The biggest problem in schools today. It used to be when a trouble maker was disciplined, the parents added their own. Now they blame the teacher for not being in tune with their gifted child. When I sub I get tested by the trouble makers, and it takes a large part of my time getting them in line. I don't believe in passing the buck to the asst. Principals. After they get to know me, they are no problem.
What baffles me is this. Some student doesn't study a damn bit during the school year, sleeps in class, acts like a fool every second he/she is in the school building and disrespects every teacher they have ever had....and it's MY fault that they are failing? Piss off, parent. Do your job before you criticize me.
Serious question: Why aren't teachers in favor of vouchers / privatizing all education? They'd be paid significantly more, they'd certainly have more result-oriented evaluations (such as college admissions, instead of just standardized test scores), more intellectual freedom to truly educate, it'd be infinitely easier to weed out the 5-7% (my guess) of bad teachers who give the rest a bad rap, and their would be real "teeth" for students who wouldn't or couldn't keep up (i.e. If the parents blamed you for their failing, send her/him elsewhere - after the 4th school or so, they'd understand where the problem was, I think). And before anyone thinks that this is "pie-in-the-sky" sort of stuff, I am only aware of these differences as a result of being friends with a couple of private school teachers, and have relatives who teach education at the grad level (not dropping names, just trying to provide some background on how i came to believe these things).
Lys, I'd introduce the Scarface wannabe to the chapter in Freakanomics about why drug dealers live with their mothers, and kept asking him to help them get janitorial jobs for minimum wage.
Good idea. The best part - mom is living off of welfare provided to her because of this twerp. She honestly could not care any less about this child, so it's easy to understand why he has turned out so ill mannered. Referring to the privatization, I've given a lot of thought to taking a large pay cut to teach at a private school...and taking up a second part time job on weekends.
Every private school in my area pays even less than my county which is not that good. Plus, I am of the mindset that some things are more important than a profit margin.
My first day as a teacher in regular American public schools was an interesting one. I did the "Tell me something about yourself" activity and two girls stated they were lesbians (I don't think they were together). Oh, by the way, do not coach freshmen girls volleyball under any circumstances. Extra money, I thought, holy hell. My first actual teaching deal was in the Peace Corps, which was as unique experience as any you could imagine. Think of trying to teach abstract concepts like Imperialism to kids who've never seen a building more than two stories high on their remote Pacific island and can barely speak English.
My first two years along with football, I got the privilege of coaching girls HS basketball. I did not play BB in HS, and still to this day don't know much. We did meet the lofty goals I had, we got the ball past half court and we scored. Actually beat two teams that first year. The girls I had were terrible. I the first thing that I learned after almost doing it, is that you can't pat them on the butt after a good play! I feel your still lingering pain!
The job I am interviewing for is an in-school suspension job. I would need a transitional license, but it could be in any subject. The cons of dealing with the bad kids would be outweighed by not having to go through the same bs evaluations that teachers have to do. Plus getting to coach again is a big pro.
I am getting a student Monday. He is a 15 year old 7th grader. He's about 6-3, 175. His psych report states that he has "strangled" his sister 6 times. 3 times to the point that she required CPR to revive her. The psychologist stated that he is the most dangerous child he has seen in his 30 of practice. That he believes that he WILL KILL his mother and sister. He has also sexually assaulted his sister. Anyone want to trade teaching jobs for the rest of the year?
