Many of you know I'm an author, a writer, and of course, a blogger. I make my living writing, so I don't actually have to be in the classroom teaching 13-14 year olds how to spell, write, read better, and what to do with dangling participles. I could, if I wanted to, just stay at home and lounge about the place, petting my dog, sleeping in with said dog, and enjoying my morning coffee with any of my retired neighbors who I've had the priviledge to live near for years upon years. I'm about to hit 60 and I'm the younger of the crowd. I like my peeps, so having coffee in the mornings with one or two of them would be a far better gig than what it is that I've agreed (and contracted) myself to do. I'm teaching again. God only knows why.
Year after year I decide I'll give it up, never do it again, and I dust my hands free of the muck and nonsense thrown at me from that present year's crop of young ones who either decide they're just too cool for education, or they can't actually spell education and they make excuses for why they don't ever need to be able to. I should have and could have walked away any number of times, but as my son likes to remind me, I am the teacher. I have to be in the room leading. Someone has to do it, and he's not willing to trade me jobs. I would however love to see our military men and women deciding to (after they get out of the service) become teachers of young mushy brains; it really would be a good thing for both sides of that equation.
I wrote this blog about an hour ago and I really let go of my actual feelings, emotions, and observations! I really let it out there, almost screaming through my keyboard about how parents send their kids to school not only completely unprepared for the day, but also with that ever so present chip set firmly on their shoulders to the point that we teachers have to deal with angst, rebellion, misfortune, child abuse, neglect, and apparent famine. We deal with homelessness, suicide attempts, emotionally depressed, anxiety, hatred, bias, transgender issues, sexual misconduct, and that's before we get to education! I'm sick of it. I'm fed up and I'm damn well tired of seeing these kids dropped off without any inkling of a clue as to how to behave in public places, or how to be civil when spoken to by a person of authority. Parents, far more than the kids, are responsible for the fighting and the misconduct of the students I see on a daily basis. We can't punish children these days, but if we could I'd like to turn back the clocks about 20 years because though we had issues before 9/11, we really saw changes in the behavior and performance of students right around that time.
The kids who were graduating in 2002 were about 18 about 19 years ago. That makes them about 37 and most of them have kids that are in middle school to high school age now. For the past two decades we teachers have had to work under mandates that are absolutely impossible to achieve. George Bush had the "No Child Left Behind" crap that meant you passed a kid even if he or she couldn't read or write. You found an excuse or reason to move them forward to the next level, and eventually not only were children left far far behind, they were shoved out the door without being able to read, write, communicate, or do basic Algebra. We allowed them to flood our junior colleges because they didn't have the grades to make the cut at the colleges, until the Obamas came along and said that what the colleges were doing was discriminating. Not allowing students into their universities with poor grades; somehow that was racist, and the doors of higher education were opened to anyone and everyone, thus lessening what a degree really means.
After two decades of programs like Common Core, and mandates like No Child Left Behind, it is no wonder that the state of Oklahoma is usually number 47 out of 50 states in terms of ranking of academic performance. I know I have students who can't speak or read English and I'm asked to let them do their best. I can't speak Spanish, Arabic, Chinese or any other language well enough to translate my lessons. I can, if I had the time, translate them through digital means, but again, I don't have time to do that when I'm already pressed for time to get the regular work produced, passed out, collected, graded, and put into the system. At our district the teachers have to cover for other teachers because we can't find enough subs. We can't find subs because the pay is too low. No one will work for under $10/hour and they shouldn't be expected to put themselves into a potential dangerzone for that pay anyway. Would most of the readers do it? I can't find anyone to trade jobs with me usually. I've asked several people if they want to teach English in an urban setting for what I'm paid. No one has taken up the challenge, but let me tell you, if they wanted to they couldn't. I had to get a degree to do this job, and I had to have experience to keep it.
