A trend I hate

The Times writes about a trend with which I’ve long been familiar:  student participation in parent-teacher conferences.  The article leads with a school district that has benefitted from this trend, since more people show up for the conference than have in the past.  The article also points to parents who like it that their child was in the room when the teacher said something, so that same bit of information didn’t have to be repeated through the parent intermediary.

As for me, I hate the trend.  Having my children in the room means that it is impossible to have an open exchange of ideas and information with the teacher.  My kids march through the same “strength-weakness” algorithms they’ve been writing since first grade, without those “self-analyses” having any effect whatsoever on their future performance.  To me, these conferences have become a complete waste of time.

Have you experienced this type of conference?  Or would you like to?  What’s your opinion?