Hitting My Stride VI

[Dawn70]

I’m frustrated by my sons schooling. He’s still in elementary school and we were told the work is optional. He basically completes his daily assignments in an hour. There are a lot of links to silly YouTube channels and already established educational programs. Which is annoying because I want less screen time. The kids do not cooperate with parents like they do with their teachers - so it’s a huge battle. I ended up buying next grades math book and I sent a letter to my son telling him it was from his teacher and he has to do it. in general like Hawho said, they teach down so no one is left behind meaning the brighter kids suffer and it’s even worse now.

I think the real answer is that they need to open up schools in summer for the kids. This would solve a lot of problems.

1. Many parents are not gonna be able to afford camp this year and will be expected to get back to work in the summer.
2. The kids are really behind and need classroom structure (at least in elementary school)

Now my mom was a teacher, I love my sons teacher and I completely respect the teachers. A good teacher is worth their weight in gold. I could never teach 20 (30 in the city) little kids. I would lose my mind.

But that being said I’m conflicted in my thoughts. . Everyone else has not been able to work to their capacity and is therefore furloughed or taking major pay cuts or laid off. Where I live, there’s a joke that getting a teaching position is like winning the lottery. They earn over 6 figures and only work 180 days. Yes I know they put in extra time for lesson plans. (I put in extra time for ceus and HEPs and staying current in my field too and I do not get prep periods or nearly as many holidays) They have great unions and we don’t. I get that and wish I was unionized. They are earning a living salary and we really should be attacking the .1 percenters and our ceos - not the people that make effort for our kids.

But at the same time - I think that due to this unprecedented event - give back to the kids for the summer. Doesn’t have to be a full summer. Maybe 4 weeks out of 10? And just don’t bother teaching for the month of May because they aren’t really learning.

You know, I started my adult professional life as a high school teacher and finally got to move to higher ed (my ultimate dream goal) a few years ago. I don’t know where you live, but the only teachers making 6 figures in this neck of the woods are coaches. So to me that whole attitude about a teaching job being like hitting the lottery is akin to that bunk awhile back about nurses just sitting around playing cards. Teachers and nurses are among the most underpaid and undervalued employees on the planet. You say you respect teachers, but I assure you that is NOT the norm. I have been called stupid, a b!tch, told I was being “unfair” to little Johnny for holding him accountable in my class. One of the very last years I was a public school teacher, a student called me a “stupid f&ccing c£nt” TO MY FACE in front of another teacher and a room full of students. When I turned him in, I was told to have a conference with his mother and talk to the football coach because that would be more effective than detention. After several repeated requests for a meeting with mom, she showed up, completely exasperated and sat with her son in my classroom while he degraded her, called her a b!tch, and said nasty, ugly things to her. I called the principal to come in and the kid walked out leaving me and the mom waiting for principal who again insisted I talk to the coach. The coach made him run bleachers and the kid acted worse than ever. He remained in my class until he got expelled for bringing his mother’s prescription drugs to school and selling them to a girl who OD’ed in the bathroom and still had the pill bottle with his mother’s name in her pocket when they found her. (Side note: that happened on my birthday. His expulsion was, to this day, the best birthday gift ever.) If kid is not a guest of the State of Arkansas Dept of Corrections somewhere right now, he just hasn’t been caught yet.

As far as teaching 20 kids at a time.....THAT would be a dream. I regularly had 30 students, many who were special ed, and others who were disciplinary issues and the only reason I didn’t have more was because Arkansas wised up and passed a law that capped all classes, regardless of grade level, at 30. Even now, my college classes, hands-on lab classes are capped at 24, and I rarely have fewer than 20. I have 16 in one class this time only because 4 students dropped out when we went remote.

Teachers are doing the best they can and are still trying to come up with engaging ways to learn. So what if it comes in the form of YouTube and other such sites. It isn’t like teachers had months to prepare and come up with new, innovative strategies to be all online. I get you want less screen time for your child but how can your child have less screen time if you are too busy working your own job to be able to engage him in non-electronic means of education?

Don’t get me wrong, I understand parents’ frustrations. I don’t have young kids at home (THANK GOD!!!!!!) but I have elementary aged grandchildren, so I see and hear the struggles my own children have in making sure their children are engaged in meaningful learning activities while they are working full-time jobs. 1 of my daughters and both my sons-in-law are deemed essential workers, so they are still working outside the home which gives the added frustration of dealing with child care.

I think teachers get blamed for everything and this is a good opportunity for parents to see how much work really goes into being a teacher. Teachers are forced to teach to impossible standards on the be all end all standardized tests and blamed for poor scores while they deal with a variety of reading/comprehension/understanding levels within the same classroom plus dealing with the discipline and ALL the emotional baggage that children carry (and yes, even the happiest of kids occasionally act out). Lack of parental support is also high on the list of complaints. I am not saying anyone here is that way, because by all accounts everyone here is very involved and engaged with their kids and the overall educational process, but again, I can assure you this is the exception, not the rule. I know I’m older than quite a few on the board, but when I was in school, teachers were well respected. And, I didn’t dare cause trouble at school because then not only would I get in trouble at school, but I would get in trouble twice at home:once by mom and then again by dad when he got home. Surely I’m not the only one on the board who lived in the era of “wait until your father gets home” being a huge deterrent for bad behavior.

The US education system needs a LOT of work but there are dedicated teachers across this country who put their heart and soul into the job and truly love their students and what they do. Of course, there are bad apples too, but that is true of all walks of life. If nothing else, I hope this pandemic situation helps people be a little more flexible and forgiving of harsh/negative attitudes because I think we are all just doing the best we can at this point.

Sorry for the hijack again, J9. Stepping off my soap box now. And by the way, juju, I will apologize right now if anything I said offended you, as that was not my intent. I don’t think you, personally, are disrespectful towards teachers but some of the things you said just touched a nerve and I felt compelled to respond.