Teachers in our World

I am a teacher in the public school system here in the United States. Teachers face many pressures and stress working with teen age students. Teachers are also not generally supported my parents, administrators, other staff, or the public in general. T

Teachers in our world
 

Teachers As taxpayers we want the following from our public school teachers: 1) They must correct disruptive behaviors, although parents aren't doing that at home, 2) Observe the kids for signs of abuse and face the loss of employment if they miss any 'obvious' abuse, 3) Monitor the kids dress habits and instruct them to change if something is offensive to someone else, why are they leaving the house with those clothes? 4) instill in them a love for learning, although each kid in the class of 30 has to be treated as 'an individual', 5) check their backbacks for weapons, although this could put the teacher themselves in jeopardy, 6) raise the sense of self esteem and personal pride in these students, (how are families doing with this assignment?), 7) They make sure that students pass state exams but teachers face possible dismissal if students don't succeed in those tests, 8) provide students with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, 9) communicate regularly with parents in English and Spanish by letter, phone call, email, conferences, online, report cards, and web pages, 10) Teachers are expected to succeed at all these things all the while the public complains that 'education is a black hole' in the state budgets and as a consequence a teachers beginning salary qualifies them for food stamps. And... Teachers are asked to do all of the above while not being allowed to pray in school! Is there something wrong with this picture?

Author's Note

Please think about this important issue and let me know your thoughtful comments. DO NOT just tell me what school was like when you personally attended, but instead tell me what you think of this societal issue.

Reviews

[Yuvia Chairez]

In my country prayer in school has not been allowed since the early 1900's. I've been a teacher for over 10 years in all branches of the school system (elementary, high school, and now I am a college professor). The problem I see here is the serious detachment that parents seem to have on their kids: parents who are not aware of what their kids are doing, watching, talking about or thinking about because they're too busy living their own adult lives. They think teachers are here to guide their kids when the real guides are they (as parents). Parents are not parents anymore: they have become their kid's FRIEND. I would say that teachers are supposed to to all of the above while receiving a s****y salary and working under s****y conditions most of the time.

[N. N. Grainger]

i live in england,
Firstly i'm pretty sure my teachers would be allowed to say a prayer if they wanted to.
The press will do their best to make out that our schools are in the same situation as yours are, but it simply isn't true in any schools appart from massive cities. It seems that here all of the complaining is done by people who don't actually know what school is like and are too ignorant to even try to understand modern youth. I think if the schools took a leaf out of my school's (which i just left) book then it might be possible to aid schools like yours. i think the problems start when schools are too big. In cities and in the states it seems that the vast majority of highschools are massive, the high school i attended took on a maximum of 800 pupils aiming for 150 in each year group and extra for the sixth formers. i think wht the schools need is too be closer to the community and the staff need to be closer to the students and have a more sympathetic relationship and this cannot happen in huge schools where nobody knows each other. the school is there for the pupils not for the government i think its important that students know their teachers and have respect for them and i dont think that is possible if they only see them once in a blue moon because they go to a massive school. At my school there was a lovely atmosphere between the majority of staff and pupils mostly between the older pupils though, i think it all has a knock on effect, you start off with teachers that stop caring because their children misbehave, then because the teacher doesn't give a **** their behavior gets worse and so does their work then their grades. i think that if the class sizes were to be cut down and there could be a better relationship between teacher and pupil that involves trust more than anything and the pupils have to know that if they are willing to learn they will be taught and taught well. I went to a school devoted to its pupils and the pupils knew it and were and still are proud to be part of their school because they were treated as individuals as well as equals and weren't patronised and treated like the stereotyical image that we get of people my age. Its almost like, they don't hate us for being students, so we don't hate them for being teachers. If students have a good relationship with their teachers and can have an adult conversation with them and enjoy their company as well as know who is in charge. teachers need to know that they are valued by their school and their students, they are just as important i think. A lot of kids need to wake up and smell the coffe and realise that teachers dont come into a school full of young people because they enjoy shouting at them for a living, I just left an awesome school, i had a good set of teachers and four especially great teachers that were so dedicated to me and my classmates education, I'm missing them already, and one of them was so much of an inspiration that she has inspired me to become an english teacher myself (in england teachers get paid well usually �20-25,000 starting salery i dunno what that is in dollars) so to concude my rather huge ramble schools need to be smaller and treated as communities not institutions for the benefit of both staff and students that is where society is going wrong and you guys deserve a lot more pay for what you have to put up with, also when it comes to legal things teachers should get the upper hand say if a student accused them of touching them because lets face it who is more likely to make a story like that up out of malice? a professional or a misguided, attention seeking kid? ok mahussive talk over now i shall leave you in thoughts and peace, good luck with your teaching and students dude the question to ask now is are things going to get better or can they only get worse?
nat