Some Schools Forcing Parents To Accept Only 'Online' Parents Evenings, Forever?

[Anna B]

2 hours ago, Chekhov said:

Funnily enough I was talking to some other parents from our lad's school today, and they independently came up with exactly this same theory !

I find this attitude not uncommon, but very worrying. 

Human beings are built for physical interactions, not a picture on a screen. 

I dare say there are other things at work in real life interactions that we have no conscious knowledge of yet. 

 

Has anybody explained for example why touch and a physical hug is so important to people's wellbeing? 

We don't want to lose physical contact altogether, it seems to be very important, 

[ECCOnoob]

18 hours ago, Chekhov said:

As we have said before secondary schools where the kids have multiple teachers is  a bit of a different case. But how would they organise that online anyway ? I would have thought it would get incredibly complicated. An alternative approach would be if you could queue sat down "musical chairs like", and take a book.....

Its simple enough.  Just takes a bit of planning and scheduling to set up appropriate appointments. There are dozens of apps or software which enables such sorts of meetings which all still have a functionality of face-to-face and ability to display or share are documents and images.  Given lockdown brought along numerous advancements in online tutoring, adopting it to to improve the chaos and tedium of parents evening is just a natural step.

 

What about some other positives online could offer.   If a school is not having to organise masses of parents descending on it after hours and cluttering up it's buildings, there is scope for Teachers to undertake virtual meetings in a much more convenient and wider timeframe. It could enable parents who are still in work to take such appointments without having to leave. It could enable parents who may have separated and not live in the same area to still attend without great inconvenience...  it could potentially save hundreds of unecessary extra car journeys and inevitable cluttering up of the roads around the school...

13 hours ago, Anna B said:

I find this attitude not uncommon, but very worrying. 

Human beings are built for physical interactions, not a picture on a screen. 

I dare say there are other things at work in real life interactions that we have no conscious knowledge of yet. 

 

Has anybody explained for example why touch and a physical hug is so important to people's wellbeing? 

We don't want to lose physical contact altogether, it seems to be very important, 

I would argue that Society is interacting far more now than ever before. It is just different the way we are doing it.

 

People still have plenty of physical human interactions with the people they want to do it with.  We are not going to be hugging and embracing our child's teachers are we.  Interactions with all the parents is already happening with schools having WhatsApp groups, forums, discussion groups, with more than enough dialogue and gossip and speculation to make any judgements on the quality of school life.

 

Let's be completely honest here. It wasn't that long ago when people were so insular they wouldn't interact with people from a different Village up the road. Long-distance communications with relatives and loved ones were limited to written letters or extremely expensive voice only phone calls.

 

Now have a generation of people interacting and forming communities with groups of people across the planet. The advancements in communication technology,  social media, live streaming, FaceTime, WhatsApp, zoom calling, MSteams, chat services and even forums like this have resulted in constant instant communication and interaction. People building friendships, building relations and breaking boundaries which are not restricted to physical travel limitation, expense or timezone.

 

For the younger generation today, they shun 'phone calls' in favour of facetiming, video calling, constant streams of dialogue on text messages.  They are photographing, documenting aspects of their lives and sharing it with their own built Communities of Friends. They are videoing their activities and journalling whatever they feel is important to them and their formed social groups.  

 

Touch and physical is only one tiny aspect of social interaction.   The only reason it had such prominence and supposed importance thus far was because there were no alternatives. Now there is.  We need to be very careful not to let fear of change, reluctance to adapt, or the seemingly regular mocking, downplaying, criticising, ignorance and suspicions of 'online interactions' push down it's obvious benefits, improvement and achievements.

Edited March 27, 2022 by ECCOnoob

[Chekhov]

18 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

Its simple enough.  Just takes a bit of planning and scheduling to set up appropriate appointments. There are dozens of apps or software which enables such sorts of meetings which all still have a functionality of face-to-face and ability to display or share are documents and images.  Given lockdown brought along numerous advancements in online tutoring adopting gate to to improve the chaos and tedium of parents evening is just a natural step.

What about some of the positives online could offer.   If a school is not having to organise masses of parents descending on it after hours and cluttering up it's buildings, there is scope for Teachers to undertake virtual meetings in a much more convenient and wider timeframe. It could enable parents who are still in work to take such appointment without having to leave. It could enable parents who may have separated and not live in the same area to still attend without great inconvenience... 

You appear to be a fully paid up member of the Zoom supporters club.... I'd be interested if you worked from home via Zoom over the pandemic ?

If some parents want to have online parents evenings that's up to them, though I think it's a shame personally, I'd rather see schools trying to make it easier for parents to attend parents evenings, which they could do if they really wanted to.

BUT, nobody I have spoken to, even those who personally want an online parents appointment this time, think it reasonable to force all parents to have them, potentially forever.

