In 2023, researchers found that most teachers living in OECD countries feel undervalued by their community, the media, and policymakers. Soo-yong Byun, the co-author of the study, said that teacher satisfaction directly affects student satisfaction and outcomes.

"If teachers feel valued in society and by media and policymakers, their job satisfaction will increase and thus [they will] make more efforts to adopt new ideas and methods to change and improve their schools," he explained.

Parents, on the other hand, place a lot of trust in local schools and teachers. A poll by PDK International’s 2022 Public Attitudes Toward Public Schools found that American adults rate their local schools very positively. 63% of American adults put "a great deal or good amount" of trust and confidence in their teachers. 

These ratings are almost the highest they've been in 50 years. Still, people don't view teaching as a desirable profession. When asked whether they'd like their children to become teachers, 62% of the respondents said 'no.' It seems that parents understand how hard a teacher's job can be, and few wish their children to experience that.

In reality, it's not just the teacher's job to educate and inspire the next generation. It's a tough job that parents need to take part in, too; it's a joint effort. Journalist and educator Dana Brown even goes as far as to say that it's not the children who make the job hard. It's the parents. "Often the most frustrating and overwhelming duty of teaching is communicating with parents," she writes for The Educator's Room.

Brown lists three main reasons why parents and teachers might not get along as well nowadays. First, it's that parents are overwhelmed with responsibilities. So, they rely more on teachers to teach their kids life skills, morality, and values. And when these clash with those of the parents, conflicts arise.

Second, some parents want to micromanage their children's everyday education too much. "Yes, parents should absolutely have a say in their child’s education, but those choices should be made during elections and school board meetings," Brown claims.

And lastly, attitudes toward teachers at the top matter. Brown says that parents often mirror the administrators when it comes to respect for teachers. When rigid regulations and micromanagement are coming from the top, parents tend to follow suit.

Still, the first issue is probably the most glaring. Many parents want to control what and how their children are learning, prompting conflicts with the teachers. Jessica Winter writes for The New Yorker that this issue might have become more prominent with the pandemic. Teachers got a direct glimpse into the children's home life, while parents could finally sit in on the process of the classroom.

Winter writes how, back when she was in high school, the only calls her parents got about her from school were about missed classes or if she had to go home early if she felt unwell. Nowadays, parents get informed about even the most minor things that happen in classrooms. Even back in 2013, only four out of ten parents claimed to have received phone calls from the school about their children.

Psychologist Michael Thompson explains that this is due to parents just being more involved in general. "This is the most devoted, most conscientious, most aware parent cohort ever—but they're also wildly anxious." Out of that anxiety, he says, comes the sometimes overbearing communication.

The key to a good parent-teacher relationship is to trust the teacher to make the right decisions. After all, they've received qualifications and training for doing exactly this, right? "The more you call, the less the teacher feels trusted, and the more it corrodes a relationship," Thompson says.