August 28, 2026 • 6 mins
Tati skipped Back-to-School Night and is wondering if parents even need to go anymore. With online grade portals, constant email updates, and school apps, she thinks she already knows everything she needs to know. Jesse disagrees... sort of. He actually went to his son’s Back-to-School Night but admits he could probably find better ways to spend a few hours. Still, he walked away with some surprising gems from the teachers that made the trip worthwhile. So, is Back-to-School Night a must for parents, or is it an outdated tradition you can happily skip?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Becky Mitz now is getting eaten by bugs and things.
What is going on, Becky Mitz?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I have so many bug bites all over the place
from what I believe to be mosquitoes, but even more yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Oh, even more yesterday?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
Becky, it's not mosquitoes.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
Where you showed me where your mosquito bites are, that's
not mosquitoes.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Well, what are they?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
They're spiders.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
I got one on my butt cheek, literally a fresh
one from last night.
Speaker 5 (00:25):
I think they're spiders because there's no way that they're
getting to those areas.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Like mosquitoes are getting to those hidden areas.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, like I get them like behind my knees, you know,
and I'm like usually like, how did it get behind
my knees? On my toes, on my fingers, I went
on my wrist. I have like several on my arms,
on my chest, on my back. Oh, damn.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
She showed me like a tramp stamp mosquito bite. And
I was like, oh, that's a little weird. Matter of fact,
I think there's two over there.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So listen, it does say, I looked it up. Mosquito
bites usually appear in groups or clusters. Uh, spider bites
are different and spider bites are, um, uh, they have
the two holes, a very distinct two holes in the
center of your bite.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You'll see two holes and that's a big difference from
the mosquito bites, I guess.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
So I'll tell you what guys like to do. Inspect
your bites. Guys love that. If your wife walks up
to you, you're like, yeah, let me look at it.
Let me see how many holes it's.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Got for you.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I had her ankle on my face the other day.
I'm like, look at this thing.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Becky, Mr.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Becky might want to inspect those to see how many holes.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
He's getting bit up too. He's getting bit up too.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
He needs to focus on his own bites.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
You two need to just inspect each other's bites together.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We need to set you up with a stay at
the Majestic Garden Hotel.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
That'd be real nice.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
That'd be real nice. I had to buy one of
those like mosquito prongs. You know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Where you burn the prong and then like the smell
of the smoke. hopefully repels them.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I never tried that before.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It looks like, um, yeah, they, they have them at
home Depot.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I got one last night.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
They look like, you know, old school stoves with the little, um,
the coil.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, coil, coil. Dang, you went back to the 80s.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So really quick, this week was a lot of back
to school for a lot of folks here in town.
Tati and I both had back to school for our kids. Tati,
how was yours at your son's school?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Oh, it was so good.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I was at home.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I kind of feel like your son is what, a
junior in high school? He is.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
And he's the third of my children. I've already gone
through the back to school nights for the other two kids.
I know people are like, yeah, but your youngest is
a different kid. You're absolutely right. Totally different kid. Why
do I need to sit through another back to school night?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
You learn your lessons by the third one. I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
And he didn't even know there was a back to
school night, nor did he care. I was like, well,
you know what?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I care as much as you care about your education, son.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I'm going to say we should cap it at eighth grade.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
OK, so you you understand where I'm at with.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I went I found teachers to be exhausted because they
have the longest day ever already. One of them was
coming off of the field because they had just had
to coach a team that they also have to coach.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
And that's something that people don't understand is I watch
a teacher. I'm married to a teacher. I watch how
much time is taken away from him. that is not compensated.
So for me, it's like, yeah, Jesse, I agree. What
do teachers really need to be doing back to school night?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
It's in the syllabus.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Well, we love you teachers and we're, we're working so
hard to support, support anything that you're on the hook for, including,
including back to school night. And I think that with
all the, Um, reaching out to teachers that we do
as parents anyways, with their email addresses and stuff like,
do we really need a back to school night?
Speaker 3 (03:15):
We're bugging them already.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
However, Jesse, you did go and thank goodness you did
because you got some gems from it.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So this will sound kind of hypocritical because you're right.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Not hypocritical. Two can exist.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Thank you. You're right. You're right.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Um, we can say that, uh, back to school night
needs to cap at eighth grade. And I can also
say that in my son's digital media class. The teacher
said something that was so funny that floored all the
parents in the room. He said, in my class, I
have three different levels of teaching this subject. And he's like, technically,
(03:49):
they should be three different classes. But we have everyone
combined together because the budgets now are so low for
electives and they're all electives are disappearing. And the reason why.
