The demographics of students and parents that attend public and private schools tend to be pretty stereotypical. As in certain types of parents send their children to private schools, and certain parents send their students to public schools. Although, sometimes schools can break these stereotypes (ok, a lot of the time).

So, instead of talking about private and public schools in this post (and the next few), I’m going to be talking about two ends of the parent spectrum. Those who care too much about their child’s education, and those who don’t care enough. Of course most parents will fall somewhere between these two, but will probably lean either way. So here are some characteristics of parents that care too much.

Parents who care too much

• There will likely be a lot of pressure on the child to perform
• Students may often be forced to go to tutoring (I onced tutored a Kindy girl in maths, she was doing year 2 maths at the time…)
• The parents will put stress onto the teacher, and ask questions about why their child isn’t getting straight A’s
• Although because of this, the teachers are accountable and teaching remains excellent
• Students may be forced to do tests for selective schools when they have no chance of getting in, and therefore are under unnecessary stress
• Parents will support the teacher in learning, and students will value learning as their parents do

Most private schools have parents that exhibit above symptoms. This can be both harmful and helpful. And some parents may only be helpful, or may only be harmful. But in deciding where to teach consider the parents that you will be partnering with in educating their children.

Stay tuned for Parents who don’t care enough.

You can read the rest of the posts in this series at Public vs Private | Main Page.