Education: course work written by parents?

It is a problem that teachers must face daily, in addition to plagiarism, and simple copy and paste from the Internet.

I usually can pick up on work that is not 'original' by the student. I ask for outlines to be turned in, as well as rough drafts. That alone ensures some 95% of students are doing the work themselves. We work in class also on the same project. Their final product gets maybe 60% of the grade, but must match the general flow and wording of their attached notes, outline and rough draft. Those also get points. Its more work for me, but I am sure that my students are doing their own work.

Parents who create science fair projects, research papers, and essays for their children are actually hindering the educational process. I think learning and practicing the concepts of brainstorming, outlining, and rough drafts is just as valid as the finished product.

First, I have to say that not all parents are aware of how much help is too much. They start off with good intentions, like when editing an essay, but forget that the writing on say a fifth graders assignment, will be much different than the writing of a college grad. They just don't know how to edit on a fifth grade level. That said, many parents do give too much help and that is unfortunate.

I am an artist. When my son was in 1st grade, the music teacher gave his class the assignment of making their own musical instrument. The teacher stipulated that they could have help from their parents. My son wanted to make a drum. He used an old coffee can and asked me what he should use to make the top of the drum. I asked him what type of sound he was after and explained that different materials would yield different sounds. I illustrated this by gathering several different materials and showed him how each one sounded different when stretched across the can and struck. He chose from the materials we had at home and hand painted a design. Although I could have painted a design for him, I left him to paint for himself. The end result was adorable, in my opinion, and he went to school as proud as a peacock. The teacher then chose "the best" instruments of the class and displayed them in the school's lobby. He was crushed that his drum wasn't chosen. I did the best I could to lift his spirits, and explained that not everyone's work could be selected as the best all the time. I told him that I thought his drum was fantastic and he should really be proud of himself. A few days later, I had an occasion to be at the school and happened to see the musical display and was appalled. The "best" instruments were clearly manufactured by the parents - a wooden guitar (made in a wood shop) complete with strings bought at a music store, a xylophone made of cut metal, and wooden drum with leather top also made with word working machinery. How could he compete? Why should he have to? Not only was I disappointed that the parents would go to such effort for a first grade project, but even more so at the teacher for choosing to display them.

I guess the point is, that sometimes parent just don't know when enough is enough. I'd suggest making the assignments, especially the writing ones, as "in-class" only work. My son's big year end writing assignment was handled this way. If you find you can't fit that into your class schedule, then perhaps you could send a note home, for the parents, explaining why it is beneficial that the work turned in represents the work done by the child. One of my daughter's teachers once sent something home like this then asked the parents to sign indicating that they did not provide assistance. I know it might ruffle a few feathers, but if worded well, can get the message across. Best of Luck.

We do controlled assessments in most subjects instead. Kids do the work in classtime with guidance from members of staff only. Set amount of hours and no taking it home. Research can be done at home in most cases but no notes to be brought in other than those made prior to start of assessment in classbooks (which are also kept in school for duration of prep time). No writing it at home and bringing it in to copy up either. This way, all kids get the same help because it's staff help.

well where I'm from (western Australia) in high school you'd learn a topic for 2 weeks and then get tested on it, the test is what counts to your overall score and is generally worth 5%, then we have our mid year exams which is worth 20% as well as the end of year exams which is 30%. Therefore if my parents were to do my homework, which they couldn't anyway because i doubt they'd know how to integrate trigonometric identities, but any-who, if they did I would be the one to suffer because i don't understand the work, and homework doesn't count to my end of year score.

Well if the parents were as careless as mine they wouldntve given a damn whatever I did anyhow and I was helping them with their work and teaching my younger siblings whilst holding my own.

Let it by and whenever the kiddos fail in the future then it will be their own faults

answer mine

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