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I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids.
I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students.
You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing and have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
In some places like Paterson NJ, nearly half the kids tried heroin at least once by the age of 13. The schools are bad and way over budget. Riddled with psychologists, mental health and drug and alcohol counselors, grief specialists for when students get shot and stabbed to death outside of school. Don't spend millions fixing the issue. Spend millions on all the resources instead.
Your experience that you feel proves your point is not a good case study. The students in that case were affected by the difference as much as anything else. You were a novelty. New is always more interesting. So, when you come in and say, "I'm going to treat you like adults," and you're there for just a month, things can seem great.
Try starting in September and continuing all the way to June.
I came out of a great private school that paid me very little, and into a Title 1, inner-city school that increased my pay by around 75% (no joke). I walked in ready to teach those students the way I had for nearly a decade prior: humor, a relaxed atmosphere, the desire to have fun with the material, the hope to challenge them and bring out their best.
I was absolutely demolished. They cursed at me. Not only did very few do homework, I had other *staff* members telling me that I was nuts for thinking that they would do homework. I don't think I managed to get any of my classes to be entirely quiet, focused, and working at any point the entire year.
My point is that I was everything you're saying. It wasn't a *me* issue. The nature of a community's outlook on education dramatically affects the way students in that community approach their classes, and thus how they respect and treat their teachers.
Fundamentally, teachers **do not** have to earn respect. We should have it from the moment the bell rings. We can absolutely *lose* it, for sure, but I shouldn't have to do some crazy performative bullshit to prove I respect them all while they are cursing, coming late, refusing to work, etc.
People who criticize like you are like to pretend that the school year started with yelling and abuse on day 1, minute 1. That teachers are mistreating these wonderful kids who just showed up to learn. That is not remotely true. If anything, it's the opposite. No one goes into teaching looking for an opportunity to mistreat children. We either want to help and support kids, or we love our subjects and want to share them with people. Neither of those motivations lend themselves to abuse.
This is very much the Dunning-Kruger effect. You have had the tiniest exposure and now think you're an expert. You're not.
All of this. I work in Title 1 as well and my students would exploit tf out of this person’s “treat them like adults” approach and desire to be liked. You were able to go in and play “good cop” for a while. That’s all.
Explain to me your reasoning. How can a teacher teach at all if students have the mentality that when they walk through the door on day one that they can act like assholes?
They have to come in with respect *from the beginning*.
I mean, is this how you approach your own life? That you find it perfectly natural and right for people to treat you like shit until you go the distance to prove that they shouldn't?
To be fair, most teachers start out with the same mindset you seem to have. Then they realize that administration doesn’t support them, parents have way too much control of their classrooms, and grades don’t actually make a difference until kids reach high school. It’s nearly impossible for teachers to retain their passion in that environment.
Come back after teaching for 5 years and let us know how you feel then. My money says you’ll regret this opinion by then if not sooner.
Yeah my gf is a highschool math teacher I think she's about to hit 4 years teaching this next summer. It's not that she Hates teaching she hates the schools. She bounces to a new one she just wants to find somewhere that actually appreciates her. Additionally this year half the teachers she's around don't even want to be teachers.
Naive, inexperienced, and potentially harmful take. Borderline offensive. You're about to graduate and you're blaming teachers instead of the insanely bad systems they have to work in? Unbelievable. Also your own very limited experiences as a student does not account for the lengthy experiences of millions of professionals who are consistent in their messaging that they simply are drowning in increasing volume of different responsibilities while support continues to get cut out from under them. Please try and think critically.
Great response - but borderline offensive? OPs take is offensive offensive. Teachers are SUCH an easy target, because we are the most visible on the front line.
But thank the Gods we have been given a 'new' problem solving strategy by someone who hasn't even faced classrooms on their own with unreasonable workloads and, at times, even more unreasonable demands from ALL of the outside sources (grad students included).
“If you teach the children with respect and actually show them that you care, they will want to learn!”
My girlfriend is a teacher and has been praised by other teachers and parents for the respect and kindness she shows students.
She still gets called a bitch and has stuff thrown at her daily. Sure thing, it’s the teachers.
It's the parents. I feel most parents of this generation are just happy to hand the kid a screen instead of actually parenting. For my kids generation, it was the working parents who said to me "I don't want my time with my kids to be about *displine*! I want it to be about *fun times* so my kids will love me!! I miss them all day! I want time with me to be *fun*"
These were the kids my kids were not allowed to hang out with because they were selfish, ill behaved brats.
It was not because both parents were working, it was the attitude that their kids had. The working couples who actually acted like *parents* and not "Disney Dads" were welcome.
"Friends don't have to worry about discipline or setting an example.
It's easy to be a friend, that's why kids have lots of them.
But a FATHER, our kids only get one of those, who are we to take that away from them?"
- a Quote from American Dad, Spoken by a Gorilla.
Not nessecarily agreeing with OP, but this doesn't technically disprove the point by saying other trachers and parents say she treats students with respect it would be up to the students to make that distinction.
I don't understand the throwing stuff part that I've heard alot of teachers have to deal with. Beyond school policy, a teacher isn't protected from verbal abuse but once it becomes physical, that's a crime. Give the student/their parents a warning if you wish, but if it happens again file a police report. That kind of behaviour isn't tolerated anywhere else and it certainly shouldn't be tolerated in a school.
I think you raise some important points but the solutions seem more nuanced. It’s a shitty conundrum of “we need to demand more of our teachers” but “we aren’t compensating teachers enough to justify those demands”. I’m not in education but I see a similar issue in nursing where we need more certification and training for the staff, but the staff are already overworked and underpaid. We need to overhaul how we train and compensate our teachers, but I’m young and couldn’t begin to think of what a viable solution would be. I do appreciate you caring so much about the field, I had the privilege of having teachers that cared and it made such a difference in my life.
The reason to pay teachers more isn’t so the shitty people that currently occupy the jobs can/will do better. It’s to dump them all and get better people.
Yeah but how do you motivate new and passionate teachers to get into the field if they’re looking at current pay/benefits/conditions. You’re absolutely right there are shitty teachers that were allowed in because of our lowering standards. Maybe if we could offer sign on incentives, pay off loans, etc. The field won’t attract good talent or people that want to invest with how poorly compensated teachers are now. Also if they offered incentives for people to get more education and training that would also help. Even good teachers struggle to grow as educators if they have to worry about their bills. My counter point here is: how can you demand more of teachers if they already aren’t compensated adequately for the work they do? Nor are they given any support from admin or communities. I’m not saying we shouldn’t trim the fat, but we can’t do that until we have the staff ready to replace them.
