Several minutes before the 3rd hour bell rings to end class, a tall student slides out of his desk and walks up to the teacher. He lays down his math book and explains his question. She carefully describes how to work the problem. When he understands he reaches back for the book and nonchalantly says, “Thanks, Mom.”
This is a likely occurrence for the Ruble family. Mrs. Ruble, ALHS math teacher, is not only Grady’s pre-calculus teacher but also his mom. This isn’t the first time for the Ruble family, either. Maddy Ruble, who graduated last year, was also a two-time student of her mother. In the entire high school only a handful of students face a similar situation, and the pros and cons that come with it.
“It’s nice that she knows me, so I’m not nervous about asking her questions,” Grady Ruble said.
Help with homework is a major advantage in having your teacher at home. Instead of going into school early to get homework help, you have a resource in your own house.
“I do help him with his math at home if he has a question, but I don’t do it for him,” Mrs. Ruble said.
Having a child in class may bring up the subject of favoritism. It would be obvious to think a teacher would want their child to do well in school, and although this is true for the Rubles, Mrs. Ruble does not hand over the success to her son.
“I hold him to a higher standard than the rest of the class because I don’t want any favoritism to appear,” Mrs. Ruble said. “He has to work just as hard to earn the grade.”
Few students actually have their parents as a teacher, but many students have parents that are a part of the high school faculty. Sophomore Chrissy Monson is daughter of teacher Mrs. Deb Monson. She divides her time between Southwest and the high school, teaching business and computer classes. The younger Monson describes the situation as being something positive and convenient.
“It can be handy because whenever you need something, she’s always around,” Monson said.
Along with the positive, there can be some negative issues regarding a parent working at the high school.
“If I want a ride home after school with my mom, I sometimes have to wait until after four o’clock for her to finish with work,” Monson said.
Grady Ruble has also experienced the negative side of this in a different way, not from his mom but from other students.
“People say, ‘tell your mom not to assign so much homework,’ but I can’t do anything about it,” Grady Ruble said, “She’s still a teacher regardless of being my mom.”
Ruble doesn’t mind these comments as much as they can simply become annoying.
In the classroom the Rubles do not make a big deal about the relationship, and you wouldn’t even know anything was different, unless you watched Grady go up to the teacher’s desk and address the woman sitting there as “Mom.”