JohnDeereJimOhio
Member
I am writing this because I read the school post below and found it very interesting. I am 27 years old and grew up in the country. I didn't really take school too serious but managed to get B’s. All I wanted to do was follow in my father’s path and become a pipe-fitter. Those plans were changed when I got offered a scholarship to play college football. I ended up getting a degree in history with certification in elementary K-5 and special education K-12. I am in my 4th year of teaching and Friday the 27th will be my last day. I will be taking a job in the oil in gas industry. There are many reasons why I am leaving the field of education but I will give you a few and a few common misconceptions that teachers and administrators must deal with.
First is students, the general population has this idea that all kids come to school and are ready to learn and sit at their desk and are respectful to teachers and classmates. This is not the case in public schools today. I teach in an Emotionally Disturbed classroom. I have the worst s behaved students in the district. Daily students throw chairs, cuss myself and aides out, and try to hurt other students. My classroom is an extreme case but regular education teachers deal with the same issues. The also deal with students coming to school hungry, disrespectful, dirty, and dealing with adult problems. All of these things greatly affect the ability for students to learn within the classroom. In my short career it is easy to see that parental discipline is not a priority in this day in age with most students. Parents do not ask what their child did to get in trouble it is now what did the school do. These were issues that most of us did not have when we attended school. I assume most of you are like my father when I got in trouble at school I got it twice as much at home.
The next area is the curriculum that is taught in school. Parents become up in arms about common core and new ways of teaching. The fact about this is it is not teachers or an administrator making these calls it is federal and state government that oversees education. Teachers have little to no say in any of these changes and speaking out to teachers does not help. If parents are truly concerned they need to speak out to their local state representatives.
There has also been an uprising by parents about statewide testing. This again is something that teachers and administrators have no control over. If it were up to teachers state test would be done away with. The amount of instructional time lost to testing is a very large number and it does not benefit students.
I always hear about is teachers having summers, holidays, and snow days off. I agree that a teaching schedule is very nice and it is perk of the job. However If you look at the amount of time teachers put in after hours and before school as well as the amount of scrutiny teachers are put under the pay is not worth it. It is very cost prohibitive for a college student to spend 20k a year on tuition to make 30k dollars starting out teaching. Teachers also are held too much higher standards than most profession. I do not know of anyone that has a job where they have three professional evaluations a year, plus must have students pass a certain number of questions on a test or get dinged on their evaluations.
I guess the last point that I would like to make is the fact that in the United States we educate everyone. Students in my room who throw chairs and don’t care about school get offered the same educational benefits and opportunity as a gifted 5th grade student. This is not so in other countries as they are weeded out and only their best and brightest move on. When you look at this in terms of a private sector job if you are taking your truck or tractor to the repair shop and being unruly or disrespectful they can deny you service. If you are being a bad patient a Doctor can refuse to see you, if you are being a rude guest at a restaurant you can be asked to leave. If you have a crazy cow you can sell it. This is not true in the educational field.
At four years of teaching I realize that this is not a profession that I want to be in so I am getting out while I can. I know that my efforts are better off somewhere else and it is better for students to have a teacher that truly wants to be in the classroom and teaching. I do have a huge amount of respect for effective teachers and what they do every day in their jobs. Many people do not truly understand the amount of work they put in and the efforts they put in to changing children’s lives. This is long and off topic but I felt it needed said.
First is students, the general population has this idea that all kids come to school and are ready to learn and sit at their desk and are respectful to teachers and classmates. This is not the case in public schools today. I teach in an Emotionally Disturbed classroom. I have the worst s behaved students in the district. Daily students throw chairs, cuss myself and aides out, and try to hurt other students. My classroom is an extreme case but regular education teachers deal with the same issues. The also deal with students coming to school hungry, disrespectful, dirty, and dealing with adult problems. All of these things greatly affect the ability for students to learn within the classroom. In my short career it is easy to see that parental discipline is not a priority in this day in age with most students. Parents do not ask what their child did to get in trouble it is now what did the school do. These were issues that most of us did not have when we attended school. I assume most of you are like my father when I got in trouble at school I got it twice as much at home.
The next area is the curriculum that is taught in school. Parents become up in arms about common core and new ways of teaching. The fact about this is it is not teachers or an administrator making these calls it is federal and state government that oversees education. Teachers have little to no say in any of these changes and speaking out to teachers does not help. If parents are truly concerned they need to speak out to their local state representatives.
There has also been an uprising by parents about statewide testing. This again is something that teachers and administrators have no control over. If it were up to teachers state test would be done away with. The amount of instructional time lost to testing is a very large number and it does not benefit students.
I always hear about is teachers having summers, holidays, and snow days off. I agree that a teaching schedule is very nice and it is perk of the job. However If you look at the amount of time teachers put in after hours and before school as well as the amount of scrutiny teachers are put under the pay is not worth it. It is very cost prohibitive for a college student to spend 20k a year on tuition to make 30k dollars starting out teaching. Teachers also are held too much higher standards than most profession. I do not know of anyone that has a job where they have three professional evaluations a year, plus must have students pass a certain number of questions on a test or get dinged on their evaluations.
I guess the last point that I would like to make is the fact that in the United States we educate everyone. Students in my room who throw chairs and don’t care about school get offered the same educational benefits and opportunity as a gifted 5th grade student. This is not so in other countries as they are weeded out and only their best and brightest move on. When you look at this in terms of a private sector job if you are taking your truck or tractor to the repair shop and being unruly or disrespectful they can deny you service. If you are being a bad patient a Doctor can refuse to see you, if you are being a rude guest at a restaurant you can be asked to leave. If you have a crazy cow you can sell it. This is not true in the educational field.
At four years of teaching I realize that this is not a profession that I want to be in so I am getting out while I can. I know that my efforts are better off somewhere else and it is better for students to have a teacher that truly wants to be in the classroom and teaching. I do have a huge amount of respect for effective teachers and what they do every day in their jobs. Many people do not truly understand the amount of work they put in and the efforts they put in to changing children’s lives. This is long and off topic but I felt it needed said.
