When she was in 9th grade, my daughter was identified as a gifted student with non-visible, brain-based disabilities. Parenting this type of student requires active involvement even in the late years of high school. I was involved in reviewing assignments and teaching practices long after most parents are out of the picture. Consequently, I gained insight into ways in which education in my district fell short. Two areas of deficiency, in particular, were standouts. Unfortunately, I found that the teachers at this particular school neither respected their students' time and were not particularly concerned about articulating learning objectives, other than attaining 'good' scores on advanced placement tests.

The lack of attention to teaching time management was so glaring as to be highly offensive. One teacher was asked how long she would expect a typically functioning student to complete assignments and the response, accompanied by an eye roll and shoulder shrug was “I don’t know, it never occurred to me to ask.” A summer assignment for one advanced placement English course was so – in litigation speak – overly broad and unduly burdensome that it was offensive. It required students to basically create their own, hand-written study guide for an excessively long book - one that you wouldn't even name as a top ten, all time literary great. Basically, the assignment encompassed about a semester's worth of work. It was clear that the teacher didn't even take into consideration the amount of time it would take to complete the assignment or the fact that these students have other obligations.

Sadly, the life-long take away also didn't seem rank high in importance at the school my daughter attended. Again, that alarming summer English assignment is a prime example. Other than giving the students a really long book to read and lots of time consuming, meaningless busy work, there was no apparent educational objective. There was one teacher who effectively taught students to recognize rhetorical devices and enriched their reading experiences. However, my impression was that his primary objective was to make sure his students got high scores on the Advanced Placement exam. The meaningful lessons learned in that class were incidental and it should really be the other way around. It's about the content, not the exam. When students master the material, success on tests naturally follows. Of course, students need to be taught the test format, but that shouldn't be the primary focus of the course.

At a minimum, teachers should have respect for their student's time. Assignments should be formulated to develop specific skills and teach specific knowledge. I know funds are tight, but the changes I suggest cost absolutely nothing and require little more than application of common sense. This is not intended to condemn all teachers. In fact, I recently met a teacher from a neighboring district who told me that she constantly discusses time management in her middle school classes and that she makes sure to balance the load so that students can balance work and play over the weekend. I'll bet she can also tell you exactly what she hopes her students will have learned by the end of the year.

At the end of the day, I felt compelled to find another school where my daughter could complete her high school education. I am grateful for the support given by the district’s administration in permitting my daughter to complete her high school studies at a local college. I just glanced the syllabus for my daughter’s economics course. It clearly states the amount of time a student should expect to spend preparing for class and four precise objectives identifying what the teacher hopes students will learn in the course. This is as it should be.