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Maybe parents and the politically conservative as well, ought stop expecting low paid or mid-ranged paid teachers to be part-time parents, psychologists, doctors, police, and savior a of their (other people's) children.
Teachers are hired to teach, not solve all the emotional and psychological problems of kids, while their parents decline fulfilling those roles in their own children's lives.
Furthermore, both liberals and conservatives like to get on their holier than thou podiums, and castigate the primary and secondary education systems over not employing all super top notch, takented teacher (for unimpressive pay at that, with student loans most teachers have to pay back, whilst raising their own families). I see no reason to expect all teachers to be extraordinary in their ability to affect students as teachers. That is not to say all teachers shouldn't be competent. But you can be competent at shooting a rifle or pistol in the military without being extraordinarily good at it.
It is rare in any profession to be near supernatural. But people enjoy, get their sadistic jollies off, on berating teachers as being losers if they are not spectacular at what they do. I'm sure that causes streets and compromises the immune system of teachers too. Or at least some of them emotionally banged up or psychologically wrecked over constant worry if "they are any good" as teachers.
I don't think teaching is easy. I've never taught a class in my life. I imagine--for me--it would be very hard. Possibly less difficult if I were teaching history and given reign to teach as I want because I think I have greater ability, especially in storytelling, in that area. But other than I'm not sure I teaching qualities in me.
I do think some teachers are pretty poor at what they do--even though they may still have a basic competence in what they are teaching--but that is part of life, and a lesson for the student in how to still learn in less than optimal class environments. I've gone to voluntary evening classes prepping university students for exams, where the grad student or teacher is from some foreign country with an accent so pronounced, I can't understand a thing they are saying throughout the whole lecture.
As for missing a lot of days, teachers are often exposed to everything under the sun. Especially younger grades, where kids do lovely things like puke on you, wipe their noses on you (and everything else), put everything in their mouths, and are just generally kind of gross. Teachers in my area are given a lot of sick days, most don't utilize even close to all of them but last year pneumonia worked its way through my daughters school. Some teachers were out for considerable amounts of time but they were horrifically sick. You also have to consider how contagious the illness is, schools have all sorts of kids including those who could get seriously ill from someone else's common cold.
I also wonder if things like maternity leave were factored into this. It tends to be a female dominated industry and this year there are 4 pregnant teachers in my daughters school of 18 female teachers.
Maybe parents and the politically conservative as well, ought stop expecting low paid or mid-ranged paid teachers to be part-time parents, psychologists, doctors, police, and savior a of their (other people's) children.
Teachers are hired to teach, not solve all the emotional and psychological problems of kids, while their parents decline fulfilling those roles in their own children's lives.
Furthermore, both liberals and conservatives like to get on their holier than thou podiums, and castigate the primary and secondary education systems over not employing all super top notch, takented teacher (for unimpressive pay at that, with student loans most teachers have to pay back, whilst raising their own families). I see no reason to expect all teachers to be extraordinary in their ability to affect students as teachers. That is not to say all teachers shouldn't be competent. But you can be competent at shooting a rifle or pistol in the military without being extraordinarily good at it.
It is rare in any profession to be near supernatural. But people enjoy, get their sadistic jollies off, on berating teachers as being losers if they are not spectacular at what they do. I'm sure that causes streets and compromises the immune system of teachers too. Or at least some of them emotionally banged up or psychologically wrecked over constant worry if "they are any good" as teachers.
I don't think teaching is easy. I've never taught a class in my life. I imagine--for me--it would be very hard. Possibly less difficult if I were teaching history and given reign to teach as I want because I think I have greater ability, especially in storytelling, in that area. But other than I'm not sure I teaching qualities in me.
I do think some teachers are pretty poor at what they do--even though they may still have a basic competence in what they are teaching--but that is part of life, and a lesson for the student in how to still learn in less than optimal class environments. I've gone to voluntary evening classes prepping university students for exams, where the grad student or teacher is from some foreign country with an accent so pronounced, I can't understand a thing they are saying throughout the whole lecture.
Great post. I am not a teacher but thought it was an interesting article and thanks for the well-thought out response.
That is right, it must emotionally take a toll of them to see how many children grow up in such awful living conditions these days.
With the staggering amount of today's children living in terrible living conditions, how can it not take a toll on a teachers emotional and physical health.
I also wonder if things like maternity leave were factored into this. It tends to be a female dominated industry and this year there are 4 pregnant teachers in my daughters school of 18 female teachers.
This, exactly. Having just one or two teachers pregnant and taking maternity leave can seriously skew the numbers. Especially if the teacher takes more than the bare minimum of 6-8 weeks.
Additionally, imagine if you have a teacher or two going through cancer treatments or other serious illness.
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