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RTSDaddy2:
                        WARNING!   :soapbox:  POST!  WARNING!

Guys, I started a new post because I didn't wish to hijack my own previous thread...but I discovered I had a lot to get off my chest this morning.

My mother and I were out doing some errands Saturday (she lives close by) and I was telling her about the current lack of a job, and that people all the time say "Boy, you teachers have it so easy...summer off, etc., etc."  I told her at the grocery store that there wasn't a single one of those people in that store - unless they were already teaching - who could do my job for more than a day without cracking under the stress brought upon us by the politics of our day.

She was also the one who told me about seeing this once in our local paper as a vent...I THINK I have it correct, my apologies to the person (who was anonymous) if I dont.....it went something like this:

Teachers are afraid of the principal
Principals are afraid of the School Board
The School Board is afraid of the parents
Parents are afraid of the kids
So who are the kids afraid of????

We had both forgotten how it went, we thought, and when I got it again this morning, I realized how ticked off I was because it's so true.

I don't know how it was when and where you went to school, but when I was growing up my classmates and I still "feared" our teachers. That's not to say we were truly frightened by them, but we KNEW better than to talk back to this person in charge of our classroom.  She / He was the boss...you sat down, you shut up, you listened, and you learned as much as you could.

Today's students (and I have 15 years experience, so I can definitely speak to this) have NONE of that.  Case in point: in the mid 1990s, I was in my first teaching job and a 7th grader brought a toy to school. Here's the dialogue:

Me: "Give me the toy, please."
Student: "No"
Me: "Give me the toy, please. You're not supposed to have that here."
Student (in front of class): " :censored: you."

So what did I do? I sent the child to the principal, thinking surely the kid would go home for the day at least.  Do you think that happened? Nope.  The kid was back in my classroom at 12 PM.  What do you think that tells today's child?  To go back to my original point, there's not a one of my classmates that would have DARED tell a teacher that for fear not only of what would happen at school but also what would happen at home!  There is no fear in these kids today!  Why would you be fearful of a system though that passes you right on through, whether you can read or write or not, simply because they don't want to damage your "self-esteem."

That is pure poppycock - what in the WORLD do people think is happening to the same child's self-esteem in later years? He / She cannot read, cannot write, cannot think for themselves at 14 - 15 years old because they've been pushed through...and this creates high self-esteem? Where is the brain that came up with THAT idea?

Don't misunderstand, I see the point - I'm not suggesting that a teacher be given the leeway to say "Johnny? Oh Johnny's nothing but a trouble maker, he'll never amount to anything."  That most definitely is the wrong approach too....no, what I'm talking about is making the kids accountable again.  If they seriously cannot read or write, let them be held back a year until they can.   

This isn't going to change anything, and truthfully isn't anything new, but I had to get some of this off my chest and my mind this morning.  I have seen the degeneration of our schools from the inside and we as a society have GOT to turn this thing around, otherwise we will truly be nothing but mindless sheep bleating in the streets, waiting on someone to tell us what to do and when to do it.



Xam:
 :applaud:

I can sympathize with you. We have a family who wanted to be a teacher. She graduated Texas A&M with her degree in hand. She landed a job at a not so good school. She flunked about 90% of the students in her class. She was told she could not do that. She pointed out that the students work did not warrant a passing grade. She was told to give them D's and let them go. She refused and resigned.

While coaching a football team for a day (coach could not make the practice) I had one kid who refused to shut up and listen. After 3 requests I told go sit down...your not playiing today. His mother went off on me. I told the woman to report me to the Y admins and we would discuss it there. The woman was upset with me even after finding out that her son was making ethnic jokes on the field!!! To answer your question "Who do the kids fear?" No one...unless we give them reason to. The kid in question was pretty good for the rest of the year after our episode.

I remember back in the day...we did fear (respectful fear) the teachers. I think it helped that when I was a kid, if you got caught a**ing up the next door neighbor would punish you...then you had to face your own parents and their punishment.

Its definately different these days.

Xam

ChadTower:

Heh, last year coaching baseball I sent one kid off the field 3 weeks in a row for misbehaving and not paying attention.  Made him go sit on the end of the bench for the rest of the practice.  He wasn't trying, wasn't listening, and was distracting kids who were doing those things.

After the third time one of the other kids' parents came over to me and asked why I was so hard on the kid, after all his parents weren't around and clearly were just using the team as free babysitting since they didn't care enough to stick around (this is 5-6 year old instructional).  I should cut the kid some slack since he's probably acting up out of anger at his parents and I'm not helping him by punishing him for being angry at his parents.  It's not his fault, they say.  Just tolerate the poor behaviour.

I told the parent that I would appreciate it if they let me, as the head coach, do the coaching and let that kids parents, as the parents, do the parenting.  I didn't even bother to tell them that kid was my son.

RayB:

--- Quote from: RTSDaddy2 on January 29, 2007, 04:38:40 am ---...people all the time say "Boy, you teachers have it so easy...summer off, etc., etc."
--- End quote ---

You should expand on this bit too. Most people think teachers are "on vacation" when fact is most are working a summer job to make ends meet.

RTSDaddy2:

--- Quote from: Xam on January 29, 2007, 10:49:23 am --- :applaud:

I can sympathize with you. We have a family who wanted to be a teacher. She graduated Texas A&M with her degree in hand. She landed a job at a not so good school. She flunked about 90% of the students in her class. She was told she could not do that. She pointed out that the students work did not warrant a passing grade. She was told to give them D's and let them go. She refused and resigned.

--- End quote ---

You'd be surprised (well, maybe not) at how often that goes on.  In one school I was at, the kid missed half of the grading period and was passed on to the eigth grade.  HALF of the grading period.

Ray, you are absolutely correct.   Most of the teachers I know do have summer jobs to make ends meet.   Either that, or we're spending time getting ready for the next school year (which is what I was usually doing).
There is no time off for us.  Don't even get me started on teacher salaries...

Yet we have these pro atheletes who wander around, oblivious to the fact that they are role models, making 100 times the salary (I just depressed myself...that's just about right for some players)  and what do some of them choose to do?  Spend it on women, wine, and drugs.  Yet we hold THIS up to the kids and say "This is an achiever."

Again, please note that I said SOME atheletes.  There are ALWAYS those who rise above the crowd...and likewise not every teacher is worth their weight in gold either.   

But think about it....what if we could truly have a summer off because we did NOT have to work to make ends meet?  What if teachers were paid as pro atheletes, signing bonus and everything?  What if it didn't work out and a teacher could be traded to another school with the old school doing a buyout of the contract, etc?  Do you think we'd have better people interested in teaching our youth, or at least lining up at the door to try?

Oh, and before I forget it - Chad, man, my wife and I LOVED your story!!  :laugh2:

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