Helicopter Parents: it is spreading to academics

I've been rather busy lately trying to get software up and running for my Numerical Methods class; evidently there are some lines of code that worked with Matlab 6.0 but that Matlab 6.5 doesn't like.

Also, I've been trying to use an iMac that I bought at a church auction; it is a piece of junk.

This weekend, well talk about Katrina stuff, and give atta-boys and atta-girls to Representitive John Conyers (who is trying to get hurricane victims relief from the vicious bankruptacy bill which takes effect on October 17), two Navy pilots who helped those in need and ended up "in the dog-house" for it, conservative columnists David Brooks and Kathleen Parker who wrote good editiorials, and thumbs down to Dick Cheney, Barbara Bush and other conservatives who don't get it at all, and especially those jerks in Mississippi who won't release 600 empty cabins to help out Katrina survivors.

But now to the "Helicopter Parents": this term refers to those parents who continue to micromanage their offspring's college lives. A recent AP article on the CNN website says:
"HAMILTON, New York (AP) -- They're called "helicopter parents," for their habit of hovering -- hyper-involved -- over their children's lives. Here at Colgate University, as elsewhere, they have become increasingly bold in recent years, telephoning administrators to complain about their children's housing assignments, roommates and grades.

Recently, one parent demanded to know what Colgate planned to do about the sub-par plumbing her daughter encountered on a study-abroad trip to China.

"That's just part of how this generation has been raised," said Mark Thompson, head of Colgate's counseling services. "You add a $40,000 price tag for a school like Colgate, and you have high expectations for what you get."

For years, officials here responded to such calls by biting their lips and making an effort to keep parents happy.

But at freshman orientation here last week, parents heard a different message: Colgate is making educating students a higher priority than customer service. The liberal arts college of 2,750 students has concluded helicopter parenting has gotten out of hand, undermining the out-of-the-classroom lessons on problem-solving, seeking help and compromise that should be part of a college education.

Those lessons can't be learned if the response to every difficulty is a call to mom and dad for help.

"We noticed what everybody else noticed. We have a generation of parents that are heavily involved in their students lives and it causes all sorts of problems," said Dean of the College Adam Weinberg. College, he said, should be "a time when you go from living in someone else's house to becoming a functioning, autonomous person."

Colgate says it has ample resources to help students. But when parents call, unless there's a safety risk, they're usually told to encourage their children to seek out those resources themselves.

[...]
The era of the 10-minute weekly check-in from the pay phone in the hall has given way to nearly constant contact. Rob Sobelman, a Colgate sophomore, says when students walk out of a test, many dial home immediately to report how it went. One friend checks in with her mother every night before going to sleep, he said.

"Even 10 years ago, parents couldn't even get hold of their children," said Colgate President Rebecca Chopp. "If you reached them once a week it was a miracle." Now she says she's hearing from older alumni who are "worried their grandchildren won't learn accountability and responsibility."

[...]
But some schools, while glad to see parents care, are expressing concern over the downside. During freshman orientation this year at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, administrators urged parents not to call their children but to let them call home when they want to talk. At Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, upperclassmen perform skits about healthy transitioning for parents. The University of Vermont hires students as "parent bouncers" to delicately keep parents from interfering in, for instance, meetings with advisers.

At Colgate, parents used to receive a sheet listing administrators' phone numbers. This year, they got a statement about Colgate's philosophy of self-reliance -- a message that was hammered home repeatedly in talks by administrators. Next year, the school may assign parents summer reading on the transition to college.

The approach will continue throughout the year, part of a larger emphasis at Colgate on "teachable moments" outside the classroom. A memo sent to departments ranging from residential life to counseling to public safety reminds employees: "We will not solve problems for students because it robs students of an opportunity to learn."
[...]

But Colgate acknowledges not all parents will be happy, and that there have already been unpleasant calls.

"We get quoted the price tag frequently," said Dean of Student Affairs Jim Terhune. "But what you're paying for is an education, not a room at the Sheraton, and sometimes that education is uncomfortable.""

So, at least the partents are staying of of the academic end, right? That is, at least the parents aren't doing their kid's homework, right? Well, consider this e-mail message I got from a student in my numerical methods course (a course for engineers which has calculus and a computer course as a prerequisite)

"Dr. Nanyes,

I cant get my MATLAB working. I have been trying to install from my CD all
night and my mother actually got it running, but the command window never
became active. Is there anywhere i can have access to downloading MATLAB
student version for this semester. Or can i get a copy of the program from
the university computers. [...]" (emphasis mine)

That's right: the parents are now helping with their kid's academic duties!!!!

Unbelievable; then again, it was unbelievable that a student's parent went to a job interview with their kid; no, I am not talking about just going to the site, I am talking about going into the interview itself.

Guess what? Students learn from *doing*, and that means learning to work around the BS that sometimes is a part of the college experience. People don't learn to cycle until they take the training wheels off.