In Loco Parentis
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2024-2025
I have now told two of my favourite stories about having contests with parents as a teacher. I must admit I can only think of two more episodes where I found myself on the wrong end of parental anger.
The one is very easy to dismiss as a quirk. The only child in the family was promised a brand new Mustang convertible upon his graduation. Unfortunately, this young man believed he could succeed due more to his parents than of actual academic ability. He erroneously thought he could get a few easy credits by taking French. He was a nice kid, but he really did not have what it took to pass French class. In fact, he did dismally. His dad came to the school demanding I give his son a passing grade, which I could not for two good reasons. Firstly, grades are earned, not awarded. Secondly, his grade barely made the 30th percentile; there was much too much distance between where he was and a passing grade. When I refused to change the boy’s grade, the dad very angrily called me a racist, which made no sense as we were all of the same “race”. End of story.
One more story before coming to a conclusion. I cannot remember what led to the confrontation, but I can say the dad was very upset. Once again, I employed my old trick of asking how the parent would have reacted to what the child had done. This time the impact was such that I went from being Mister Bad to the best teacher ever! So much so, this dad went to the principal and insisted I receive merit pay, which I didn’t but I did get a very nice letter of commendation placed in my records.
In every case, when a parent came ready to defend their child, when the question was put to them about how they would have handled the situation, the tables completely turned. When I was eventually transferred from the far-away school, “Bob” started a petition to keep me in that community. What was it that caused parents to sign it? Another associated question, why was I so lonely during parent-teacher interviews? Simple. While I was very strict, I did not fight with my students. Nor did I fight with parents for I knew I was working in loco parentis, meaning I was always serving the parents in helping them to educate their children. Unlike those with extremely long lineups of parents waiting to confront a teacher, I was liked because I was never in competition with parents. They were the boss, not me. Just as you are the boss. Your children’s education is your responsibility.
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