Parents' Associations - are they all the same?

Yorky

Having had experience of several of these committees, I have the most severe attack of déjà vu every time I attend a meeting. They seem to be populated with persons with one or more of the following traits:

1) Gush with superlative praise about the school and management.
2) Enjoy patronising and humouring the principal.
3) Are obsequious towards the chairperson, principal and any teachers present.
4) Seem to aspire to be a mutual admiration society
5) Give long praisful speeches about departing teachers/principals who you'd be forgiven for thinking had superhuman qualities but were in actuality utterly inept and could well have impaired a generation of children's education.
6) Make no complaint about anything and don't support anyone who does. At best a word of support may be whispered to the complainant after the meeting.
7) Ascertain the school management opinion on an issue and just go along with it.
8) Make no contribution to the meeting.

I fail to understand this mentality as their supposed reason for being on the committee is to serve the best interests of their child(ren) rather than the management and treachers.

Could someone please explain? Are they all like that?

overmantle

I don't know what experiences of Parents' Associations and schools you've had but I hope you'll forgive me for saying that the tone appears to be extremely anti-school. Perhaps you have had a particular experience where you felt other people in the school were 'inept' but maybe this was not a widespread feeling.To be fair, Yorkie, perhaps before we begin to try to answer your question, maybe you should consider the following: 1. The whole idea of supporting children is one where everybody is working together, with the same goals in mind and not pulling in different directions, all wanting different things.2. A Parents' Association is NOT (and was never intended to be) a Forum for school bashing or for complaining about school management, teachers or principals. If you have something about which you feel you are not happy, you should make an appointment to speak to the principal.3. A Parents' Association IS a Forum where you can meet other parents, share ideas, hopefully come up with positive suggestions, become involved in the school community and show an interest in where your child/children spend 6 hours every day.4. If your idea is not the one that everybody decides to run with immediately, perhaps there are valid reasons. Parents' Associations have a valuable role to play and are an important part of the school community. To answer your question, the Parents' Association with which I have been involved is nothing remotely like what you've described. A very healthy sense of co-operation exists among all members of the school community. Many suggestions come through the P.A., some of which are excellent. Others, which may at first appear like good ideas, may not turn out to be for a variety of reasons that may not have been apparent at first. It is only by good and regular contact between the P.A. and the principal, for example, that views can be exchanged and particular sets of circumstances (and possibly restrictions) can be understood.I hope this helps.

Crotchety

I agree with the OP. It the same gobshi tes who join these associations. Smutty old mothers.

Myhairspray

Smutty old mothers who think everybodyelse is inept? Perhaps there may be an element of people wanting to be on a 'committee' in order to be seen but the vast majority, from my experience, are not like that.The problem is that some people tend to make generalisations and make sweeping statements, tarring everybody with the one brush.I spoke to the parents of many children who have just started secondary school and who were on a Parents' Association in primary school. Many admitted to being reluctant initially and to having preconceived ideas of what 'that crowd' would be like. They all said that they enjoyed their time so much, learned a lot and felt like they had been very much part of their child's school.

Myhairspray

I qualify all of this by saying that no two Parents Associations are the same.