I have vague memories of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) in the US, where I grew up. I remember the occasional school-wide meeting being held in the evening and a fall festival here, or there, involving baked goods. I’m not sure how much of my non-memory is due to just being an average kid (that is, extremely self-involved and just not noticing what the grown-ups were doing) or if the whole thing was just lower key.
Or, perhaps, my parents had some choice in the matter.
At any rate, PTA membership in Japan is by default. They take the fees out of your bank account right along with school supplies and school lunch payments. (Lunches her are amazing, by the way. A topic for another post.) I don’t know if it’s possible to opt out, or not. I certainly don’t know anyone who has tried!
The PTA at my children’s school is arranged like a pyramid, and at the top are the officers. Beneath them are the leaders of the four councils: class representatives, safety, and … well, in Japanese they call it “public information”, the group that makes the quarterly newsletter, along with the nomination committee. (These are the guys that try to suck you into being an officer for the next school year). Underneath that are the representatives from each class, and beneath all that is everyone else.
You are expected to serve on one of these councils at least once for each child.
This year, I ended up being the class rep for the first grade.
- Our job is to organize a school lunch “tasting day,” when parents can have lunch at school. But not with their child, in the Home EC room. (Both my daughter and I were disappointed by that.)
- Arrange and execute the washing of all the schools curtains. Twice. (I didn’t realize I should be washing my curtains at home twice a year….oops.)
- Collect and prepare for posting “bell marks,” the Japanese version of “Boxtops for Education,” collecting proofs of purchases that can be exchanged for school supplies.
- And lastly, mending the white smocks that children wear when distributing school lunches (in Japan, the children help prepare the lunch.)
Whew, that was quite a list!
Of course, all of these jobs require multiple letters sent home, which we prepare, and monthly meetings because … well, because this is Japan, perhaps.
Every family without fail is to volunteer for one of the tasks, either washing curtains, helping organize the bell marks, or mending the smocks.
When my oldest child started school, I was really surprised that the PTA were in charge of things that were so nitty-gritty.
I’m pretty sure, for example, the my mother never washed school curtains in her washing machine and then hauled them back to school to hang them up, still wet, after cleaning the school’s curtains rails.
So it makes me wonder …
What is PTA like in your country? Do you have to participate? What kind of things do you do?
This is an original post by our World Mom Melanie Oda from Japan.
Photo credit to the author.
In South Africa the PTA is mainly responsible for organizing Fundraising Functions for the school. When my first child was in Grade 1 I volunteered to be Class Representative. In my naivete’ I thought that being Class Rep meant that I should get to know the other parents and bring any grievances to the attention of the Headmaster. I organized an after-hours get-together for all the parents and kids of my son’s class at an indoor playground and (while the kids played) I talked to all the parents to find out if they had any problems. The next day I sent a “report back” to the Headmaster, who promptly phoned me to meet him at his office. When I got there, the Head of the school Governing Body as well as the Headmaster were there, and they treated me like a criminal!! They made it perfectly clear that what I had done was not only NOT appreciated, but that I’d totally overstepped! They then explained to me that class representative ONLY meant that I got to co-ordinate with other moms when it came to “volunteering” for bake sales etc, but that I wasn’t actually a representative of anything!! 🙁
When my son started High School I joined the PTA again. I thought things might be different in High School. Nope! The only difference was that we didn’t organize cake sales, we organised Golf Days and Market Days! Again, they ONLY valued us if we brought in a lot of money. Apart from that, they didn’t want to hear from us!!
My youngest will graduate High School this year. I learnt a lot by being part of the PTA, but I’m really happy that I’m not part of it any more!!
Good grief. You can wash curtains?
In response to your question, we have a different system in my boys’ school from most New Zealand schools. As the children stay with the same class mates for their entire schooling each year two parents, usually mothers, take on the roll of class parents and help organise bits and bobs for festivals, class meetings, and any other general business, eg I have been asked to make a meal or two when a parent has died. We also have a class bank account that we raise money for and that money goes towards camps or other activities for that group of children.
In Belgium, you can choose for a kind of school (Freinet) which is based, among others, on parent participation. So everyone is expected to help out, but you can choose. This can be helping out in the school vegetable garden, helping out in class, cleaning, organizing activities etc.
It can be tiresome and demanding, especially if you work fulltime, but I do like the fact that we are always welcome in school, in our children’s class. Even if I can’t be there, there will be other mothers and fathers around, which gives the school a homey comfort.
Apart from the time being consumed, there are other disadvantages as well. Like when parents and teaching staff can’t agree on something, it can quickly become nasty, because the parents have a lot to say on how the school should work…
Most of the schools in Belgium are more like the one Karyn described though. Just raising money, organizing minor activities. But never as harsh as in Simona’s experience!
I live in a rural town in the US, and our PTA does a ton with the elementary school. They organize after school programs, bingo nights, a costume ball, movie nights, etc. And they also support teachers in rounding out classroom needs/supplies. We are not required to join the PTA, and families who are not members are still welcome to participate in PTA events.
I volunteer with our PTA, but I haven’t been asked to wash curtains yet 😉