It's because everyone is obsessed with AP classes and getting
a 5.0 when they graduate high school. And what that
(04:09):
does is it puts all the focus and effort into
every kid wanting to get into AP classes and not
take digital media, not take all.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
The extracurricular stuff that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
May create some interest and maybe fun stuff that you
want to get into in your life.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
You don't even do it anymore.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And so he was like, so just to let all
you parents in this room know who I know, You
just want the 5.0 so your kid can get into college.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
It's destroying electives for schools. It was incredible. I was like, oh,
my God, is he saying that right now? I love him.
Very true.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yeah, and that's the part that's hard, right? It's an
uncomfortable truth, whether you want to hear it or not.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
100%.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
And it's not, like I said earlier, judge your mother.
It's not to judge anyone. It's just to show you
that this is true.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
What happens? It's the balance, right?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And then, yes.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And then the other thing I heard at back-to-school night
this week was my son's math teacher gave me a gem.
That first one was also a gem from the digital
media teacher. But the math teacher, she said, you know,
this math is hard, and it's tough as a parent
to even help your kid these days do homework with
math because it's so different from how we learned it
and blah, blah, blah. And she says, and a lot
of people say, why do I need to know this math?
What am I going to use this for later on
(05:16):
in my life?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I've heard that many times.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
And she goes— You know, math is the only thing
on a campus that your kids are ever going to
get that is going to specifically focus on problem solving. Hmm.
discovering a problem with no answer and having to do
all kinds of steps to get to the answer. She's like,
do you know how many problems you and I as
humans are going to go through today? And we are
going to need some sort of problem solving skills to
(05:40):
get through it. If you don't take any math and
you can never get through it or don't take it serious,
you will struggle in your life with just normal problem
solving because that's where it's all initially fostered.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
It's such a gem such a gem and you know
jesse uh math was my favorite subject in school and
when i went to college i was in remedial math
just so you know it was my favorite i loved
it but you know i was actually better i went
straight english high level college when i went into college
and i scored very low for my placement for math
but i loved it you're right it does help you
(06:12):
to solve problems.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I was going to say just in life in general.
So anyways, a couple of good gems I got from
a back to school day.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
More than anything. Thank you to all the amazing teachers.
I'm back in what you do now. You're going to
back to school day next year.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Like I went to my daughter's senior year back to
school night and no one was there anymore.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I'll go next year.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Maybe get a gem.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But if you want to nominate an awesome educator here
in town for a $ 5, 000 donation so that they can
hook up their classroom with supplies, thanks to DonorsChoose, it's
really easy and you can do it right now.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Yeah, if you go to iHeartRadio.com slash teachers, I believe
is where you want to nominate that teacher. And thanks
to DonorsChoose for that prize there.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Thank you. iHeartRadio.com slash teachers. Got something to say to
Jesse and Tati? Join the show. Listen to Star 94.1
on the iHeartRadio app. Click the talkback mic and tell
us what's on your mind.
Becky Mitz now is getting eaten by bugs and things.
What is going on, Becky Mitz?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I have so many bug bites all over the place
from what I believe to be mosquitoes, but even more yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Oh, even more yesterday?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
Becky, it's not mosquitoes.
Speaker 5 (00:16):
Where you showed me where your mosquito bites are, that's
not mosquitoes.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Well, what are they?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
They're spiders.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
I got one on my butt cheek, literally a fresh
one from last night.
Speaker 5 (00:25):
I think they're spiders because there's no way that they're
getting to those areas.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Like mosquitoes are getting to those hidden areas.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, like I get them like behind my knees, you know,
and I'm like usually like, how did it get behind
my knees? On my toes, on my fingers, I went
on my wrist. I have like several on my arms,
on my chest, on my back. Oh, damn.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
She showed me like a tramp stamp mosquito bite. And
I was like, oh, that's a little weird. Matter of fact,
I think there's two over there.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So listen, it does say, I looked it up. Mosquito
bites usually appear in groups or clusters. Uh, spider bites
are different and spider bites are, um, uh, they have
the two holes, a very distinct two holes in the
center of your bite.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You'll see two holes and that's a big difference from
the mosquito bites, I guess.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
So I'll tell you what guys like to do. Inspect
your bites. Guys love that. If your wife walks up
to you, you're like, yeah, let me look at it.
Let me see how many holes it's.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Got for you.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I had her ankle on my face the other day.
I'm like, look at this thing.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Becky, Mr.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Becky might want to inspect those to see how many holes.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
He's getting bit up too. He's getting bit up too.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
He needs to focus on his own bites.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
You two need to just inspect each other's bites together.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We need to set you up with a stay at
the Majestic Garden Hotel.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
That'd be real nice.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
That'd be real nice. I had to buy one of
those like mosquito prongs. You know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Where you burn the prong and then like the smell
of the smoke. hopefully repels them.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I never tried that before.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It looks like, um, yeah, they, they have them at
home Depot.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I got one last night.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
They look like, you know, old school stoves with the little, um,
the coil.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, coil, coil. Dang, you went back to the 80s.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So really quick, this week was a lot of back
to school for a lot of folks here in town.
