Show School and Home by Dr Daryl J J. J McCary McCarty Executive Secretary Utah Education W In the cold grey granite of an anold anold anold old tombstone in a New England cemetery is chiseled this lin line I told you I was sick Elizabeth Often the other person doesn't get the message Maybe its it's because we just dont don't try hard enough Im I'm Im I'm optimistic about the prospects for the coming school year because I think parents and educators are learning to talk to each other Some educators have been breaking the ice by abandoning an old practice Its It's the practice of sending a note home to Johnnys Johnny's parents only when theres there's a need to describe some naughty deed In lIt the past when Johnny handed Mom or Dad a note from his teacher the message was as predictable as the on one you get from a court summOns ns server tt it had to be bad news For instance if Johnnys Johnny's gerbil got loose during arithmetic arithmetic arithmetic arith arith- period and caused the little Stratton girl to scream in class Mom and Dad would hear about it in n a note from the teacher leacher If Johnny came home hom fro from Crom m school with a slip of paper in hi his s hand Mom could bet that hed he'd sd d sauntered into arithmetic class 20 minutes late again or hed he'd gotten an F on the big history exam Things have changed Parents are receiving another kind of note from teachers If parents are gasping in surprise when they read them it its it's probably in pleasant surprise sur sur- prise Often these notes are written on forms Corms that begin with the statement You can be proud of your child The notes proclaim such news as Lisas Lisa's mastery of the multiplication table an improvement improvement im im- provement in Ricks Rick's handwriting handwriting hand hand- writing or Mary Anns Ann's climb to the top spot on her high school debate team Often the notes invite comments comments com com- comments ments from parents But parents could also visit the school and talk things over with that teacher Probably nobody knows your child better than you unless its it's the teacher You may do a good job as a parent and the teacher may be super But both of you can do better by communicating this year |