‘I would love to teach but…’

[Tamara]

Absolutely. I'm actually compiling a required reading list as we speak. I know I got the first class of the semesters attention today after going over the syllabus. Lots of wide eyes. I guess it was quite different than the one they received last semester. Basically, it went the way of "it's no excuse time, either deal with it and perform or gtfo."

As things go, that has happened to me in a lot of classes, from the 90's to now. Some instructors say it is the contract with the student; there is an old cartoon which shows a student running after their windblown papers screaming, "Oh, No! My syllabus!". Two passerbys see this, one questions what a syllabus is.

"Professor's way of "I told you so"."

Of course, I recall another prof, ex career police, say during the first meeting, "Don't like that? (about some method of his teaching) There's the door.".

In my case, the first session is suppose to be paperwork, but more because it is legal and waivers, and not because of what comes next. Sign and initial. As time goes on, I am learning there is more and more reason of why to have them do that, more and more situations where if they try to take you to court because of something that happened, you got the paperwork upfront that they were informed and they acknowledged that risk.

As far as what Gun Grape said,

"Let me pass on the words of wisdom that were given to me when I was a Blockhouse instructor.

Never forget that your name will be associated with that individual by your peers. Your reputation rest with their performance in the fleet.

Your not going to be an instructor forever. Train them like they were going to your unit. Because one day they will be in your unit."

How very true. In this industry, it is small, and often one's name will be known about around it. Others may not know my name, but they certainly know the name of the man who taught me, the organization I work for.

As far as training them, treating them as, if, they were to be part of my unit, I start off the bat like that. I believe, though, it is more from the joy I get, such as when I was an officer, of taking care of people. I don't know if I developed it way back when or if it is just something that is always there.

Granted, however, as each class moves on,.......there are those, here and there, that really get on my nerves.

[Brinktk]

Let me pass on the words of wisdom that were given to me when I was a Blockhouse instructor.

Never forget that your name will be associated with that individual by your peers. Your reputation rest with their performance in the fleet.

Your not going to be an instructor forever. Train them like they were going to your unit. Because one day they will be in your unit.

Absolutely. I'm actually compiling a required reading list as we speak. I know I got the first class of the semesters attention today after going over the syllabus. Lots of wide eyes. I guess it was quite different than the one they received last semester. Basically, it went the way of "it's no excuse time, either deal with it and perform or gtfo."

[Gun Grape]

Trust me, they're going to earn every bit of it.

Let me pass on the words of wisdom that were given to me when I was a Blockhouse instructor.

Never forget that your name will be associated with that individual by your peers. Your reputation rest with their performance in the fleet.

Your not going to be an instructor forever. Train them like they were going to your unit. Because one day they will be in your unit.

[Doktor]

Teachers are not happy for being crappy is new, eh?

I have absolutely no doubt.

[Brinktk]

Your case is easy. You're training officers. They have to EARN the right to lead men.

Trust me, they're going to earn every bit of it.

How would you rectify this problem if made King/Queen for a day?

Your case is easy. You're training officers. They have to EARN the right to lead men.

[troung]

She is doing her job, teaching. About her performance evaluations - if she is measured on how many students she has to forcibly pass, yes, then I am on her side.

She was complaining about more then just having to hand out Gentleman Cs to the pebbles.

From what I have seen in schools here, she is right. The "pebbles" and "diamonds" in Us schools could do with some serious academic asskicking. They also need some serious fear in their lives, that slacking during school is going to ruin their lives and careers.

Ineffective teachers need to be purged as well. It doesn't sound, even in her biased and self serving account, like the author thrived under scrutiny.

Pretty shitty writer as well.
======
Article was aimed to an audience who fell themselves victims because of their chosen profession.

I find it disturbing that you consider teachers "whiners" when what we are doing is trying to speak up and voice our concerns with this broken system......not for ourselves, but for our students. Excuse us for trying to advocate for change, to defend a student's right to learn from their failures, to make learning more important than standardized tests, and to be able to personalize a student's education to benefit them individually. You, are part of the problem. But, I have a 65 hour work week to prepare for, so I better quit "whining" and get down to it!