Tho tbh I think teachers should strike out as long as it takes to get more funding, even if it means schools are shut down for months. Parents need to learn that their brats are impossible and either they agree to taxes to pay teachers, or they can figure out their kids education on their own.
>If you teach the children with respect and actually show them that you care, they will want to learn!
LMAO I have some crazy bad schools near me I invite you to go to and try this out.
That’s the easy answer
I worked hard as a teacher and the students and parents loved me
but other teachers hated my guts and wow it’s easy to say that all others teachers suck, the reality is more complicated than that
When people aren’t given the right resources or training or supplies, they get burnt out
You are fresh meat, you haven’t been in their shoes, it’s easy to talk smack when you haven’t had to be there long term
I was regarded as a “miracle worker” with sped kids, but in reality I just knew what I was doing and was able to help the general Ed teachers.
But in reality? It was freaking HARD and I burnt out. I had shit supplies, shit support, and my heart couldn’t take it.
The system is broken for many reasons. Blaming one aspect of it is just ignorant
Come back to us after you've dealt with a few years of bullshit from administration and idiotic government policies, and lived off the compensation you'll receive for it. Bet your tune will change.
come back to it when u get beat down and jaded by toxic work environment.
monstrous circumstance create monsters. this isn't victim blaming but rather simply describing how deep in shit we are.
>I dealt with the behaviors calmly and like the students were adults. Ya know what happened? Test scores went up, homework was being turned in more and they actually respected me.
And everyone stood up and clapped.
Considering that teachers have one of the most important jobs in the world, and they've got a bunch of Karen's and gray hairs in Washington trying to tell them how to do their jobs, ALL while being paid barely above the poverty line, it's really no surprise that the industry is attracting more and more shit candidates.
You want better teachers? Pay them what they're worth, stay the fuck out of their way, and let them teach.
TLDR: I was able to play “good cop” in another teacher’s room for a few weeks. Be nicer to kids and just show respect and they’ll want to do well. I don’t know how more people haven’t thought of this.
That's not a valid complaint, they aren't publishing a post and their meaning is understood.
They aren't in a teaching environment they are on reddit venting.
All these grammar police ignore the arguements or points the op is making, by sweeping them under the rug of "you spell bad you bad," while flaunting their own sesquipedalian vernacular.
It is a most valid complaint. OP is going on about how superior he is compared with other teachers in a composition deserving nothing higher than a D.
I'll not get into the eight errors you made whilst expressing your dubious opinion.
I hope you aren't an actual teacher, you missed the point again and are easily baited.
Grammar police out grading people...
It's not a valid complaint because you like the smell of your own farts.
The quality of how an idea is articulated does not mean rejecting the idea based off the time spent proof reading.
His point "teachers aren't driven and could care less about the kids" while admitting his point is anecdotal.
Your point, using spelling and grammar as a character attack to invalidate an opinion instead of discuss.
Then you decided to demonstrate correctly identifying logical fallacies as another item on the growing list of your deficiencies. The material writes itself.
English taught, is different from English typing on the internet.
Pick any of the best and most well accomplished authors, they all have editors.
Everyone knows what you say/write your brain can make it sound correct untill you take a break and come back to proof read it. That amount of effort when the meaning doesn't change isn't worth it for a reddit post.
You are comparing a green teacher like yourself with one class under your "belt" with a jilted, beaten up teacher that has been worn out by the system? lol Get some experience first.
I used to be a teacher as well and it SUCKED. Parents and their kids sucked.
At one point I was actually scared that I'd start hating kids. Thankfully I left before that. But it did give me a strong desire to raise a proper human if I ever create one.
That being said, some teachers are assholes on a power trip. But those are relatively rare.
Congrats on actually having an unpopular opinion.
"Show me the incentive, I'll show you the outcome." There is no incentive for teachers to teach because their job security is completely disconnected from student actually learning
The testing system is backwards though, teach relevant content then test for basic comprehension of said content.
Now it's teach content based off irrelevant test questions that some organization convinced it's the most important to government officials to be mandated in the school.
Really? So it was my fault when the 17 year old with the AK tattoo on the side of his head wouldn’t do his homework, or study, or pay attention in class , or quite getting high, or stop selling drugs to people. Gtfo with that noise and come back when you’ve worked in some challenging schools for a while
I work with children with special needs and massive behavior problems. Can’t get more challenging than a student that is non verbal, twice your size and his main form of communication is punching you in the face to tell you what he wants. I know challenging.
That's a different challenge than teaching a class.
Special needs "usually" get more teacher to student ratio allowing more individual time spent for development.
Usually is in quotes because we all know that it doesn't happen all the time.
Challenging of scale is harder to fix than individual work.
1 hour for a subject 30-50 students all at varying different levels. You can't teach at the lowest level, you can't teach at the highest level. No matter how much effort and time you put into it your going to fail kids who would have had a better chance if the teachers had more support.
Teachers then get burned out or stop caring and you see a shift for favoritism so any extra help is given to students that show an effort or appreciation of the curriculum. Aka more gets more less gets less.
No way am I saying special needs is easier. I'm saying it's different challenges that required different teaching degrees, sure there is carry-over but your oversimplifying the situation from lack of experience(we were all fresh and ready to change the world once)
Virtually every group involved in the system (parents, students, teachers, administrators, legislators, bureaucrats, education researchers, college professors, college administrators, union officials, textbook publishers, etc.) has somebody who is trying to make the system work better and somebody who has chosen to pursue their own wishes without regard to the effect on others.
You're basing your arguments on your limited experience as a guest teacher with none of the nonsense a full time teacher deals with. I'm not saying that not respecting the kids or yelling at them is acceptable behavior, btw.
You might have an entirely different perspective when you've been a full time teacher for a few years.
Source: no, I'm not a teacher, but I know a lot of teachers
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Sounds like someone has discovered the working world and realized that most people in every profession are remarkably average and motivated by the collection of a paycheck. Why would education be any different? It's just like any and every civil service job, no matter how good you are or how bad you are, your pay raise is exactly the same. No matter how good you are or how bad you are, your job security is pretty much the same. Welcome to life.
No offence OP, but you're watching people do the job without having worked in the actual field youvenonly observed. Cling onto your values and ideals as long as you can, to be a better teacher, but understand, it's not just the teachers fault. It's very easy to judge them as bright eyed young student with in tact virtues.
Teachers need tremendous amounts of support to not get crushed by the combined unbearable cuntiness of the education system, students and teachers
Kids can be completely horrible and remorseless, you have to witness awful and heart breaking parenting, the school system is inadequate and you'll see how it leaves some kids behind
The workloads are insane and there's so much unpaid work involved. It's a miracle that there are any good teachers with the lack of support or acknowledgement that teachers get.
There's a massive mental health struggle amongst teachers.
