Can I have a turn too?
I loved Cheryl's post! She raised some important issues that happen here in NSW too. Teachers are required to multitask and fit an ever-increasing list of 'mickey mouse' subjects into an already-bulging curriculum.
However, my beef is that teachers must take all the risks, yet have no authority to minimise that risk! I don't know about elsewhere, but teachers here are severely limited in what they can do to deter poor behaviour, bullying, disrespect and dishonesty. Detention is no more (little dears have a right to visit the toilet, eat their lunches and go home on time). Corporal punishment is viewed as if every teacher's middle name were Torquemada. Even a public dressing-down is now illegal (in NSW) because it might effect the little darlings' self-esteem!
All teachers get verbally abused these days. They're expected to simply suck it up and smile back - there's no redress possible! I know teachers who have had chairs and desks thrown at them. In fact, I know one teacher who is a polio victim and very small and frail. He has been bodily picked up by a student and threated with being thrown out of a second-storey window! I know teachers who have had their cars and houses vandalised. I know others whose kids have been threatened and stalked!
Other comments:
Has anyone noticed there is no ongoing evaluation of teacher adequacy as there is in the private sector? Well, there may be elsewhere, but not here in NSW. Once you get your teacher's licence, you're a teacher and equal to every other holder of a teacher's licence. Your job is sacrosanct and you can be as bad at it as you like. There is *no* mechanism to sack teachers who are incapable of teaching!
The reasons for this are legion, but in my mind, the biggest one is that with increasing tendencies for kids to go on to University, the easiest profession to 'fall' into is teaching. You often hear it in high schools: 'anyone can be a teacher'.
Well, duh! No, they can't!
I know many teachers and here are some examples I've encountered:
- plain old classroom teacher who took himself to Uni and did a Science degree so he could *really* teach kids about Natural History
- same teacher - learned to play guitar and fostered a school choir which, today, wins the local eisteddfod year in and year out.
- part-time teacher who hated doing canteen on her days off because she couldn't make change or add up lunch orders and felt embarrassed!
- teacher who refused to do her turn as annual raffle co-ordinator - likewise, she 'can't add up money' and didn't want the responsibility!
- teachers who can't spell correctly and don't know why spelling matters
- teachers who don't use correct grammar and who use 'street' vernacular in order to be 'liked'
- teachers who utterly cannot gain the respect of a class and who are famed for the riots jokingly called 'lessons'
- teachers who can't tell you where your child sits in his/her class because they don't know (personal favourite of mine)
- teachers who spend their own money on incentives and rewards and materials for great lessons (eg cooking, sewing, science)
- teachers who stay back after school to help kids that need one-on-one attention or extra practice in an area
- teachers who are prepared to call you in advance, letting you know of your child's successes, failures and playground incidents
I could go on and on and on...
But y'know what? I've said it before and I'll say it again: it all boils down to the question 'Why do I send my child to school?'
If you send your child to school to be educated, you'll get some of that. How much depends on the emphasis *you* place on it at home! Kids of parents who don't care about literature, ciphering skills or general knowledge don't generally do that well...
If you send your child to school to be taught 'values', then you'd better be closely allied to the school parents' body. Otherwise, the 'values' taught might differ widely from your own!
If you send your child to school to learn to socialise, then be aware of every single thing that happens to him on the playground: much of it these days is not nice and no one will advocate for your child except you!
If you send your child to school to receive discipline that you can't give, then forget it: *ou* gave birth to it - *you* teach it the difference between right and wrong!
If you send your child to school because the law says you must, then join the party! After nearly fifty years as a student and teacher, I've come to the realisation that schools are horrendous places and not fit for human habitation! They take kids away from the major influence and model in their lives (you) and subject them to an absolutely artificial environment where the population, stress and peer pressure do not remotely resemble any other place the child will ever be again. They place many kids in jeopardy from older, larger and more aggressive peers. They place other kids in positions of power where they learn how to manipulate and bully. They give adults nervous and immune system disorders and, these days, they even have a death-rate!
I know reading this might sound far-fetched, but neither of my kids has had the wonderful experience of school that I did and I truly believe there is something highly unnatural, nasty and downright threatening about educational 'institutions' these days. I believe the reason for that is that none of us is clear about what we expect from our schools and the schools are busily disappearing up their own fundaments in trying to be all things to all people.
Sorry about the length. Like Cheryl, I feel very passionately about all this and have seen too many school-based tragedies take place to think otherwise than I do.