Beneficial

Parent Teacher conferences are beneficial and should occur more often. It is odd that so many people look down on them. Strong communication between the teacher and the parent is crucial to the student’s academic success.

First of all students should not dread them because they should be behaving well in school, doing their work and not falling behind. The parents have a right to know how well their student is behaving in class and if they have any missing work. Conferences give the student a chance to voice their opinion about the class. The student can tell the teacher what they want them to do for the student to be the most successful in that class.

Secondly, conferences also gives the opportunity to provide constructive criticism to the student and ways they can improve their performance in the classroom. Most teachers want the students to be successful in their classes and are not trying to make their lives miserable. Parents and teachers connect with each other to help the student succeed. Parents also can get answers to why their child is performing poorly in class or if they are misbehaving in class.

One of the only flaws about conferences is that they sometimes do not focus on how the teacher and student can become more successful but rather destroy the student’s self-confidence and point out all of the bad things the student has done. When this happens, nothing gets accomplished besides the production of angry parents and upset students.

Overall, conferences have so much more of an upside than a downside. They helps the student in the long run because they can correct their mistakes and become more successful. Conferences help the parents maintain active participation in the student’s academic career.

Detrimental

Parent Teacher conferences have occurred for as long as current students have been alive. Their purpose is to let the parents know how their child behaves in school and what effort he or she is making. Usually the conference last no more than 20 minutes. Even though the kids get either a half day or no school, I still think that parent teacher conferences are unnecessary.

Kids nowadays are very advanced in what they can do. I mean, a six year- old with an iPad can download an app with no hesitation. If students need help with something in school, they should ask their parents or teachers for help. Also, it would teach the kids to take reasonability for what they do.

With the way that technology is set up today, it is very easy for a teacher to get a hold of the parent or vice versa. If the kid is having behavioral issues, the teacher could simply email home and ask to set up a phone call or a meeting. If there are serious problems that arise in the beginning of the year, waiting until the first week in November to talk to the parents is pointless because chances are the situation has changed. Also, if the student is a good kid and has solid grades, then he should have to waste time with a parent teacher conference.

Having a whole day set aside to meet with parents is pointless. It would make much more sense to talk to parents when needed. Problems arise at all different times of the year and should be handled when they do. These conferences have been going on for as long as we can remember, but I think that now they are not needed. With the way the world is advancing, it would be simpler to make a phone call or send an email to discuss how the student is doing. Also the teachers could have a talk with the kid during school on how they have been behaving or doing in school. The parents could ask everyday how they are doing in school, and this would work well if the parents trusted the child.