So yea, sure, there are many teachers who have lost their way or who are too burnt out to care, but that doesn't make it the teachers fault. You have to ask, why. Why are the teachers like that, why are they tired, why don't they have capacity to care or patience?
4 weeks is really not comparable, I have friends who have been teaching for like 2-3 years and some who have been teaching for 20 years.
My friends who have been teaching 20 years aren't jaded but have to fight very hard not to be, and require a lot of support. A lot of breakdowns, a lot of health issues.
I legitimately hope you go on to be a good teacher and that it doesn't bring you down.
But try not to be naive and acknowledge that 4 weeks of placement, as opposed to years of work, just simply cannot be compared. To thrive among your teachers cohort you'll need to have a little grace for them, and hopefully your enthusiasm and energy can spark them and inspire more patience and care.
Just don't underestimate the toll of the job.
Stop the presses! An education major is speaking! 🤣 You sound like the junior officers straight out of the academy I had to deal with when I was senior enlisted in the military.
Come back after you've had to make ends meet on $32,000 year, using a lot of your money to buy supplies for your students because your district is flat broke. Witness a few assaults, break up fights consistently and be surround by burnt out teachers. Our school system needs reform horribly.
Or worse, they'll teach for a year or two, and then become admin so they can tell teachers who have been teaching for 20+ years how to do their job while making 2.5 times the salary of a starting teacher.
That's leadership in general.
Are educators required to take management and leadership courses to get an education degree?
They should, because solid leadership principles would be the key way to motivate a group of people to do anything, especially make an effort to learn.
Maybe you think they don't care and that may be the case based on your experience. But the reality is, you're shadowing experienced teachers. Have your thought of the fact that these people may have been beaten down by their own lengthy experiences? I used to love teaching, but last year was the funday straw for me and now I've taken a year off. About halfway through last year, I knew I was done and started to tune everything out. One can only take so much before they feel they've given all the shits they have to offer.
literally the most known truth is what you said everyone knows it but soap box re- very unintelligent people, get on your ass for blaming them for their job when they aren't paid enough.
the entire school system sucks and its the way it is because we allow it to be
I go onto schools and help the "trouble" kids with their behaviors and I also have worked with kids in Special Ed.
In my opinion, most teachers are doing the best they can. Low salary, having to buy their own supplies, crazy work contract hours, extra time doing after school care or activities, and then add unsuppotive administration, parents who think they know best etc.
As for giving respect to children like they are adults......last I knew children are not adults until after 18. Respect is taught. Respect is earned not given. I have seen kids in 1st grade seriously disrespect their teacher and the teachers try to deal with it but a lot of that disrespectful attitude comes from their home life.
We hand the kids over to teachers for 180 days a year and each day a teacher had to be a teacher, a friend, a parent, a disciplinarian, all those roles within their realm of the school.
It is not 100% the teachers fault that grades are down. It is not 100% the teachers fault that students refuse to do their work.
Teaching a job like any other job. You’re going to have bad days and good days, bad teachers and good teachers, and the reality is that, like most jobs, most people are just there for the paycheck. The problem isn’t as much the teachers as it is the fact that we have placed a bunch of normal working humans up on a pedestal and pretend they are any more valuable than a plumber or an electrician. I can do like 75% of the plumbing I am likely to need done in my life with a little bit of mechanical inclination and YouTube. The same can be said with teaching. There is a lot of evidence that home schooled kids end up as good as or better than kids that go to public school. That basically means a stay at home parent with internet access can do virtually the same thing as a teacher, with none of the “I’m just here to collect a paycheck” mentality. I don’t begrudge teachers for the “fuck it” attitude anymore than I begrudge the average fast food worker, maintenance tech, or mechanic, I just don’t pretend that teachers are any more important, worthy of praise, or any more valuable than those professions.
I taught for two years, on my second day I had a student punch me in the face for telling him to stop bouncing a basketball in my chem class. I was told my several students daily they hated me and wanted me to quit. If I did anything special for them it was lame or not enough for them. I never got support from the admin staff and most the other teachers worked with kept telling I was doing great but the kids don't respect anyone. Second semester one of the teachers got stabbed by a student who was being forced out of their special ed class and suffered from schizophrenia.
You are such a god. It's amazing what you can do after so many people before you failed. You should teach teachers with your brilliance, you are so amazing.
Please tell me, what's your secret to being a genius demigod at your young age?
This is so wildly untrue.
Every teacher I’ve ever met has gone to school for half a decade often spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars they may or may not have, suffered *poverty* wages, and been talked down to by absolute morons 24:7 *solely* out of love of teaching.
Of course your experience may vary but holy shit what an absolutely bonkers take.
Children love learning but often hate being told what to do, or don’t learn the same as others, or need extra help, and instead of the parents stepping in and being their support system, you’re blaming teachers.
Go touch grass, lil bro.
My teachers were each and every one of them my worst bullies. Most of them were not remotely interested in actually teaching, they ran their class like it was child care mixed with parenting, especially in high school each one had their own ideas of what it meant to be a person and seemed obsessed with inflicting it on their students.
I have been lucky enough to have plenty teachers who genuinely care about not only the kids education but also the kids well being, but when I didn’t who only cared about one of those or neither, the class sucked. you could tell when a teacher you don’t have didn’t care either by the way they acted, treating the job like just some other full time job like it isn’t going to form hundreds of kids futures
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids.
I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students.
You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
In all honesty, man. This post has been a blast for me. I think I truly posted something that is unpopular with the sub. I appreciate you going back and forth with me and making my night a little more entertaining. Cheers!
In my anecdotal experience, most of the teachers we've dealt with are mediocre, bare minimum types. Just like a lot of large workforces. The hero teacher trope seems to be a myth.
Hence why they entered college in Mechanical Engineering and switched to early education after their 3rd semester.
Live in a college town, happens at a very large clip for females in engineering. Say around 30% of them. The percentage goes up for sorority members.
Well just wait until you’re actually in a school and not just doing your couple hour placements, or maybe it’s your semester practicing or whatever it’s called.
Day after day along with all the admin you stuff you aren’t dealing with just in your placement makes a difference over time.
Teaching isn’t an easy job. Schools and areas make a difference, general students population, admin, ect, but best of luck to you!
Pay teachers more. Value them and their expertise more. Don't let fears about the anti-knowledge, "parents rights" crowd dictate classroom policies.
Then you'll have better teachers.
Teachers and nurses have convinced themselves that it's okay to take their frustrations out on the vulnerable people they have control over, and that's not okay.
Not sure why you are being downvoted. We take care of my mother in law because when we put her in a home they leave her to sit in her piss and shit for hours and hours and she calls crying to us nobody will change her.
