A side note on assigned reading...

Parents as teachers... or just the opposite...

In reading Turner and Patrick (2004) for a class, I happened across a related interesting article, Looking at Teacher Practices Through the Lens of Parenting Style (2008), in which Walker frames teaching styles and their resulting environments in the same terms often attributed to parenting styles. Can a classroom be classified as permissive, authoritarian, or authoritative (democratic)? Apparently, the answer is yes... but should we apply these labels? At first I thought the appropriateness of this comparison was hit-over-the-head obvious... and then I thought again. I think there is a real inherent danger in comparing parenting to teaching (Even at this perceptually "harmless" level), not just because I sense more and more parents relying on teachers to do the things they themselves are too incapable, overwhelmed, or simply lazy to do themselves, but because both the role of the parent and teacher are uniquely powerful because of their distinctness. When we create an overlap, literally or figuratively, it only serves to dilute the potential of the teacher and the parent. As Turner and Patrick attempt to address the complexities of participation in the classroom, in this vein I think we need to acknowledge the wildly complex nature of parenting and teaching. Ultimately, Walker's idea makes for an interesting article, and the case for being able to apply this shared framework is well made... but in the humble opinion of this blogger, it just shouldn't happen.

Stay sweet and have a great summer...