Elliot started kindergarten last week. So far things are going pretty well. He likes learning new things and he seems smitten with his teacher. One day last week was “his favorite day of kindergarten” because they “did math”. I am pretty sure Elliot, and the other kids, are going to have a good year.
The parents of kindergartners, on the other hand, are already having a bit of trouble communicating effectively. I fear for what this might mean over the course of the year. As a parent you, of course, want do what you can to enhance the education of the children. You have to do it with a group of people who you have never even meet before the first day of school. Worse yet those people are only loosely committed to the project. Personal issues, personality conflicts or simple disinterest in the task at hand can easily remove many individuals from the effective team at any moment.
It will be interesting to see how the parents self organize over the year. Fortunately, the parents are just support for the teacher. Even if we fail to form a cohesive team i think the teacher will still manage to educate the kids. That is what professionals do.
Speaking of the profession of teaching, the politics teachers have to manage is rather impressive. Even for a class of 25 kindergartners it must be daunting… you have to maintain the interest and respect of 25 kids; keep about 50 parents placated and helping as much as possible; all while keep the principle happy. And to make that more complicated really none of those people get to choose if they really want work with any of the others. And all that before you even get to the job at hand.