Addressing conflict with schools and teachers: Part 2: Arbitrary policies, rules before exceptions, presuming good faith, and stylistic differences.

Schools or teachers may have policies we dislike, or don't prefer, but that are not wrong. Discerning the difference preserves our credibility for more serious problems.

In the first part of this series, I wrote about some ways you could possibly head off conflict from the beginning, ways to pre-empt problems by building a relationship–or at least an alliance–with your child’s teacher. 

Why do I have to be the one to do all this stuff?

Whenever I make the point that it might be wise to do this and to build some emotional …