Modify grade change notification system for parents

Dear Harbinger Editors,

The increasing parent involvement in student’s grades is frustrating students (“Parental access to Canvas takes toll on students,” Opinion, Feb. 14). This is something I was not aware of; my mom regularly deletes grade-related emails. Communication about grades is important, but it should not be an everyday affair.

I question whether the bombardment of emails with grade updates is healthy for family dynamics. Parents may have an accusatory tone when discussing grades, which raises trust issues between parents and students. It is the student’s job to be a student. No parent is going to have their name on a high school diploma in the next four years, making it unnecessary for parents to micromanage the academic lives of students. Imagine how problematic it would be if parents attended school with their children.

When students attend college, it will be the their responsibility to be on top of their grades. If parents can’t trust their kids now, they never will. I understand that not every student at Algonquin will attend college, but some college-bound students have trouble keeping track of assignments; they would fail classes without reminders from parents. I recognize the importance of parents, but that is why we have progress reports.

If Algonquin is going to continue emailing parents about grades, I have some suggestions to make the process run smoother. Each assignment should be muted until it has been turned in by everyone. Or, teachers could make comments about missing assignments that should be made up. Parents should only have official access to student’s grades twice per term through emails or Canvas. If parents are curious any other time, they should just ask their kids. At the start of a term, when there are few assignments in Canvas, one missed assignment that a parents sees could result in a student’s grade temporarily being an F. A student’s grades will typically stabilize within the first few weeks of the term; this is something that is not clearly expressed to parents and may be causing unnecessary miscommunications.

 

Sincerely,

Jason Goguen

Class of 2019