 

18 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

it could potentially save hundreds of unecessary extra car journeys around the school...

This is an absolute red herring.

Most parents, particularly in Junior schools, live fairly close to the school. And in any case, compared with the potential  number of school runs in a year (2 to about 200), it is not even worth bothering with.

 

18 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

Touch and physical is only one tiny aspect of social interaction.   The only reason it had such prominence and supposed importance thus far was because there were no alternatives. 

What can I say, personally I think this is cobblers, but if you are happy in your online relationships I'm pleased for you.

I can honestly say I don't want my lad to have any significant proportion of his life experiences "online". Why bother walking up that mountain to see that view, you can see it any way with a webcam !

I can remember seeing a Brian Cox science programme about the planets and he kept showing pictures and videos of them, but not stating if they were actual real videos or if they were just computer generated. It was very frustrating as I'd have been very interested to see actual pictures or videos of Saturn, but CGI ? No thanks I lost interest and turned off.

Forget virtual, actual is 1000X better.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Chekhov

[cgksheff]

You've totally ignored the fact that you can request an appointment with a teacher if you feel it is needed.

[RJRB]

@Chekhov 

I am all for personal interaction as many are.

However you must recognise that technology has changed many aspects of our lives,particularly the younger generation.

Even when groups of kids are out together or frequently adults they spend more time looking at or using their phones than talking to each other.Then when at home many are once again gaming or chatting on the internet.

E commerce has taken away the need for visiting shops in many instances,perhaps including your own business.

I fear that this trend is only heading one way as many traditional societies,sports clubs,local pubs etc do not attract the customers that they once had.

It’s a shame in my opinion but a fact of modern life.

[Chekhov]

20 hours ago, RJRB said:

@Chekhov 

I am all for personal interaction as many are.

However you must recognise that technology has changed many aspects of our lives,particularly the younger generation.

Even when groups of kids are out together or frequently adults they spend more time looking at or using their phones than talking to each other.Then when at home many are once again gaming or chatting on the internet.

E commerce has taken away the need for visiting shops in many instances,perhaps including your own business.

I fear that this trend is only heading one way as many traditional societies,sports clubs,local pubs etc do not attract the customers that they once had.

It’s a shame in my opinion but a fact of modern life.

This is sometimes true, and I find it very worrying.

Do these people actually know what a real friend is ? Or indeed how to socialise. If I went for a drink with my mate and he was on his phone in my company I'd tell him to put the effin' thing away !

[Anna B]

20 hours ago, RJRB said:

@Chekhov 

I am all for personal interaction as many are.

However you must recognise that technology has changed many aspects of our lives,particularly the younger generation.

Even when groups of kids are out together or frequently adults they spend more time looking at or using their phones than talking to each other.Then when at home many are once again gaming or chatting on the internet.

E commerce has taken away the need for visiting shops in many instances,perhaps including your own business.

I fear that this trend is only heading one way as many traditional societies,sports clubs,local pubs etc do not attract the customers that they once had.

It’s a shame in my opinion but a fact of modern life.

I fear you may be right, but we will all be the poorer for it.

 

Humans need social interaction. I fear a lack of it will lead to all sorts of unintentional consequences, certainly a rise in loneliness and mental health problems. 

I am suffering from depression at the moment, and always find a trip out and a chat makes me feel considerably better.

- Or I could just stop in and watch television - what's the difference? Well one is a screen and the other is real life....

 

We are also going to get another social divide between the young and the elderly, the online and the rest, etc. There are already enough misunderstandings around through lack of communication and understanding.

(And the problems with technology going wrong is certainly adding to the general angst.)

 

People need people, it's an important part of the human experience.

[Annie Bynnol]

Odd that two generations that were glued to a TV that you cannot interact with comment on a generation that is glued to a phone you can interact with and share with pals. The fact that their Soap generation parents ignored their children on weekdays, made them fat on TV dinners, gave up sitting at the table etc. and now have the gall to complain about the behaviour they created.  Winging hypocrites.

[Anna B]

4 minutes ago, Annie Bynnol said:

Odd that two generations that were glued to a TV that you cannot interact with comment on a generation that is glued to a phone you can interact with and share with pals. The fact that their Soap generation parents ignored their children on weekdays, made them fat on TV dinners, gave up sitting at the table etc. and now have the gall to complain about the behaviour they created.  Winging hypocrites.

Ouch.

A bit of a generalisation don't you think? 

Not the experience of my children I can assure you ...

Edited March 28, 2022 by Anna B

[Annie Bynnol]

1 minute ago, Anna B said:

Ouch. 

Of course I meant to be harsh as I wanted to get the point over that generations do their own thing, none is better than the other. Complaining about generations has been going on for...generations.