the students like field trips, health and drug and sex ed, etc.
a sense of support for learning by the adults in the community which some research thinks enhances the students; attitude towards academics
intra-school community building- social, networking, support (not unlike a church)</p>
<p>Economics typical of a private school:
The tuition per pupil covers only a percentage, say 80%, of the actual cost per pupil to run the school. This means that the rest must come from annual fund-raising. Excess annual funds raised go into Endowment, the rainy day fund. Shortfalls come out of the Endowment. There are administrative costs, development (fund-raising, alumni contact, community-building) expenses in addition to the physical plant and the insurance and teacher and staff salaries, and, of course, the scholarships. Also food and transportation.
A private school really depends on the community for on-going funds beyond the tuition.
Capital Campaign fund-raising occurs every so often as well to fund additions or renovations to physical plant.</p>
<p>Thus, a private school parent pays tuition, donates once a year, pays to attend fund-raisers, donates to Capital Campaigns, volunteers time to the school, and also pays public school education taxes in whatever form they are levied locally.</p>