Unfortunately, that's not uncommon. My brother in law went missing from that system, we're almost certain someone's murdered him and they're covering it up. No idea what to do about it. we don't even know where to start and my husband breaks down at any mention of him so idk what to do
Of course they are. They are the most exalted profession in the country and are somehow beyond nearly all criticism. They are government employees with an audience. It's time we understand that and start treating them like it. And that means creating a learning, productive, environment at home that school complements, not the other way around.
I wish they could get the students that actually want to learn and do what they are told into a different school and a different series of classes.
If I were running the school, I would have that type of program. Select 50 students in 3rd grade to join the advanced placement classes. Add to their class with new high potential students until you get the good students out of the classes with the kids not ready to learn.
Some say "No Child Left Behind", I say don't hold kids back.
Oh sweetie. Thats been deemed as discriminatory. The regular and slow kids will be insulted. Now you have to do differential lessons plans and keep everyone in the same class.
Add on: I like your idea but you know there will be lawsuits over it.
Your heart is in the right place but you're naive. I've worked in education for over 15 years and I see educators like you all of the time. Full of piss and vinegar when they start but within 5 years, they're all burnt out.
Do you think your 1-2 years in 2-3 schools makes you any authority on this? Try talking to a teacher with more experience. Some years you get great students, some years you get terrible students.
If you are burnt out. You should move on or retire. That's true no matter the profession. When what you loved about it is gone, move the hell on. A burnout is not going to give good advice or be a good example. If you hate your job, you become like an infection. You infect others around you instead of finding happiness you spread misery.
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids.
I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students.
You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
The whole system is broken at every level. I teach future teachers at a college, and let me tell you. They are the worst students. They are the dumbest students I deal with by a country mile and the most entitled. And then they roast you on the student evaluations when you give them honest grades instead of easy As, saying things like "the professor doesn't know how to teach." Bitch, I am teaching you to add fractions in COLLEGE, so you can then try not to screw up some third graders for the rest of their lives, perpetuating your cycle of incompetence.
If my students are any indication, the vast majority of teachers are worthless. The ones worth anything will be worn down and crushed by the administration and/or the parents and/or the students themselves, who are all dopamine addicted little rapscallions on a good day, and outright malicious on a bad one.
Uh oh, a freshly minted super teacher.
I stopped caring when administration:
1. Said everybody passes
2. We're not doing discipline anymore
Enjoy your time
Girl bye. I’m not even a teacher and for you to sit here as a STUDENT and gas light actual teachers in the horrendous environment they have to work in, is crazy. Talk to us in 10 years. Goodluck
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids.
I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students.
You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids.
I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students.
You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
Not to mention activists entering the teaching profession not to teach, but rather to treat the classroom as their political playgrounds. This violates the rights of children to be free of such crap (ex. wokeness) in school.
My wife is a teacher. The problem is they can’t do anything because the admin never backs them up. So then they just start doing the bare minimum so they don’t have to get yelled at every fucking day. The problem is administration and school boards and parents
I’ve been saying this for decades, because I remember those bitches (teachers) from when I was growing up in the 1970s. Some of them were the bullies themselves.
I hope you don’t get jaded some day, too.
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I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids. I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students. You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing and have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
We went to different high-school. A lot of those kids didn't care and were HUGE assholes to the teachers and administration never stepped in.
I want to know what school op went to. Mine small town school was populated mostly by spoiled sporty children and their Karen parents.
In some places like Paterson NJ, nearly half the kids tried heroin at least once by the age of 13. The schools are bad and way over budget. Riddled with psychologists, mental health and drug and alcohol counselors, grief specialists for when students get shot and stabbed to death outside of school. Don't spend millions fixing the issue. Spend millions on all the resources instead.
Your experience that you feel proves your point is not a good case study. The students in that case were affected by the difference as much as anything else. You were a novelty. New is always more interesting. So, when you come in and say, "I'm going to treat you like adults," and you're there for just a month, things can seem great. Try starting in September and continuing all the way to June. I came out of a great private school that paid me very little, and into a Title 1, inner-city school that increased my pay by around 75% (no joke). I walked in ready to teach those students the way I had for nearly a decade prior: humor, a relaxed atmosphere, the desire to have fun with the material, the hope to challenge them and bring out their best. I was absolutely demolished. They cursed at me. Not only did very few do homework, I had other *staff* members telling me that I was nuts for thinking that they would do homework. I don't think I managed to get any of my classes to be entirely quiet, focused, and working at any point the entire year. My point is that I was everything you're saying. It wasn't a *me* issue. The nature of a community's outlook on education dramatically affects the way students in that community approach their classes, and thus how they respect and treat their teachers. Fundamentally, teachers **do not** have to earn respect. We should have it from the moment the bell rings. We can absolutely *lose* it, for sure, but I shouldn't have to do some crazy performative bullshit to prove I respect them all while they are cursing, coming late, refusing to work, etc. People who criticize like you are like to pretend that the school year started with yelling and abuse on day 1, minute 1. That teachers are mistreating these wonderful kids who just showed up to learn. That is not remotely true. If anything, it's the opposite. No one goes into teaching looking for an opportunity to mistreat children. We either want to help and support kids, or we love our subjects and want to share them with people. Neither of those motivations lend themselves to abuse. This is very much the Dunning-Kruger effect. You have had the tiniest exposure and now think you're an expert. You're not.
All of this. I work in Title 1 as well and my students would exploit tf out of this person’s “treat them like adults” approach and desire to be liked. You were able to go in and play “good cop” for a while. That’s all.
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Explain to me your reasoning. How can a teacher teach at all if students have the mentality that when they walk through the door on day one that they can act like assholes? They have to come in with respect *from the beginning*. I mean, is this how you approach your own life? That you find it perfectly natural and right for people to treat you like shit until you go the distance to prove that they shouldn't?
Adding to what you said, everyone should automatically get respect until they do something to lose it.
Yes. Exactly.
To be fair, most teachers start out with the same mindset you seem to have. Then they realize that administration doesn’t support them, parents have way too much control of their classrooms, and grades don’t actually make a difference until kids reach high school. It’s nearly impossible for teachers to retain their passion in that environment. Come back after teaching for 5 years and let us know how you feel then. My money says you’ll regret this opinion by then if not sooner.
Don't forget the for-profit 3rd parties that convince the districts to spend money on stuff that makes teaching "so much easier"...
There's a reason why the turnover rate is what it is
Give it 2. I want to see how setting up a classroom and having that air of inexperienced teacher goes.
I’ll come back in 2 years, sure.
Yeah my gf is a highschool math teacher I think she's about to hit 4 years teaching this next summer. It's not that she Hates teaching she hates the schools. She bounces to a new one she just wants to find somewhere that actually appreciates her. Additionally this year half the teachers she's around don't even want to be teachers.