Today, teachers deal with (I say abuse) treatment from administration not wanting to follow up with discipline, but only because they have way too many kids to follow up with. They just have to cut them loose at some point with a stern word because they can't even actually slap the wrists. Those days are gone. Teachers deal with treatment from other teachers who are stressed and unable to meet plans and PLC times due to subbing for other teachers. While we sub the other teachers don't usually have work set out, or enough work, and we're forced to deal with unruly students for several minutes. They have iPads, they could just get on them for Reading Plus, but you know they weren't charged, or they don't work, or they can't find them, they left them at home, it's a daily event, hour after hour. Teachers are given the treatment by students who don't show up on time, don't follow dress code, smell like pot, beer, or are just too dirty to let them into the room. We have students who don't bring supplies (94%) or they don't want to comply with basic rules. They constantly disrupt class during lecture, asking questions, and making demands. I'm being tame right now. I'm not going into much detail for obvious reasons. We teachers aren't really allowed to discuss such things on social media.
This day, this very day, we had teenagers flooding the toilets, pulling soap dispensers off the walls, plugging up fountains, peeing in the water fountains and on the floor. We had a kid spit on the floor next to the trash can for no reason and when he was asked he said he wanted to spread COVID. This is what we deal with. We have students who can't and won't speak English, they refuse. We have kids who want to do so, but they are limited, and we do the best we can, but the state expects miracles and that is just not going to happen with 33 kids in a classroom. Sorry. You gotta get better expectations is all I can say about that.
This week we had a fight going on in the hallways while the kids were testing. The fight was two cousins, girls, both screaming and yelling because their mutual grandma had paid for one girl to have her hair weaved and not the other girl. That's a family issue, not a school issue, but we had blood in the hallway over it, and we had another student pushed into a locker who was just walking past the two girls who were fighting. I was personally cussed out three times this week, and it's only Wednesday. When a kid cusses at us we are supposed to take them to the office. I do that, but seems I am really the only teacher doing such things. The others decided to take care of it inhouse, so there I am being THAT teacher and now I'm going to have to stop doing what I'm supposed to do in order to get along with my colleages unless I want to stand out, not be invited to meetings, not be updated, not be involved, not be included. Do you see what I'm saying? It's not the easiest of professions, is it?
I usually take off a year, rest, travel, live abroad, stay in my wonderful world (Scotland) and just chill before I come back and face another year of overt challenges that I swear I won't face again. I face them because I know they need someone like me, someone mean enough to force education down their throats and hope they don't regurgitate it, but hope that they retain maybe 16% of it. I have had some success of course, or I wouldn't return, but lately it's become increasingly difficult to lure me back to the whiteboards and broken technology. My idea of peace and serenity may not include showing up early, staying late, working my ass off, and not being appreciated. I may actually just let the buzzards win - - but I know me. I fight the good fight. I may need to rethink my mantra though. I used to quote Mark Twain and say "Whatever you think can change can be if you are the change needed". I may have to change that to "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world." I need Jesus a lot more than I do Mark Twain.
Next time you think teachers aren't doing their job with your kid(s) just remember we didn't go to school to teach your kids to respect others, to respect authority, to do their work when assigned, to do their best when asked, to bring their supplies, to stop making excuses, and to stop pissing in the water fountains. Our job is to direct, instruct, teach, and correct academics, not behavior. That's the job of the parent; and that's the problem our school systems have now. I take a phone from a kid I get flack from the parent. Hey, here's a thought, your kid can either follow the rules or have consequences, and that goes for you too, parent. That goes for you too. I know we say this a lot, but when I was a kid, if I were to do what these kids do, I would be backhanded across the face by my dad, my mom would then ground me, my Sunday School teacher would find out about it, and I'd be in trouble at church too. I'd have to sit next to her during service, not with my friends, and then I'd have to miss out on fun and activities for a week minimum. We didn't have phones back then, but you know mine would have been turned off if I had spit on the floor for no reason. We need to bring back accountability - - but I think the only remedy we have now is the rapture. At least I can hope for that.
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