Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Wasn’t there a time when Parents, Teachers, and Administrators teamed up together to raise a kid right? I feel like there used to be this unspoken-but-tacitly-agreed-upon alliance that helped raise smart capable and respectful students who were prepared for the world.
No.
There have always been jerks, and there have always been problem students with problem families. Teaching was a job and a calling but still a job even back in the day.
The problem?
1) Teaching hasn't been elevated to the professional position where it should be, and it still pays blue-collar pay, so people don't view it as a professional position. I guarantee the entire education "industry" would change if teachers were paid $100K annually. Or even $85K.
2) Social issues have changed so dramatically over the past 50 years that even if a teacher, principal and parent did team up to raise a child, they would still have a deadly fight against the influences that children today are subjected to.
Much of the "things were better in the good ol days" bunch hasn't set foot in a public school since 1975.
This is new to the OP, but isn't new. I was lucky enough to go to an academic public high school where there were real teachers and real learning. However most kids don't qualify for those high schools. Most kids go to ordinary public high schools where very little is learned or need be learned to get a diploma. I recall in the 1970's I flew from LA to New York, and my cousin, a recent Hollywood High School graduate wanted to know if I had to fly over the Atlantic Ocean to get to NY. I wondered how someone could get through 12 years of public education without learning anything about world geography or even US geography.
My son graduated college in NY and got a BA in English and his first job was teaching high school English in a NYC charter school. He lasted one year, then became a supervisor for the parks department, then after a few years became a NYC fireman where he spent the remainder of his career.
To the OP, you have learned teaching is not for you. Many people start in a career and learn it's not for them. Many just work for years at what pays the bills. People have a distorted view of what careers are. You don't find out the truth until you are there. Look for something you are interested in doing that you can be good at. It can take years to find your niche or you may find it right away. Good luck.
1) Administrators need to enforce classroom discipline and believe the teachers. When the teachers send kids to the office (which in most districts nowadays, you're not allowed to do), punish the kids.
2) Group children according to their level, and teach to the level where they actually are, not to the theory of where they should be.
3) Remove the droolers, screamers, and fighters from the classroom so the normal kids can learn (in the old days we called them "retarded", "insane", and "delinquents". Send them to special classes, special schools, or Juvie Hall.
4) Reduce paperwork required of teachers to the minimum to ensure the attendance records, discipline records, and a grade for every 6 weeks' report card. No more trying to document how each student (in a class of 45) received individual attention from every teacher every single day.
5) Reduce class sizes and stop allowing districts to average class sizes and claim compliance. No, the fact that you've got a bunch of classes with 12 doesn't make you classes with 45 compliant.
I do seem to remember the OP posting here on CD years ago, hoping to find a teaching slot somewhere, anywhere. Sad to see what it has amounted to, but for many, this is not surprising. And I agree about administrators and consultants--many are absolutely worthless, especially in regard to being "responsibility shirkers" and offering nothing in value.
It's not "Room 222" anymore. It's not even "Welcome Back Kotter"...
Government schools are the problem - not all of them, of course, but many of them.
If you can live off the usually paltry salary earned at most private schools, then that would be an alternative route for you. But, as you implied, you are (rightfully so) disenchanted with being a teacher so you are wise to explore other options. How shortsighted of the administration to let you go. You sound as though you have a lot to offer students; it's just too bad the other "players" have to squelch your good intentions and repress your teaching abilities. I wish you the best.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