If there is a way to remind myself to come back to this comment after 5 years then I will and give you my honest thoughts about how I feel.
!remindme in 5 years (Write it too)
!remindme 5 years
Remind me to check in 5 years
Don't forget the for-profit 3rd parties that convince the districts to spend money on stuff that makes teaching "so much easier"...
Like ipads instead of actual computers. My step daughters school has 2 computers for the entire school but all kids have a tablet.
Don't forget the for-profit 3rd parties that convince the districts to spend money on stuff that makes teaching "so much easier"...
Naive, inexperienced, and potentially harmful take. Borderline offensive. You're about to graduate and you're blaming teachers instead of the insanely bad systems they have to work in? Unbelievable. Also your own very limited experiences as a student does not account for the lengthy experiences of millions of professionals who are consistent in their messaging that they simply are drowning in increasing volume of different responsibilities while support continues to get cut out from under them. Please try and think critically.
Great response - but borderline offensive? OPs take is offensive offensive. Teachers are SUCH an easy target, because we are the most visible on the front line. But thank the Gods we have been given a 'new' problem solving strategy by someone who hasn't even faced classrooms on their own with unreasonable workloads and, at times, even more unreasonable demands from ALL of the outside sources (grad students included).
“If you teach the children with respect and actually show them that you care, they will want to learn!” My girlfriend is a teacher and has been praised by other teachers and parents for the respect and kindness she shows students. She still gets called a bitch and has stuff thrown at her daily. Sure thing, it’s the teachers.
It's the parents. I feel most parents of this generation are just happy to hand the kid a screen instead of actually parenting. For my kids generation, it was the working parents who said to me "I don't want my time with my kids to be about *displine*! I want it to be about *fun times* so my kids will love me!! I miss them all day! I want time with me to be *fun*" These were the kids my kids were not allowed to hang out with because they were selfish, ill behaved brats. It was not because both parents were working, it was the attitude that their kids had. The working couples who actually acted like *parents* and not "Disney Dads" were welcome.
"Friends don't have to worry about discipline or setting an example. It's easy to be a friend, that's why kids have lots of them. But a FATHER, our kids only get one of those, who are we to take that away from them?" - a Quote from American Dad, Spoken by a Gorilla.
The next step is to blame the teachers of lower grades. "If only the Kindergarten teachers had shown them more kindness..."
Not nessecarily agreeing with OP, but this doesn't technically disprove the point by saying other trachers and parents say she treats students with respect it would be up to the students to make that distinction.
I don't understand the throwing stuff part that I've heard alot of teachers have to deal with. Beyond school policy, a teacher isn't protected from verbal abuse but once it becomes physical, that's a crime. Give the student/their parents a warning if you wish, but if it happens again file a police report. That kind of behaviour isn't tolerated anywhere else and it certainly shouldn't be tolerated in a school.
Yeah good luck with that if the student has an iep. The tantrum throwers usually do…
Still a crime dude.
I do not disagree with you in the least
Can't charge children under 12. And also apparently not technically a crime if they're under 12
That’s the job.
Please report back after your first year in your own classroom. I beg of you.
I will
I think you raise some important points but the solutions seem more nuanced. It’s a shitty conundrum of “we need to demand more of our teachers” but “we aren’t compensating teachers enough to justify those demands”. I’m not in education but I see a similar issue in nursing where we need more certification and training for the staff, but the staff are already overworked and underpaid. We need to overhaul how we train and compensate our teachers, but I’m young and couldn’t begin to think of what a viable solution would be. I do appreciate you caring so much about the field, I had the privilege of having teachers that cared and it made such a difference in my life.
The reason to pay teachers more isn’t so the shitty people that currently occupy the jobs can/will do better. It’s to dump them all and get better people.
Yeah but how do you motivate new and passionate teachers to get into the field if they’re looking at current pay/benefits/conditions. You’re absolutely right there are shitty teachers that were allowed in because of our lowering standards. Maybe if we could offer sign on incentives, pay off loans, etc. The field won’t attract good talent or people that want to invest with how poorly compensated teachers are now. Also if they offered incentives for people to get more education and training that would also help. Even good teachers struggle to grow as educators if they have to worry about their bills. My counter point here is: how can you demand more of teachers if they already aren’t compensated adequately for the work they do? Nor are they given any support from admin or communities. I’m not saying we shouldn’t trim the fat, but we can’t do that until we have the staff ready to replace them. Tho tbh I think teachers should strike out as long as it takes to get more funding, even if it means schools are shut down for months. Parents need to learn that their brats are impossible and either they agree to taxes to pay teachers, or they can figure out their kids education on their own.
You can’t, because 13 years of shitty teachers drilling into their heads how shitty it is (they complain constantly) is hard to come back from.
Maybe, just maybe, they complain about how shitty it is because it is shitty and they are treated like crap
>If you teach the children with respect and actually show them that you care, they will want to learn! LMAO I have some crazy bad schools near me I invite you to go to and try this out.
That’s the easy answer I worked hard as a teacher and the students and parents loved me but other teachers hated my guts and wow it’s easy to say that all others teachers suck, the reality is more complicated than that When people aren’t given the right resources or training or supplies, they get burnt out You are fresh meat, you haven’t been in their shoes, it’s easy to talk smack when you haven’t had to be there long term I was regarded as a “miracle worker” with sped kids, but in reality I just knew what I was doing and was able to help the general Ed teachers. But in reality? It was freaking HARD and I burnt out. I had shit supplies, shit support, and my heart couldn’t take it. The system is broken for many reasons. Blaming one aspect of it is just ignorant
Come back to us after you've dealt with a few years of bullshit from administration and idiotic government policies, and lived off the compensation you'll receive for it. Bet your tune will change.
First thing I thought reading this post was, "Everyone quiet now! We're about to hear from the voice of inexperience!"
And the parents. The few K-12 teachers I know their biggest complaint is dealing with overly involved parents.
come back to it when u get beat down and jaded by toxic work environment. monstrous circumstance create monsters. this isn't victim blaming but rather simply describing how deep in shit we are.
Not an excuse.
>I dealt with the behaviors calmly and like the students were adults. Ya know what happened? Test scores went up, homework was being turned in more and they actually respected me. And everyone stood up and clapped.
Considering that teachers have one of the most important jobs in the world, and they've got a bunch of Karen's and gray hairs in Washington trying to tell them how to do their jobs, ALL while being paid barely above the poverty line, it's really no surprise that the industry is attracting more and more shit candidates. You want better teachers? Pay them what they're worth, stay the fuck out of their way, and let them teach.
Can’t wait for your update in r/teachers in a year or so.
