This post is partially connected to the previous post.
It seems to me, in my few years as an educator, that parents will not "put up with" as much now, in regard to teachers and discipline at school, compared to decades past. I think parents listen to their kids more now because of the abuse they went through in school. If Johnny says that a teacher did something then it must be true. The parent may not understand that Johnny was caught telling lies on the playground last week and has a grudge against the teacher who caught him. Being a teacher is immensly complicated and dangerous; that's why we have so many teachers who have liability insurance and are members of the local union. Parents need to take what their kid says with a grain of salt. Kids are getting more sophisticated about playing the system and their parents. It's true that there are some safeguards in place, hearings and investigations, but the process of going through those safeguards can ruin lives. So in the end if Johnny wants to ruin a teacher, he could do so by maintaining a lie long enough for the public to lose trust in that teacher. It's too bad that a few teachers in the past have led to this culture of mistrust in our schools.
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6 comments:
I have every respect for teachers.
More and more they're trying to teach kids whose parents are into the drug culture, and whose drug use has impaired their children.
We're the richest country in the world, yet teachers are considered little more than servants. Teachers have been attacked, and either seriously impaired of killed by their students.
One math teacher I heard on "Fresh Air" had sustained head injuries and brain damage from an attack by a student. Instead of being bitter, he had made ammends with this student.
The children he was trying to teach algebra to could barely multiply an divide.
In the more upscale schools, as you well know, parents think they can run the teachers' programs.
On the other hand, when you realy reach a student, that has to be very rewarding.
The whole system is upside down. Kindergarten teachers should be well trained, well compensated professionals. If we spent more time and money on children in elementary school, a lot of the problems would be solved when the students reach high school. Instead we let any jackass with a degree teach elementary school and expect the middle and high school teachers to repair all the damage; teach Nathaniel Hawthorne to teenagers who are still reading at a third grade level, and teach calculus and trigonomatry to students who don't know their multiplications tables.
No wonder there's so much stress and resentment.
Then to top it all off, high stakes testing takes money and resources from low performing schools who need extra help the most, and rewards schools that already have what they need.
Well, that's my soap box.
Good luck.
I agree with you completely. I am still upset about "emergency certification". I spent six years of my life learning how to teach music and someone who gets a whim can get certified, while on the job, in two-three years. I wasted my money! I should have gone into some lucrative career, gotten bored with it, and then decide to teach because I was already rich and could afford to do so. Who am I kidding. I love my job. It's never too late to become a teacher, I suppose.
Teachers have just about the hardest job around. To really do a good job, teachers work longer hours than just about anyone I know, and the good ones obviously care so much about really communicating with their students. I remember sitting in Mr. A's house and listening to jazz and eating popcorn -- there's a teacher who really took his work home with him, every day. What an inspiration.
I think being a teacher is a special calling -- if you get into it because you're bored with your day job, I'd guess you won't last long. I know I don't have it in me, that's for sure. (But those summers off do sound nice...)
All of that said, I hope I can keep this level of respect in mind when the girls start school. I can just see myself planning vendettas against stupid teachers who don't appreciate my angels and their inborn (genetic?) genius.
Have you researched schools yet? I know they are only two, but it is never to early to check things out.
The summers off thing-it's basically seasonal work. We are "laid-off" in the summer but it's contracted in such a way that we can't draw unemployment. It's nice to have the time, though.
When I went to college you as a women could only do two things teach or be a nurse. Believeor not I chose the least frigthening job.
I had the some very bad teachers, some who were mean, but a couple of very good teachers that influenced my life choice and love of science. 8th grade science teacher and my senior year the most wonderful teacher for chemistry. All the kids loved him.
This was very rare. Some kids and teachers respond better to each other. And the teacher will help them more. This is normal human action. But the great ones influence everybody. I had two great ones.
I think the drug culture has more effect on the parents and the students than ever.
Then there is a group of people who think the rest of us are somewhat less worthy because we are not wealthy or of their relegionous beliefs
Stay in teaching as long as you love it. But leave when you burn out. The kids will sence when you no longer like them
That's the truth! The kids can smell fear and dislike. The current drug culture is different from the drug culture of the 60's, 70's, and 80's because the parents know more about drugs and what they do. However the kids find better and more sophisticated ways to pull the wool over mom and dad's eyes. That part is pretty scary.
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