On the other side of the desk

I have been to hundreds of parents' nights over the years and usually I am on the teacher's side of the desk. I actually love parents' nights because I have always got on really well with the parents and I like to put them at their ease and make the appointment very positive and useful. However I have also been to my fair share of parents' nights on the other side of the desk as a Mum, and that can be more of a challenge! With Jamie, reports were mostly good; some teachers were very enthusiastic about him and a few were not Jamie fans! I remember the welcoming smile on a teacher's face freezing and transforming into a look of anger when he found out that I was Jamie's Mum! 

Alasdair is beloved by all his teachers (he has a Jekyll and Hyde character, of which Dr Jekyll attends school!). David however has given me some horrifying parents' evening moments over the years. The teachers all like him as person, but Primary teachers have been close to tears as they describe their efforts with him and what they perceive as his lack of effort. A Primary head teacher asked me "Have you ever considered that your son may be bone idle?" He's not idle at all, he just doesn't engage unless he sees the point of what he's doing. Secondary teachers have been frustrated and annoyed with him. I once said to a teacher, "David likes Maths!" to which he replied "Well, Maths doesn't like him!" How negative, and in fact completely wrong. In my view the teachers are frustrated because they know that Davie is very clever but the rigid school curriculum doesn't suit him, so they struggle to bring out the best in him.
Tonight I was at his 5th year parents' evening. I had a bad feeling about it because on the way in David told me not to believe anything the teachers said because "It's all lies." On the positive side, all his teachers feel that he is developing a more mature attitude. On the less positive side his results so far are not worthy of him. David and I have a favourite moment in the film "The Dark Knight" where Heath Ledger as the Joker asks a policeman "How many of your friends have I killed?" The policeman says "Six" and Heather Ledger grimaces in an awful parody of sympathy and mouths "Six!" So as each dreadful result was revealed to us by the teachers I would look at David and recreate the scene;
Teacher: "I'm afraid he only got 8%"
Me (grimacing horribly) "Eight!"
Meanwhile David was shooting me knowing looks because he knew what I was referring to but the teachers didn't! This in joke between us was my secret way of letting him know that these results don't reflect his true ability. David does have a lot of work to do; he and I need to consider what will be the best way to get him into his dream career of Science.
Then when I got home I spent the whole evening helping Ally with his Personal Statement for his university applications. There was a lot of shouting and arguing, but we were both quite pleased with the end product. A little more refining and it will be finished.