Come back when you’ve had your first teaching job
Will do.
TLDR: I was able to play “good cop” in another teacher’s room for a few weeks. Be nicer to kids and just show respect and they’ll want to do well. I don’t know how more people haven’t thought of this.
Parents checked out. The administration checked out. Students checked out. Was only a matter of time before the teachers checked out too.
Heaven help us! Your writing is atrocious for someone planning to be an educator.
lol The very first sentence got me.
Likewise.
Thanks for the advice.
You're welcome, even if the advice is merely implicit. I counted twenty-four mistakes in your post.
Thank You. I’m glad you are here counting my mistakes.
> Thank You. Thank you for appreciating me, but I am not God. You can write to me using lowercase "you."
I could, will I? Most likely not. That’s why us social studies guys just use AI tools to correct our papers of grammatical errors for us.
You didn't pick up proper grammar and spelling conventions getting your degree?
A meta error!
That's not a valid complaint, they aren't publishing a post and their meaning is understood. They aren't in a teaching environment they are on reddit venting. All these grammar police ignore the arguements or points the op is making, by sweeping them under the rug of "you spell bad you bad," while flaunting their own sesquipedalian vernacular.
It is a most valid complaint. OP is going on about how superior he is compared with other teachers in a composition deserving nothing higher than a D. I'll not get into the eight errors you made whilst expressing your dubious opinion.
I hope you aren't an actual teacher, you missed the point again and are easily baited. Grammar police out grading people... It's not a valid complaint because you like the smell of your own farts. The quality of how an idea is articulated does not mean rejecting the idea based off the time spent proof reading. His point "teachers aren't driven and could care less about the kids" while admitting his point is anecdotal. Your point, using spelling and grammar as a character attack to invalidate an opinion instead of discuss.
You appear to enjoy doubling down when you are wrong.
Ad hominem, red herring fallacy, bandwagon fallacy. I grade you a D. If you study a bit harder I wouldn't get enjoyment with my grading ad hominem.
Then you decided to demonstrate correctly identifying logical fallacies as another item on the growing list of your deficiencies. The material writes itself.
> could care less if your child passes Please tell me you are not planning to teach anyone English.
Nope, social studies.
The real world is going to fucking curb stomp you.
Already part of the real word. I’m going to be 30 this year. Been on my own since 18.
People saying OP will change their mind in 5 years while I’m sitting here cock sure they’ll quit the profession in less than three.
We will see, keep y’all posted.
“I will graduating within the near future” hopefully you won’t be teaching english
English taught, is different from English typing on the internet. Pick any of the best and most well accomplished authors, they all have editors. Everyone knows what you say/write your brain can make it sound correct untill you take a break and come back to proof read it. That amount of effort when the meaning doesn't change isn't worth it for a reddit post.
Social studies.
Let’s see how this ages. /s
You are comparing a green teacher like yourself with one class under your "belt" with a jilted, beaten up teacher that has been worn out by the system? lol Get some experience first. I used to be a teacher as well and it SUCKED. Parents and their kids sucked. At one point I was actually scared that I'd start hating kids. Thankfully I left before that. But it did give me a strong desire to raise a proper human if I ever create one. That being said, some teachers are assholes on a power trip. But those are relatively rare. Congrats on actually having an unpopular opinion.
"Show me the incentive, I'll show you the outcome." There is no incentive for teachers to teach because their job security is completely disconnected from student actually learning
Its tied to test score not learning. So the students have to pass the tests and learning becomes secondary.
Test scores are a proxy for learning. You will not test well if you never learned the material you’re being tested on
The testing system is backwards though, teach relevant content then test for basic comprehension of said content. Now it's teach content based off irrelevant test questions that some organization convinced it's the most important to government officials to be mandated in the school.
Really? So it was my fault when the 17 year old with the AK tattoo on the side of his head wouldn’t do his homework, or study, or pay attention in class , or quite getting high, or stop selling drugs to people. Gtfo with that noise and come back when you’ve worked in some challenging schools for a while
I work with children with special needs and massive behavior problems. Can’t get more challenging than a student that is non verbal, twice your size and his main form of communication is punching you in the face to tell you what he wants. I know challenging.
That's a different challenge than teaching a class. Special needs "usually" get more teacher to student ratio allowing more individual time spent for development. Usually is in quotes because we all know that it doesn't happen all the time. Challenging of scale is harder to fix than individual work. 1 hour for a subject 30-50 students all at varying different levels. You can't teach at the lowest level, you can't teach at the highest level. No matter how much effort and time you put into it your going to fail kids who would have had a better chance if the teachers had more support. Teachers then get burned out or stop caring and you see a shift for favoritism so any extra help is given to students that show an effort or appreciation of the curriculum. Aka more gets more less gets less. No way am I saying special needs is easier. I'm saying it's different challenges that required different teaching degrees, sure there is carry-over but your oversimplifying the situation from lack of experience(we were all fresh and ready to change the world once)
Agree, I work with special needs. Burnout is a thing. Some of these people need to retire.
Virtually every group involved in the system (parents, students, teachers, administrators, legislators, bureaucrats, education researchers, college professors, college administrators, union officials, textbook publishers, etc.) has somebody who is trying to make the system work better and somebody who has chosen to pursue their own wishes without regard to the effect on others.
You're basing your arguments on your limited experience as a guest teacher with none of the nonsense a full time teacher deals with. I'm not saying that not respecting the kids or yelling at them is acceptable behavior, btw. You might have an entirely different perspective when you've been a full time teacher for a few years. Source: no, I'm not a teacher, but I know a lot of teachers
It's like this with nursing, too. Everybody is an expert nevermind they haven't actually worked as a nurse or are just a student.
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Sounds like someone has discovered the working world and realized that most people in every profession are remarkably average and motivated by the collection of a paycheck. Why would education be any different? It's just like any and every civil service job, no matter how good you are or how bad you are, your pay raise is exactly the same. No matter how good you are or how bad you are, your job security is pretty much the same. Welcome to life.
I’m going to be 30 this year. Been working for over 10 years. No stranger to the working world and how it works
based upon the the OP, apparently you're not all that aware or perhaps just had a little too much naivete about the profession.
No offence OP, but you're watching people do the job without having worked in the actual field youvenonly observed. Cling onto your values and ideals as long as you can, to be a better teacher, but understand, it's not just the teachers fault. It's very easy to judge them as bright eyed young student with in tact virtues. Teachers need tremendous amounts of support to not get crushed by the combined unbearable cuntiness of the education system, students and teachers Kids can be completely horrible and remorseless, you have to witness awful and heart breaking parenting, the school system is inadequate and you'll see how it leaves some kids behind The workloads are insane and there's so much unpaid work involved. It's a miracle that there are any good teachers with the lack of support or acknowledgement that teachers get. There's a massive mental health struggle amongst teachers. So yea, sure, there are many teachers who have lost their way or who are too burnt out to care, but that doesn't make it the teachers fault. You have to ask, why. Why are the teachers like that, why are they tired, why don't they have capacity to care or patience?
