The world doesn't have to be THAT connected

[stoney321]

So I have three kids. And they each have seven courses in their school schedules. And each teacher has emailed me a "welcome to the new school year!" email, a "please read the syllabus and electronically sign HERE" email, and now I'm getting a flood of "what a terrific week we've had!" emails.

FROM TWENTY-ONE TEACHERS. Sixty-three! Sixty-three emails from their schools this week! And there is an automated phone call that comes from them weekly, too, from the principals. JFC. [ETA] I even get them from the P.E. teacher at the middle school. WHY DO I NEED UPDATES ON THIS. Trick question! I don't.

Remember when we were kids (people of my age) and parents didn't give a shit unless it was parent-teacher night? Wait, that was probably just my parents. I might be the only person you know of that had to forge signatures on their report card because my mother couldn't be bothered to sign. (And they were As!)

(And I would like to remind you that my mother also wore her wedding dress to my wedding. That story never gets old, man.)

I PLAN ON DRINKING TONIGHT.

Comments

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

We only have one kid and we get so many automated phone calls it's almost obscene. It's sooooo annoying.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I know not to answer the phone come 6 PM. Fool me once, school, shame on you. Fool me for the ninetieth time? Shame on me.

I haaaaaaaaaaates it, Precious.

[maplelump.livejournal.com]

Good god, man! I'm only 25, and I didn't have to deal with teachers emailing syllabi until junior year of uni.

Even now, in my vet tech program, I only have ONE class and I'm being emailed twice a week on lecture notes. They even contacted my boss to ask about his "goals" for me. Just.... Whatever happened to basic human contact?

Even then, why do they feel the need to email you about how the week is going? That's what back to school night is for.

[ladycyndra.livejournal.com]

(And I would like to remind you that my mother also wore her wedding dress to my wedding. That story never gets old, man.)

Wait, what?? I don't believe I know this story. Also, that's a LOT OF DAMN EMAILS!!!! Holy shit!! Drink for me!!

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

To be fair, every ONCE in a while an automated call will tell me something I do need to know. But not often. LOL.

[evamagick.livejournal.com]

Oh my gooooood noooooo! That's terrible.

And my parents couldn't even be bothered with parent/teacher night, so I feel you. ;)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I've told that story so many times... That's basically it. She wore her wedding dress (pfft, it was from her third wedding so what's the big deal?) to my wedding.

Bottoms up!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA, same here. I just wait to skim the inevitable email that follows the automated calls...

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

WOW. They contacted your boss? That's super intense. O_O *rubs your shoulders*

Oh, there are a lot of professional mommies in my town. They're rich, they have nothing else to do but chirp and chatter and bring food and glitter to every damn thing. I am not one of them. *hides*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

My kids and I talk about their coursework EVERY SINGLE DAY. I just don't need even more involvement to tell me what I already know. (They bring me their tests, etc.) Ugh, it's so annoying.

[meridius.livejournal.com]

My parents didnt care mostly. My mom wanted to know who the teachers were, out of curiosity and to help me get the bonus points if they showed up.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

*CREATES AUTOMATED CALLING SYSTEM TO CONTACT YOU WITH MEANINGLESS REMINDERS JUST TO EFF WITH YOUR HEAD*

Bring on the drinking, baby! I would raise a gin & tonic to you, but I had too many of those last night.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

OMG, I just snorted a cracker up my soft palate and it's your fault for making me laugh. Heeeeeeeeeeee.

Mmm, gin and tonic! (Do you ever put lime and ginger in that? Oooooh, so good!) I'm drinking a glass of red tonight - new to me wine, so I'll be sure to post the label for you later! <3 <3 <3

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like that there were bonus points if parents showed up! WHY DON'T MY KIDS' TEACHERS DO THAT?! Harumph!

;D

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I have to applaud them for trying to keep disinterested parents actively in the loop whether they like it or not, but there ought to be some sort of opt-out system. Like a test! Accurately name six teachers each child has plus the locations of their school bags and so forth and you get a free pass from all of the annoyance!

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

OMGWHAT?!!?

That's crazy. Way crazier than our school. We used to get a lot of those automated calls, but they were to tell us that cindergirl was tardy again, LOL. (NOT ACTUALLY FUNNY) And I don't get any teacher emails. I have had three different meetings this week, though. And school hasn't even started yet.

*toasts you with my non-oaked Chardonnay*

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

Limes, yeeessssss -- though ginger I like in other drinks more, like that fun Moscow Mule.

YUM, you drink all the bestest wines, Stoney! I was telling some people last night about your awesome wine-and-cheese flight, and they were all rightfully jealous! <3

[maplelump.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, I am enrolled in a work experience class, I just forget that I'm in it, because all that's required is filling out a form, about where I work, who my boss is, and his contact info. I honestly had NO idea they were going to do that. Until he told me in the middle of a surgery we were performing on a filly. I was like, "whaaa??? Oh! Must be for such and such" Just glad I didn't hurt our little patient when he said it!

