argh

I'm so pissed off right now. Today I had a parent conference for a student who is reading only forty words per minute, about half the speed at which he is "supposed" to be reading in third grade. More important than his reading speed is the fact that he has trouble with relatively simple two-syllable words.

Anyhoo, after I tell dad all this and warn him to expect 2s on the upcoming report card, dad launches into his rant about the public school system. His first grade teacher sucked. She was an old, sick lady. She left after winter break. They had a series of substitutes for the rest of the year. He never learned to read. Blah blah blah school's fault blah blah blah. I've heard this story already, and it's true. He was totally shafted his first grade year and it's terrible. He made a lot of improvement last year, great.

HOWEVER, he is not doing as well this year, because do you know why? IT IS NOT SECOND GRADE.

Also, I recommended that we do an SST for this boy and make sure it is not a cognitive issue or anything, because he really hasn't progressed much this year. Dad got all mad at me and the school for inferring that the problem might lay in his son, when really, the problem was the principal / teacher's union / firstgradeteacher / government. He is adamant that the problem is 10o% the fault of this shitty first grade year. He is also adamant that his son will be behind for a while, but he will catch up eventually. He knows his son is not dumb, how dare I suggest that the problem is something other than his missing first grade education. And then he compared my student to his other son, who is doing just fine in school, and I hate when parents do that. They are different people, yo.

And THEN, he tells me that THE SCHOOL RECOMMENDED RETENTION FOR HIS SON, TO REPEAT THE FIRST GRADE, AND HE REFUSED IT BECAUSE IT WAS THE SCHOOL'S FAULT, NOT THE BOY'S, THAT HE WAS LOW.

Which means, the school recognized that the boy was not ready for second grade. They said let him do first grade again and succeed. Dad said, no, I would rather he suffer through elementary school, I would rather he be at the bottom of his class for several years in a row until he finally catches up. I would rather blame than fix. That is some bad self-righteousness, ignoring your own actions and blaming others for all your problems.