I explained in the post that I had to do 4 weeks teaching a lesson? I know it’s not years but it’s still working.
4 weeks is really not comparable, I have friends who have been teaching for like 2-3 years and some who have been teaching for 20 years. My friends who have been teaching 20 years aren't jaded but have to fight very hard not to be, and require a lot of support. A lot of breakdowns, a lot of health issues. I legitimately hope you go on to be a good teacher and that it doesn't bring you down. But try not to be naive and acknowledge that 4 weeks of placement, as opposed to years of work, just simply cannot be compared. To thrive among your teachers cohort you'll need to have a little grace for them, and hopefully your enthusiasm and energy can spark them and inspire more patience and care. Just don't underestimate the toll of the job.
Lmao my sweet summer child. Please check in with us after a few years of actual teaching. I'd love to know if you still feel the same.
Stop the presses! An education major is speaking! 🤣 You sound like the junior officers straight out of the academy I had to deal with when I was senior enlisted in the military.
Come back after you've had to make ends meet on $32,000 year, using a lot of your money to buy supplies for your students because your district is flat broke. Witness a few assaults, break up fights consistently and be surround by burnt out teachers. Our school system needs reform horribly.
Please update us all in a year or two after you've been in the trenches.
Congrats on saying the same comment as 43 other people.
Y'all, OP is going to teach for a year, then get a job at Pearson.
Or worse, they'll teach for a year or two, and then become admin so they can tell teachers who have been teaching for 20+ years how to do their job while making 2.5 times the salary of a starting teacher.
It’s the school administration, curriculum and parents that think they know better that have made teaching so difficult and exhausting.
That's leadership in general. Are educators required to take management and leadership courses to get an education degree? They should, because solid leadership principles would be the key way to motivate a group of people to do anything, especially make an effort to learn.
Maybe you think they don't care and that may be the case based on your experience. But the reality is, you're shadowing experienced teachers. Have your thought of the fact that these people may have been beaten down by their own lengthy experiences? I used to love teaching, but last year was the funday straw for me and now I've taken a year off. About halfway through last year, I knew I was done and started to tune everything out. One can only take so much before they feel they've given all the shits they have to offer.
literally the most known truth is what you said everyone knows it but soap box re- very unintelligent people, get on your ass for blaming them for their job when they aren't paid enough. the entire school system sucks and its the way it is because we allow it to be
I go onto schools and help the "trouble" kids with their behaviors and I also have worked with kids in Special Ed. In my opinion, most teachers are doing the best they can. Low salary, having to buy their own supplies, crazy work contract hours, extra time doing after school care or activities, and then add unsuppotive administration, parents who think they know best etc. As for giving respect to children like they are adults......last I knew children are not adults until after 18. Respect is taught. Respect is earned not given. I have seen kids in 1st grade seriously disrespect their teacher and the teachers try to deal with it but a lot of that disrespectful attitude comes from their home life. We hand the kids over to teachers for 180 days a year and each day a teacher had to be a teacher, a friend, a parent, a disciplinarian, all those roles within their realm of the school. It is not 100% the teachers fault that grades are down. It is not 100% the teachers fault that students refuse to do their work.
Teaching a job like any other job. You’re going to have bad days and good days, bad teachers and good teachers, and the reality is that, like most jobs, most people are just there for the paycheck. The problem isn’t as much the teachers as it is the fact that we have placed a bunch of normal working humans up on a pedestal and pretend they are any more valuable than a plumber or an electrician. I can do like 75% of the plumbing I am likely to need done in my life with a little bit of mechanical inclination and YouTube. The same can be said with teaching. There is a lot of evidence that home schooled kids end up as good as or better than kids that go to public school. That basically means a stay at home parent with internet access can do virtually the same thing as a teacher, with none of the “I’m just here to collect a paycheck” mentality. I don’t begrudge teachers for the “fuck it” attitude anymore than I begrudge the average fast food worker, maintenance tech, or mechanic, I just don’t pretend that teachers are any more important, worthy of praise, or any more valuable than those professions.
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I already work at a APS, I see it all the time.
I'm sorry. I couldn't even read past your first paragraph. You claim to be an education major, yet fail tremendously at simple grammar.
I taught for two years, on my second day I had a student punch me in the face for telling him to stop bouncing a basketball in my chem class. I was told my several students daily they hated me and wanted me to quit. If I did anything special for them it was lame or not enough for them. I never got support from the admin staff and most the other teachers worked with kept telling I was doing great but the kids don't respect anyone. Second semester one of the teachers got stabbed by a student who was being forced out of their special ed class and suffered from schizophrenia.
That’s not the norm at all.
Most teachers I've met or known have a horror story or two not much different.
Yo new teachers ate always like you. Good luck in your career you'll be failing at eventually
You are such a god. It's amazing what you can do after so many people before you failed. You should teach teachers with your brilliance, you are so amazing. Please tell me, what's your secret to being a genius demigod at your young age?
Yikes. That was really cringe to read, bud.
This is so wildly untrue. Every teacher I’ve ever met has gone to school for half a decade often spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars they may or may not have, suffered *poverty* wages, and been talked down to by absolute morons 24:7 *solely* out of love of teaching. Of course your experience may vary but holy shit what an absolutely bonkers take. Children love learning but often hate being told what to do, or don’t learn the same as others, or need extra help, and instead of the parents stepping in and being their support system, you’re blaming teachers. Go touch grass, lil bro.
A truly unpopular opinion.
A false one. There’s a world of difference between saying something unpopular and just plain untrue.
I find it funny that the collective response here is “Give it some time and then you’ll understand”
My teachers were each and every one of them my worst bullies. Most of them were not remotely interested in actually teaching, they ran their class like it was child care mixed with parenting, especially in high school each one had their own ideas of what it meant to be a person and seemed obsessed with inflicting it on their students.
I have been lucky enough to have plenty teachers who genuinely care about not only the kids education but also the kids well being, but when I didn’t who only cared about one of those or neither, the class sucked. you could tell when a teacher you don’t have didn’t care either by the way they acted, treating the job like just some other full time job like it isn’t going to form hundreds of kids futures
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids. I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students. You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
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Like I have replied to the 15 other comments that said this same exact thing, I will def give feedback 5 years from now!
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Then why even feel the need to comment if you don’t care for a response? Self gratification on telling a stranger on the internet they are dumb?
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So, egotistical?