Yeah, the only class that I'm actually actively aware of my enrollment in is the anatomy class, because it involves me learning Latin and Ancient Greek.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the intrusive village that has been constructed to raise your children.

My parents showed up to parent/teacher night high. It was an aces evening all around.

[tchrgleek.livejournal.com]

Eh- at least she showed up. Despite us offering to pay her airfare, house her, feed her and let her use our car, my mother-in-law decided she couldn't come to our wedding because she didn't have anything to wear. Yeah. I married an only child, too.

[tchrgleek.livejournal.com]

As a teacher, may I just say that I hate having to send the communication e-mails sometimes, yet they are a requirement of the job. The reason you get 21 is because if they don't send them they get in trouble. So sorry to hear how annoying they are. I prefer the way my kids' school does it: The middle school is divided into teams and one e-mail comes out from the team, rather than six individual ones. Much slicker and easier, I think.

[lynnenne]

I'm drunk right now!

[wandering-bat.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

Both my parents are grade-school teachers, and there are things like this (like the emails, and a classroom newsletter on the school's website). My sis-in-law is a secondary teacher, but I don't think she is required to do the electronic communication thing? She's also in a smaller school district that doesn't expect every family to have regular access to technology.

And yeah, out of everything that should be used to judge teachers this one has *numbers* and can be *tracked* so they would probably get in trouble if they refused to send them.

But yeah, my parents were involved in my school years privately and at home. Basically my parents saw my teachers as their peers. Coming to parent-teacher conferences meant catching up with friends/acquaintances.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

Tracking. This is it exactly. One more way to judge a teacher as failing.

[tapati.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the school(s) would be open to the suggestion that an email digest with the combined info from the teachers of each child be created so that for each child you get one or two emails a week instead of this ridiculous onslaught. There is a balance to be found so that you get good information and communication with the school and they with you--but not such an overwhelming amount that you take one look at your inbox and delete them unopened out of despair. Parents are busy people nowadays with a zillion work related emails so if schools want response it is in their best interest not to overtax parents and thus discourage them from participating.

[tapati.livejournal.com]

I was just suggesting that they be combined in a digest like some of the email lists I've been on have. One per week, say. I'm sure there is software that can combine the individual emails of a student's teachers into one.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

That's completely batshit.

When Aaron was in middle school we used to get regular calls complaing about him. They were doing team teaching at the time, so it would be the entire team that you'd get to meet with. And they would say the exact say thing every time -

Aaron is disruptive (he tends to walk when he talks), calls out in class, is doing something other than what he's supposed to do

BUT

he's so bright that he'll be fine and we shouldn't worry.

I never know what I was supposed to get out of these sessions. I already knew my kid was immature; at that point, he was 18 months younger than everyone else. So I would nod my head, go home and tell Aaron to please try to still still so he wouldn't bother the other kids.

63 e-mails is way, way excessive. First off, if one of them actually was important, I can pretty much guarantee it would slip through the cracks. And what could they possibly have to write about every single week?

[anelith.livejournal.com]

You know what really gets me, as a person who makes database applications, is how repetitive and wasteful so much of the school communication is. Don't get me wrong, I *love* and *want* communication from the school and teachers, but for crying out loud, why do I have to fill in the same Emergency Medical Form every year when all the information is the same exact stuff? This info should be ON A COMPUTER. Where it can be accessed quickly by every nurse and administrator in the school system, instead of in a file folder somewhere in an office.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I would totally take a test to opt out. I am involved, guys, I swear!!

Ahahaha, your sample test made me snort very loudly.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I always mutter to myself how sorry I am for the teachers having to do all of this extra BS just to satisfy some bureaucrat and their ticky boxes.

I like the idea of a team! When this was getting started in our district, the math teachers, say, would have a website for parents to log in, see homework, what they were learning, the schedule for tests, where to go for study guides. I LOVED that. It's just so much extra work for y'all! UGH.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I'm so upset by the whole tracking element. It's just a ticky mark on a form for the administrators, but it's so much time and energy for the teachers who DON'T NEED TO WASTE THEIR TIME AND ENERGY. =/

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHHA, Oh, my Anne-Girl, how I love that you picked up on the aspect that really bugs me the most: SO. INEFFICIENT. I mean, they must have computer science teachers that could code up a better system, right!?

We finally got all of the registration stuff online this year and I could have wept with joy. You only had to make changes, not input everything, if you'd been in the district. OH I WAS SO HAPPY.

[peneli.livejournal.com]

It is on a computer. Teachers don't have access to it because of FERPA, or so we've been told in my district.

Also the information that is IN the school's database? So rarely right. They send home the info form with "please update or just sign if it's right" at the beginning of every school year, but I'm not sure it's entered into the computers in any kind of timely fashion after that. Plus the district uses 3 different systems that only sort of talk to each other through weird kludges they've had people code. It's a mess.