> I've had a parent or two make a contribution on HyperNews, but my guess
> is that more don't take advantage of it, though they are always invited
> to, because the students probably prefer they stay away. When I tell my
> students they're welcome to invite their parents onto any of the lists or
> HyperNews I use, they usually groan and talk about how far they travelled
> to get away.
I guess that would be pretty usual. Some variation may exist from region
to region. I've notice a difference in student attitudes towards parents
in the two regions I'm familiar with, southern California (which I'm very
familiar with) and North Carolina (getting familiar). NC college students
seem a little more inclined to have their parents be involved in their
adult lives than CA students are. This is just a personal impression,
though, from listening.
Marcy's comment about guests (maybe parents are not the guests of choice)
is well taken as well. Sometimes I think the mere presence of another
adult/authority figure in a classroom, another teacher or whatever, opens
the forum up. Sometimes the guest might really make the thing hop.
Imagine how one of those knatty discussions about religion that folks on
this list talked about a lot recently, and imagine how such an online
discussion would change if there were a minister, rabbi, and/or adult
representatives of some other tradition, or even a prof of religious
studies, involved in the discussion. Knowing the character of this list,
chances are someone has done this, too, in one way or another. If so, it
would be fun to hear about it.
Bob King