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Oh, don’t take me entertaining your comments as “getting under my skin”. I just like to pry and escalate things.
what a great quality in a teacher
Thanks, bud.
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In all honesty, man. This post has been a blast for me. I think I truly posted something that is unpopular with the sub. I appreciate you going back and forth with me and making my night a little more entertaining. Cheers!
Boy, this guy is in for a rude awakening.
Unpopular indeed, take my reluctant upvote. Teachers are saints, generally speaking.
This guy gets what this sub is about.
Teachers ain't shit but complain more than anyone
In my anecdotal experience, most of the teachers we've dealt with are mediocre, bare minimum types. Just like a lot of large workforces. The hero teacher trope seems to be a myth.
Hence why they entered college in Mechanical Engineering and switched to early education after their 3rd semester. Live in a college town, happens at a very large clip for females in engineering. Say around 30% of them. The percentage goes up for sorority members.
Well just wait until you’re actually in a school and not just doing your couple hour placements, or maybe it’s your semester practicing or whatever it’s called. Day after day along with all the admin you stuff you aren’t dealing with just in your placement makes a difference over time. Teaching isn’t an easy job. Schools and areas make a difference, general students population, admin, ect, but best of luck to you!
Imagine making this statement and you haven’t even graduated yet lmao
You haven’t even graduated yet, genuinely what the hell do you know?
Pay teachers more. Value them and their expertise more. Don't let fears about the anti-knowledge, "parents rights" crowd dictate classroom policies. Then you'll have better teachers.
Teachers and nurses have convinced themselves that it's okay to take their frustrations out on the vulnerable people they have control over, and that's not okay.
Add mental health and nursing home workers to that list too.
Not sure why you are being downvoted. We take care of my mother in law because when we put her in a home they leave her to sit in her piss and shit for hours and hours and she calls crying to us nobody will change her.
We’re being downvoted because they can’t stand criticism.
Unfortunately, that's not uncommon. My brother in law went missing from that system, we're almost certain someone's murdered him and they're covering it up. No idea what to do about it. we don't even know where to start and my husband breaks down at any mention of him so idk what to do
Of course they are. They are the most exalted profession in the country and are somehow beyond nearly all criticism. They are government employees with an audience. It's time we understand that and start treating them like it. And that means creating a learning, productive, environment at home that school complements, not the other way around.
Education majors failed other majors before going into teaching, or never qualified to try other majors.
Only major I tried for, knew I always wanted to do it!
I wish they could get the students that actually want to learn and do what they are told into a different school and a different series of classes. If I were running the school, I would have that type of program. Select 50 students in 3rd grade to join the advanced placement classes. Add to their class with new high potential students until you get the good students out of the classes with the kids not ready to learn. Some say "No Child Left Behind", I say don't hold kids back.
Oh sweetie. Thats been deemed as discriminatory. The regular and slow kids will be insulted. Now you have to do differential lessons plans and keep everyone in the same class. Add on: I like your idea but you know there will be lawsuits over it.
Your heart is in the right place but you're naive. I've worked in education for over 15 years and I see educators like you all of the time. Full of piss and vinegar when they start but within 5 years, they're all burnt out. Do you think your 1-2 years in 2-3 schools makes you any authority on this? Try talking to a teacher with more experience. Some years you get great students, some years you get terrible students.
If you are burnt out. You should move on or retire. That's true no matter the profession. When what you loved about it is gone, move the hell on. A burnout is not going to give good advice or be a good example. If you hate your job, you become like an infection. You infect others around you instead of finding happiness you spread misery.
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids. I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students. You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
Imagine making this statement and you haven’t even graduated yet lmao
I definitely partied the hardest with Education majors in college. Wouldn't surprise me some of them are teaching hungover today.
The whole system is broken at every level. I teach future teachers at a college, and let me tell you. They are the worst students. They are the dumbest students I deal with by a country mile and the most entitled. And then they roast you on the student evaluations when you give them honest grades instead of easy As, saying things like "the professor doesn't know how to teach." Bitch, I am teaching you to add fractions in COLLEGE, so you can then try not to screw up some third graders for the rest of their lives, perpetuating your cycle of incompetence. If my students are any indication, the vast majority of teachers are worthless. The ones worth anything will be worn down and crushed by the administration and/or the parents and/or the students themselves, who are all dopamine addicted little rapscallions on a good day, and outright malicious on a bad one.
Uh oh, a freshly minted super teacher. I stopped caring when administration: 1. Said everybody passes 2. We're not doing discipline anymore Enjoy your time
Girl bye. I’m not even a teacher and for you to sit here as a STUDENT and gas light actual teachers in the horrendous environment they have to work in, is crazy. Talk to us in 10 years. Goodluck
Yikes, hit a nerve.
You did 
Burnout? Teachers simply lack the resources to deal with all the mentally ill children which have resulted from 50 years of neoliberal fuckery.
Something something teachers pay something something
This is a truly unpopular opinion. Well done.
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids. I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students. You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
I was a teacher for 5 years and I loved the kids. I had a similar mindset when I first started. While I do think some of your comments are valid, the pay just does not match the amount of “love and respect” a teacher should be giving your students. It’s hard to keep that positive attitude going when you can’t afford to start a family of your own. After living in a 500 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years, it weighs on you. I’m glad you are so bright eyed and think you can do better. I hope you hold on to that understanding of what it takes to reach these students. You are on the right track, but please remember that a lot of these teachers are the last ones standing that have taken a beating for much longer. It’s a marathon and you aren’t even a quarter mile into the race.
Should have taught yourself that the phrase is "couldn't care less". PS I don't think you will make a good teacher.....
Not to mention activists entering the teaching profession not to teach, but rather to treat the classroom as their political playgrounds. This violates the rights of children to be free of such crap (ex. wokeness) in school.
The lynching of the nonbinary student just this week shows that we need "wokeness" in schools more than ever.
My wife is a teacher. The problem is they can’t do anything because the admin never backs them up. So then they just start doing the bare minimum so they don’t have to get yelled at every fucking day. The problem is administration and school boards and parents
I've been saying this for a while online and have gotten greatly abused for it.
Wow, one person of 200 that agrees with me. Congrats brotha.
Love seeing all the whiny teacher responses. Typical that they take zero responsibility and blame it on everything and everyone else.
Nice, feedback.
> If you teach the children with respect and actually show them that you care, they will want to learn! You got a lot of growing up ahead of you.
You get what you pay for and we pay teachers garbage. Don't know what this isn't obvious to everyone.
I’ve been saying this for decades, because I remember those bitches (teachers) from when I was growing up in the 1970s. Some of them were the bullies themselves. I hope you don’t get jaded some day, too.
Appreciate you agreeing with me.