At what point did we as a society decide to take away all responsibility from our children? And at what point did parents decide to shed off their own responsibility in regards to said children? I'm so sick and tired of teachers being blamed for the deficiencies in our children's education. There is only so much a teacher can do. And let me tell you, we do A LOT! There comes a point though, when after our students leave school and go home, that they MUST use what has been given to them, and do something with it! We can provide the information, we can teach the skills, we can encourage. But our students are with us for such a short period of time comparatively. At what point will parents realize that THEY are the greatest influence in their children's lives? If a person decides to have a child, aren't they also making a choice to raise it? I feel as though so many people have children, and then just figure they'll raise themselves or just assume that the teachers will raise them. Teachers definitely parent. But part of that is just our nature.
I'd like to know at what point in history, a breakdown in parenting occurred. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere between the baby boomers and the gen-xers. What happened during that time that today's parents of school-age children let go of all responsibility and decided to play the blame game? By blame game, I mean parents who blame teachers and the educational system of failing their children. At what point will people begin to realize that it's not the educational system that is failing, but the students themselves! The government can pump as much money into the educational system as they like, but without parental involvement (and by involvement, I don't mean parents calling to complain, but parents willing to parent) our kids will continue to fail. If the skills and knowledge a child receives throughout the day in school is not carried through at home, there is only one, two or three people that can be blamed for that child's failure. The parents and the child him or herself. There are certainly some students out there who persevere despite their parents lack of encouragement, and God bless those kids! But statistically speaking, the more parental involvement and encouragement there is, the more successful a child can and will be.
I'm tired of parents blaming me for their child's lack of motivation. I'm tired of being blamed for not 'reaching out' to the kids more. I'm tired of being blamed, period. I work my tail off like so many other teachers I know. And I'm tired of being asked "What can YOU do to see that so and so passes?" Um, how bout so and so does their effing work and stops being a jack-ass!
Just yesterday I overheard a student telling a story about having killed a chicken. He told it with pride and laughter. When I reported this, I was told nothing could be done because there had never been a referral written on this student. When I explained I wasn't comfortable calling home because this student's father had been condescending, rude and threatening to the teachers in the past, I was basically told I had to call home anyway before anything could be done.
Another student who I also believe is a sociopath, gets kicked out of all of his classes on a near daily basis. Yet his teachers were told that we need to 'reach out' to this child and sit this student up front because that's what HE wants. I'm so glad that's what HE wants. (It's almost not worth mentioning and goes without saying that of course we've tried sitting him up front, and it hasn't helped. He loves having an audience.) But the biggest beef I have with this is that once again, the higher-ups are shedding THEIR responsibility, putting the onus on the already exasperated teachers and cowtowing to the student.
To finish, I will refer back to the title of this post. After we are done exhausting ourselves talking about these 'problem' children and irresponsible parents, what about the good ones? The ones with parents who give a shit? The ones whose parents teach their kids to give a shit? Well, they just get brushed aside. It's often implied that we should care more about the troubled kids than the ones who actually WANT their education. I feel terrible for these kids. Their time that they are entitled to is being taken away from them on a daily basis by these jerks. And yet we are encouraged to keep these jerks in class and do whatever it takes to make sure they are happy and comfortable. Just as they are entitled to fail, aren't my wonderful kids entitled to pass and entitled to uninterrupted class instruction? At what point will we get over the fact that assholes will almost always be assholes, there will always be assholes in society? At what point will we stop giving a shit about them and give a shit about those who actually give a shit?
Jess... I have a theory and some historical fact.
ReplyDeleteMy theory is that all kids shirk responsibility. Their instinct is not to put responsibility on themselves for their failures, but to blame the teacher. Not, "I didn't do my homework, therefore I failed," but rather, "Ms. Cohen hates me, therefore she failed me." The problem arises when these kids get older, but never grow up. They bring into their adulthood this anti-teacher sentiment, and approach their children's education from that standpoint. "It's not my son, the teacher must be just like those teachers I had in high school."
Historically, sometime during the Reagan Administration, a book was published called "a Nation at Risk" which suggested that public education is failing in some way. Politicians jumped on this bandwagon, and slanted public opinion. Then the public, fueled by this newfound rhetoric, went to politicians to fix the problem. Politicians, having no knowledge about how to fix the problem, came up with "No Child Left Behind," created by Bush sr., developed by Clinton , and finally signed by Bush jr., which was such a miserable failure that Obama reacted with "Race to the top" which in many ways is worse.