***Disclaimer: this is is NO way calling out my school, district, or colleagues. The point of this post was to acknowledge a national issue and is not reflective of where I work. I am fortunate that I receive constant support from my administration and colleagues and can ask any question and will receive a professional answer. The frustration lies within those outside of the system who wish to make regulations about the system, not those who work as educators.***
As I get ready to finish out my first year of teaching, I can't help but be completely enraged at all of the school shaming- administrator, teacher, etc.
I'll be the first to tell you that our school system is messed up. Teachers are leaving left and right. Discipline isn't held up like it used to be. Class sizes are too large. Kids are tested too much. I 110% agree. However, what I'd like people to realize is that it isn't a school's fault. I understand your frustrations, believe me. I'm expected to get 127 kids of varying intellectual, emotional, and psychological levels at the same place in various standards. I'm asked to do the near impossible on a daily basis. I have issues with Common Core curriculum. I have issues with how discipline is handled. But, by golly, I realize it isn't one person's fault. It's a national issue. The issues with testing and discipline and expectations don't start with a school, they start with the fact that every student I teach is expected to go to college and that schools are expected to be run like businesses. My students are not "made" on an assembly line. Schools are not McDonald's where a student should expect to walk into each teacher's classroom and come out the exact same formulation of Big Mac.
I read several articles tonight with parents "fighting back" against their schools. Now, I am not a parent, and I do believe that parents deserve every right to have a say in their child's education; however, that is something that a parent "surrenders" by sending their child to school. Teachers act as "in loco parentis," which is why I cannot leave my classroom to go to the bathroom or make a quick copy. An adult has to be present to act as a "parent" while children are at school. My patience is waning for people and parents who tell me how to do my job, all the while thinking that I don't know their kids. My blood boils when people tell me it's impossible for me to know my kids.
Yes, I have 127 students, but I can tell you a unique fact about each one of them:
Your son used to only read comic books, but Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist was the first non-comic he read. I recommended it to him because he said he liked adventure books.
Your daughter writes poetry in her agenda when her peers act immaturely because she can't stand it.
Your daughter will rush through her assignments to read because she enjoys the escape.
Your son goes to the bathroom every day at the end of 3rd period. It's his routine.
Your daughter volunteers daily to help me in my classroom because she gets in trouble for talking if she sits still for too long.
Your son stands up in my class to do his work; it helps him concentrate better.
Your son craves attention so much that he will stand next to another student and say s/he hit him just so the teacher hears him.
Your daughter didn't know who else to tell, so she revealed to me in a journal entry that her best friend's boyfriend was cheating on her.
Your daughter started acting strangely in my class; it turns out a young man was harassing her.
Your daughter doesn't act to her full potential because she's trying to "fit in," but she comes into my room every Thursday during help day just to talk.
Your son did all of his homework last night just to see if anyone noticed.
I know about the pictures your daughter posts on Instagram that she shouldn't.
I know your son reads the Bible every day in my class because he's expected to help with his younger siblings at home and wants to have his "God time."
Sometimes your son skips lunch because he got teased a lot last year for being "fat."
Your daughter waits until you leave for work every morning and then puts lipstick on.
The reason your son has started doing his work and acting appropriately is because he has a crush on one of the "smart" girls.
Your son often thinks of scenarios far beyond those that a 13 year old "normally" thinks of (how wars start, the LGBT community, etc.)
No, this isn't a list of all 127 of them. But please, the next time society wants to tell me that I don't know my students or how they learn, act, behave, think, I want society to think twice. Yes, I'm busy and have a lot of pressure on me, but I wouldn't have a job if it weren't for your child. I hear your concerns, I'm looking out for him/her, because I genuinely love and care for your child. The problems with our education system are just that- problems with a system. It is no one person's fault. In reality, teachers are the bottom of the totem pole in the educational world. I hope you realize how backwards that is considering we're the ones spending the most time with your kids. If you want to make a change, I will help you, but you've got to stop blaming me.