Tati and I both had back to school for our kids. Tati,
how was yours at your son's school?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Oh, it was so good.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I was at home.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I kind of feel like your son is what, a
junior in high school? He is.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
And he's the third of my children. I've already gone
through the back to school nights for the other two kids.
I know people are like, yeah, but your youngest is
a different kid. You're absolutely right. Totally different kid. Why
do I need to sit through another back to school night?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
You learn your lessons by the third one. I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
And he didn't even know there was a back to
school night, nor did he care. I was like, well,
you know what?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I care as much as you care about your education, son.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I'm going to say we should cap it at eighth grade.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
OK, so you you understand where I'm at with.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I went I found teachers to be exhausted because they
have the longest day ever already. One of them was
coming off of the field because they had just had
to coach a team that they also have to coach.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
And that's something that people don't understand is I watch
a teacher. I'm married to a teacher. I watch how
much time is taken away from him. that is not compensated.
So for me, it's like, yeah, Jesse, I agree. What
do teachers really need to be doing back to school night?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
It's in the syllabus.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Well, we love you teachers and we're, we're working so
hard to support, support anything that you're on the hook for, including,
including back to school night. And I think that with
all the, Um, reaching out to teachers that we do
as parents anyways, with their email addresses and stuff like,
do we really need a back to school night?
Speaker 3 (03:15):
We're bugging them already.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
However, Jesse, you did go and thank goodness you did
because you got some gems from it.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So this will sound kind of hypocritical because you're right.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Not hypocritical. Two can exist.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Thank you. You're right. You're right.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Um, we can say that, uh, back to school night
needs to cap at eighth grade. And I can also
say that in my son's digital media class. The teacher
said something that was so funny that floored all the
parents in the room. He said, in my class, I
have three different levels of teaching this subject. And he's like, technically,
(03:49):
they should be three different classes. But we have everyone
combined together because the budgets now are so low for
electives and they're all electives are disappearing. And the reason why.
It's because everyone is obsessed with AP classes and getting
a 5.0 when they graduate high school. And what that
(04:09):
does is it puts all the focus and effort into
every kid wanting to get into AP classes and not
take digital media, not take all.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
The extracurricular stuff that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
May create some interest and maybe fun stuff that you
want to get into in your life.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
You don't even do it anymore.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And so he was like, so just to let all
you parents in this room know who I know, You
just want the 5.0 so your kid can get into college.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
It's destroying electives for schools. It was incredible. I was like, oh,
my God, is he saying that right now? I love him.
Very true.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yeah, and that's the part that's hard, right? It's an
uncomfortable truth, whether you want to hear it or not.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
100%.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
And it's not, like I said earlier, judge your mother.
It's not to judge anyone. It's just to show you
that this is true.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
What happens? It's the balance, right?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And then, yes.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And then the other thing I heard at back-to-school night
this week was my son's math teacher gave me a gem.
That first one was also a gem from the digital
media teacher. But the math teacher, she said, you know,
this math is hard, and it's tough as a parent
to even help your kid these days do homework with
math because it's so different from how we learned it
and blah, blah, blah. And she says, and a lot
of people say, why do I need to know this math?
What am I going to use this for later on
(05:16):
in my life?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I've heard that many times.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
And she goes— You know, math is the only thing
on a campus that your kids are ever going to
get that is going to specifically focus on problem solving. Hmm.
discovering a problem with no answer and having to do
all kinds of steps to get to the answer. She's like,
do you know how many problems you and I as
humans are going to go through today? And we are
going to need some sort of problem solving skills to
(05:40):
get through it. If you don't take any math and
you can never get through it or don't take it serious,
you will struggle in your life with just normal problem
solving because that's where it's all initially fostered.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
It's such a gem such a gem and you know
jesse uh math was my favorite subject in school and
when i went to college i was in remedial math
just so you know it was my favorite i loved
it but you know i was actually better i went
straight english high level college when i went into college
and i scored very low for my placement for math
but i loved it you're right it does help you
(06:12):
to solve problems.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I was going to say just in life in general.
So anyways, a couple of good gems I got from
a back to school day.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
More than anything. Thank you to all the amazing teachers.
I'm back in what you do now. You're going to
back to school day next year.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Like I went to my daughter's senior year back to
school night and no one was there anymore.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I'll go next year.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Maybe get a gem.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But if you want to nominate an awesome educator here
in town for a $ 5, 000 donation so that they can
hook up their classroom with supplies, thanks to DonorsChoose, it's
really easy and you can do it right now.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Yeah, if you go to iHeartRadio.com slash teachers, I believe
is where you want to nominate that teacher. And thanks
to DonorsChoose for that prize there.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Thank you. iHeartRadio.com slash teachers. Got something to say to
Jesse and Tati? Join the show. Listen to Star 94.1
on the iHeartRadio app. Click the talkback mic and tell
us what's on your mind.
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