While students will be enjoying the long weekend coming up, many parents will be wasting their time meeting their student’s teachers.

Twice a year at ETHS, teachers set aside a day and a half for five minute meetings with parents, who desperately try to get to know their student’s teachers. This is nearly impossible in such time constraints. With only five minutes, there is no way to fully get to know a teacher, nor is it possible for parents to fully understand their child in the context of a classroom.

While our school holds strict policies for snow make-up days, two and half days are lost from instruction to make time for conferences that begin at 3:30.

With home access applications, student’s grades can be monitored throughout the year by parents, eliminating the discussion of grades during conferences. So, if the student has good grades and understands course material, what is the need for the meeting?

If the student’s grades aren’t up to standards, a five minute conference will not do justice to solving the issue. Often times, this is the case, and conferences run over the allotted time, causing a back-up in the schedule for both parents and teachers. This could cause a waiting parent to miss a conference with another teacher, and the situation becomes an even bigger mess.

Parents can schedule meetings with teachers at any point during the school year when the teacher is free. These meetings can go for much longer as the five minute limit in traditional conferences, and thus are much more valuable for the teacher, parent and student.

Additionally, during high school, students should also be learning to advocate for themselves. It is not up to parents to “fix” the problem. Students need to learn how to interact professionally with their teachers to get to the help they need.