As a teacher, I recognize everything Ms. Strauss says in her essay. I imagine that she has been a top tier teacher. The educational system is sick in this country. Those in control of policy have reduced it to "quantifiable" vacuity. As a history teacher, I am appalled at what I am required to teach and of my inability to exercise my judgment as to what should be included to make the learning meaningful. Similarly, I am disheartened that we facilitate trifling attitudes in indolent students: they don't need to sweat it, the teacher does. There's more, and Ms. Strauss hits on much of it. I fear things will get worse before they get better. I'll add that this seems to go deeper than party politics. But money may be at the root of the evil. The forces that seem to be pushing these policies are either making money on them, or are fearful that their incomes will be cut off when it's discovered that they are sophists pushing snake oil (e.g., educational specialists with doctorates in pedagogy employed in central offices who left the classroom long ago).

[antimony]

Bane style back breaking occurred when my mother's favorite son was criticized.

So, not you then

She doesn't want to be measured. She has no problems giving out bad grades but doesn't want to be called out for them or receive performance evaluations either.

She is doing her job, teaching. About her performance evaluations - if she is measured on how many students she has to forcibly pass, yes, then I am on her side.

Someone that writes a 25 paragraph bitch fest about why they are quitting their job probably has a screw loose, we have only her word to say that she was some great beloved teacher who was attacked by the parents of the pebbles and the administration. She is angry that parents took an active role and called her to task on her job and that she was to be held to account for her student's performance. It jumps from complaining about uninvolved parents to some rambling crap about hardware stores and cake baking when parents do show up and call her to task. She wants to have power over people without any oversight.

The article is a whiny pity party which seeks to blame everyone else for her not liking her job when she had to deal with performance metrics and oversight. It was cartoonishly one-sided bitching aimed to hit all the right keys - lazy young people, bureaucracy and overbearing parents to cover up the fact some arrogant bitch got called out by the parents of the diamonds and the administration. All we have is her self serving word that she didn't suck and wasn't herself part of the problem.

"Back in my days we got beaten three times a day by President Taft and liked it."

The comment section on the actual article is a teachers union circle jerk.

Shame the leech is no doubt on a pension sucking away the futures of the pebbles and diamonds she has so much dislike for.

From what I have seen in schools here, she is right. The "pebbles" and "diamonds" in Us schools could do with some serious academic asskicking. They also need some serious fear in their lives, that slacking during school is going to ruin their lives and careers.

[Brinktk]

I suppose people being able to identify with this teachers protests is certainly indicative of a conspiracy of victimization and martyrdom en masse by the people who actually do this for a job. Perhaps the point of the email was not necessarily to bitch and moan, it was to point out what problems are being created within public education by a top down, over bureaucratized approach. Sure, there was some bitching and soapboxing, but there was also content that begs exploration. How would you rectify this problem if made King/Queen for a day?

[troung]

I know this community as in I really do know this community several of them in fact.

I am going back to the land of "one why question a day" in a few months .

========
Comments section on the article - the target audience.

I read this column with awe because I could totally identify with it only I doubt I could have expressed my thoughts as well. After a long and successful corporate career I got certified to teach in a local Maryland county because I believed I could "make a difference." I taught for 5 years and do believe I made a difference for quite a few students but I encountered every obstacle noted by the Frederick teacher in her email. Even today I tell friends that I encountered two types of parents, those who wanted to know why their darling wasn't getting an "A" because he/she had always gotten A's in other classes, and those who simply wanted to make sure that their child would pass so he/she could graduate and get out of the house. As for "central office administrators" all I can say is that they truly are examples of the old "if you can't do something then teach it" because the next line of that old saw should be "if you can't teach it, tell other people how to teach it." Another thing that's sad about the system is that people who move up the management chain aren't motivated by being better teachers; management is simply the only mechanism for getting a promotion and earning more money.

The Department of Education with its top down standards established by administrators who have little to no training or experience in the field impedes the learning process by setting a one-size-fits-all curriculum. This reduces teachers from educator to presenter.

These administrators justify their existence and prove their value by developing metrics that have little to do with educating or challenging students, or promoting student creativity. Students conform to the metrics. Educators are confined by them. US students’ performance has continually dropped vs. the rest of the world since the DoE was created.

Imagine how much money would be available to schools if this wasteful spending were eliminated! Funds would be available for art, music, lower student:teacher ratios, books, and facilities.

She is wrong on one point. She states that the rules are such that students are not allowed to fail and this does not prepare them for life in the real world. But we live in a society that promotes that everyone, including capable people who choose to put forth little or no effort, should still get a passing grade (in the form of government subsidies that provide funds for food, clothing, shelter and other necessities like flat screen TVs and cell phones). This is called “fairness”. People even convince themselves that those who were unwilling (Note: I am not referring to those who are unable) to provide for themselves will manage to become productive members of society if we just continue to give them a hand up. In fact, this has created a continually dependent class. America’s poor have a higher standard of living than members of the middle class in over half the world.

