(Don't) Question Authority.

I wonder sometimes just how they did it. How, almost three years ago, there were, at times, anywhere from 1-2 million people on the streets of Kiev. The world watched in awe. While most people around the world were content to complain about the way things are, here were people who actually took to the street in the Orange Revolution to change things. Inspiring, yes?

Fast forward to September 2006. Our son returns to school. My wife and I had questioned our son's teacher competence to some degree the prior year, and here we were, questioning it again. (Here in Kiev, you have one teacher assigned to your child for his/her first four years in school. So, if you get a lemon of a teacher, you may be stuck with it for four years. The obvious problem of course, is that this teacher can do a lot of damage in four years. So, the obvious solution to this problem is to get the teacher removed. Or so you would think.

It started innocently enough. Early on, we paid her some extra money to work with our son on his lessons after school ended, a quite normal practice here. But we quickly found out that these "lessons" were giving our son an assignment, after which she went and read a newspaper for forty minutes. That's not exactly what we were expecting, to say the least. But there were more troubling incidents too. Not explaining to the children what their homework assignment was. Openly blaming students when things went wrong in her class. At times expecting my wife to run errands for her. One day when my wife went to school to pick up our son, four of his classmates came up to my wife and told her our son was a problem in class. Now, I don't know about you, but when four of his classmates tell my wife the same thing, I suspect someone coached them about what to say.

My wife and her father had several discussions with the school's director, and several times were led to believe the problem was solved. But it wouldn't be long before there would be another reason to openly question his teacher's qualifications. But except for one other boy's parents, there was no problem here. The teacher was just fine. But when we talked to the school director, he would often assure us that action would be taken. Then the director and teacher would talk, and the teacher would retaliate against our child.

Three days before school was supposed to start again this fall, we got the news. This teacher, who was scheduled to be our son's teacher again this year, had asked to be reassigned closer to her home.

On the first day of school, my wife and I attended the "Day of Learning" activities. (See earlier posting for information and photos). It's then that the other parents piped in. "They finally got rid of that crazy teacher" seemed to be the common thought of the day. But not one of them had lifted a finger to make it happen. How, if you think your son or daughter is stuck with a lemon of a teacher, can you sit back and deny that there's a problem?

The lesson here is not that the schools are filled with problem teachers. No, they are as a whole very hard working and vastly underpaid. It takes real dedication here to be a teacher. The lesson should be that when you see a problem, take steps to resolve the problem. Do not permanently damage your child's future by letting them be stuck with the same bum teacher for four years.

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