Public School Teachers, Sheesh!

January 17, 2006

Dear Mr. Leon,

I cannot begin to express my disappointment at the opinion you expressed to your class today regarding the lack of importance of a parent whose job is raising children.

My son came home today and did all of homework as usual. However, he told me he had an assignment to do with his dad, so he waited until 8:00 tonight for him to come home. As soon as he walked in the door, George ran to his bookbag and retrieved his “interview questions” for his Dad to answer. As he started going through the questions, I teased him and asked why he hadn’t chosen to ask me about MY job. Imagine my surprise when he told me that he wasn’t allowed to because Mr. Leon said that “parents who take care of children and babies don’t REALLY have a job”.

Hmmmmm. Let me just think about that for one minute. Did you think before you let that one slip?

For the record, I’ve been raising kids for 14 years. I KNOW that the exact words that are spoken can be misinterpreted by the 9-year-old brain. So I asked George a couple of times if he was sure of what you said. In the end, he said that he couldn’t remember the words specifically, but that he KNEW what you meant by them, and that he couldn’t interview me because I don’t really work.

While the generation before mine had to fight for the freedom and opportunity to excel in the workplace and continue to have families, it appears that those of us who have made the sacrifice to stay home and raise our children ourselves instead of pursuing corporate glory are to be frowned upon and disrespected by the very people who are supposed to be our partners in the education of the future generation.

Frankly, I am shocked by your careless comment and blatant insensitivity. Considering that you work in a female dominated field, I am absolutely stunned that you would be so cavalier in your impression of stay-at-home moms, and that you could have made such a politically incorrect statement OUT LOUD. Regardless of your intent, and regardless of what you actually said, my son came home with the impression that my job as a full-time mother was not to be taken seriously, much less respected or revered. How could you allow that to happen? You ought to be ashamed of yourself. If you don’t have the good sense to be embarrassed, then just know that I’m embarrassed for you. An attitude like that wouldn’t score you any points with most of the room mothers you’ve had and certainly not your superiors or co-workers.

You should know that when I asked him later (after he interviewed both my husband AND myself at my insistence) whose job is HARDER…Daddy’s or mine, he answered correctly and said “yours”. When I asked him whose job is more IMPORTANT, he correctly answered “ummmm, yours”, but only after he took into account the fire shooting out of my eyes. But when I asked him who was SMARTER, Daddy or me, he asked if he could tell me what he really thought without getting in trouble. When I said yes, he said, “No offense, Mommy, but I know Daddy is smarter.” That’s OK George, I’m not mad, but can you tell me WHY you think Daddy is smarter (after all we both have the same Georgia Tech education). He replied “Because he goes out every day to work in a REAL job.”

In a society where money is god, and ethics and morality are optional, I’d prefer for George to believe that a woman’s value does not lie in her ability to contribute to the bottom line, but rather in her strength and determination to be there for the family no matter what the cost. That’s what I do on a daily basis. You may have him for 6 hours a day for one school year, but your contribution to his life will be miniscule in proportion to his mother’s influence over his character development, emotional health and overall achievement of his hopes and dreams. Don’t make my job any harder. He’ll get enough of that garbage from his peers, the media and a bunch of other people who don’t give a damn what happens to him after they’re out of his life.


Sincerely,



Susan Sivad

Vice President of Operations, Team Sivad, Inc.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Team Sivad, Inc.
Chairwoman, Board of Transportation, Team Sivad, Inc.
Director of Homeland Security, Team Sivad, Inc.
Chief Construction Engineer, Team Sivad, Inc.
Hospitality Coordinator, Team Sivad, Inc.
Human Resources Director, Team Sivad, Inc.
Vice President of Risk Management, Team Sivad, Inc.
Chief Negotiator, Team Sivad, Inc.
Manager of Internal Affairs, Team Sivad, Inc.
Quality Assurance Director, Team Sivad, Inc.



Yes, I sent this in to the teacher FOR REAL!