Your article is 100% true and honest. I was a high school mathematics teacher for seven years. I taught in South Carolina and Maryland and you hit the nail right on the head. If there is anyone who disagrees then they have never set foot in the battlefield of the public school classroom. I am glad that the struggle is now put in print. I would never go back to teaching high school because of all the reasons that the article stated. It gives you a sick feeling in your stomach when you have to lower your standards and you are doing everything possible to help and the students do not have to anything and its your fault. It is a joke and travesty. Thanks for the time that you took to write this article. Have a great year.

Here's one idea that will pry never fly.... Let's pass a law that no one can pass laws affecting education until he or she has completed ten consecutive, successful years as a public school teacher. Then we could stick to what works instead of coming up with (not) new education policies every five years. I'm a veteran teacher whose non-teaching duties have increased 2,000 percent in the last two years. I did the math on all the new requirements, distractions and interruptions, and I determined that I now have an average of 45 seconds of one-on-one time per student.

Agreed 100%. Holding teachers responsible for the performance and motivation of their students is a sure road to failure, one that we're already far along.

Similarly, holding schools accountable for their students' performance on standardized tests only promotes rote memorization at best, and cheating and fraud at worst. It further drives the polarization between "good" and "bad" schools and takes money away from schools that need it the most and gives it to those that need it the least.

[tbm3fan]

- lazy young people, bureaucracy and overbearing parents

I know this community as in I really do know this community several of them in fact.

[troung]

Oh I am sorry, are you the kid who got that F which had to be changed into a C?

Bane style back breaking occurred when my mother's favorite son was criticized.

I don't agree with her that students cannot be measured, but the expectations that kids today need to be handled like a a delicate free range egg with bland non threatning grades is disgusting.

She doesn't want to be measured. She has no problems giving out bad grades but doesn't want to be called out for them or receive performance evaluations either.

What the fuck matters more - the efforts of the teacher (she was at least doing her job and teaching) or the expectations of the parents that their kids need to be rewarded.

Someone that writes a 25 paragraph bitch fest about why they are quitting their job probably has a screw loose, we have only her word to say that she was some great beloved teacher who was attacked by the parents of the pebbles and the administration. She is angry that parents took an active role and called her to task on her job and that she was to be held to account for her student's performance. It jumps from complaining about uninvolved parents to some rambling crap about hardware stores and cake baking when parents do show up and call her to task. She wants to have power over people without any oversight.

The article is a whiny pity party which seeks to blame everyone else for her not liking her job when she had to deal with performance metrics and oversight. It was cartoonishly one-sided bitching aimed to hit all the right keys - lazy young people, bureaucracy and overbearing parents to cover up the fact some arrogant bitch got called out by the parents of the diamonds and the administration. All we have is her self serving word that she didn't suck and wasn't herself part of the problem.

"Back in my days we got beaten three times a day by President Taft and liked it."

The comment section on the actual article is a teachers union circle jerk.

Shame the leech is no doubt on a pension sucking away the futures of the pebbles and diamonds she has so much dislike for.

[tbm3fan]

Deja vu all over again, as Yogi would say. The best teacher I ever had was in high school English, a Franciscan monk. He made sure everyone in the class learned everything he had to teach. He quizzed us over and over until he was satisfied we got it. He never raised his voice, and no one ever misbehaved. He had way about him that made you want to please him. Anyway, I'm glad to see someone else shared my experience and didn't turn out to be a psychopath.:)

Our guy also taught English and was Jesuit. He was also very good at what he did and respected greatly among the students. He simply had a line you didn't cross while in class, and those who didn't understand that learned it the harder way just once, after which his reputation was all that was needed.

Sadly those days from the 50's and 60's are long gone even in a Catholic school. Luckily I missed my mother's days in Catholic schools during the 40's. Rulers are for measurements.

[antimony]

Arrogant bitch needed to go find a new job long before she wrote this crap. Did she count this whiny email as partof her 40 unpaid hours of work? Sadly she will probably collect a pension from those "deranged customers." A waste of space and the world is better off without her.

Oh I am sorry, are you the kid who got that F which had to be changed into a C?

What the fuck matters more - the efforts of the teacher (she was at least doing her job and teaching) or the expectations of the parents that their kids need to be rewarded.

I don't agree with her that students cannot be measured, but the expectations that kids today need to be handled like a a delicate free range egg with bland non threatning grades is disgusting.