Helicopter Parents

Dangerously Irrelevant post on parents who use online tools to make their wishes known to schools. In Grown Up Digital, Tapscott calles these folks “helicopter parents” and contends they not only attempt to influence schools, but also employers. I am guessing coaches have it the worst. As a college prof, the law gives us an out/requirement. When contacted by parents, we must suggest that we are not allowed to discuss student performance with anyone but the supposedly “adult” student.

Not that parental involvement is a bad thing, but too often the children who most need an advocate are not represented. Note that the post uses the phrase “well connected”. One of the issues of going to online activities is once students leave the equal access environment of the school, they are no longer equal. There is always a lag and it has unfolded over time like this – wealthy schools before less wealthy schools, wealthy families before poor families with access, wealthy families with high speed before poor families with high speed access, etc.

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