Teacher Criticisms...(rant)

chanstriste13

Put yourself in the shoes of those who pay your salary only to have their kids dumbed down and brought into the world of "group-think", then you might understand why people complain.

It's called public SERVICE, if you feel you are entitled to more compensation, then by all means, go out into the real world, market yourself and 'be all you can be'.

:noway:

wow. you say that as if teachers don't have their own children to worry about or pay taxes themselves. wow.

and, my dear mfpeeps, quit bringing up pay - that's not what this thread is about! sheesh.

as much as pay isnt the issue, i think it is an element of the problem.. i have friends that are teachers and thats all they scream. Sometimes they even say "they why would i even try"... boom that is the mentality that most... not all, but most teachers have... if im not getting paid well why should i try.. which then leads to what... bad teaching.... so where is the motivation? some people love their job but that is rare these days...

that's sad. i feel that, as far as pay is concerned, we've got it pretty good, and NC is on the low end of the stick. my issue is the flack we get for things that are out of our control - i hate having responsibilities heaped on me that should belong to the parents of the students. don't get me wrong - i don't mind going to extra mile or fifty for my students - if i did, i wouldn't be in the business. but i can't stand it when i get parents who won't give their own children the time of day but expect me to work miracles with them. if there is a disconnect in the homelife, most likely a teacher will not be able to mend it. even though i'll give it my damnedest.

chanstriste13

Put yourself in the shoes of those who pay your salary only to have their kids dumbed down and brought into the world of "group-think", then you might understand why people complain.

It's called public SERVICE, if you feel you are entitled to more compensation, then by all means, go out into the real world, market yourself and 'be all you can be'.

:noway:

wow. you say that as if teachers don't have their own children to worry about or pay taxes themselves. wow.

and, my dear mfpeeps, quit bringing up pay - that's not what this thread is about! sheesh.

as much as pay isnt the issue, i think it is an element of the problem.. i have friends that are teachers and thats all they scream. Sometimes they even say "they why would i even try"... boom that is the mentality that most... not all, but most teachers have... if im not getting paid well why should i try.. which then leads to what... bad teaching.... so where is the motivation? some people love their job but that is rare these days...

Well, I think it's hard right now because a lot of teachers (and other government employees) are the victims of furloughs and paycuts. I don't think anyone here has gotten a raise in 3-4 years. It makes for a lot of jaded and lazy employees. It's human behavior at it's best. Money is an awesome motivator, but it's also evil. I mean one of the largest school systems in GA had a cheating scandle of epic proportions because they tied money to test scores.

yes. it's not cool when state employees are expected to make state budget ends meet with pay slashes and freezes and furloughs when private sectors are responsible for nothing. they pulled about 1/3 of our paychecks two months in a row a couple of years ago. that really sucked. of course, none of our state government officials took the pay cut because for *them* it was deemed unconstitutional and could only be done voluntarily. only the governor had her check furloughed - no one else did. state employees shouldn't carry the brunt of this screwed up economy on their own.

chanstriste13

just realized that i never gave my spin on what i would do differently if i were in charge. so here goes:

smaller class sizes. fifteen or less, no exceptions. it is impossible to give the degree of individualized attention that students need when you have 30+ children crammed into a room.

hire enough teachers and build enough schools to have those smaller class sizes.

get rid of 80% of testing. sure, we need standards and testing, but we don't need the practice test, and the practice practice test, and quarter test, and the practice quarter test, etc. our county spends millions on printing those tests (not the ones required by federal or state - these are just for our county!) and then spends more number pushing them to make them look good on paper even though they actually suck. which they wouldn't if our classrooms weren't so overcrowded.

put back technical tracks in the curriculum. a lot of these students would excel in a program that would offer job placement or internships in a trade job. then they can go and be a plumber or electrician and make more money than i ever will with their two year degree, which is a *valuable* thing in our society. i'm sick of the powers that be saying that everyone has to be college bound to be of worth. that's a load of crap.

let us actually work on our work days. we would love to spend our work days working, rather than attending a mandatory 7 hour long workshop telling us how and why we should be working.

stop spending so much money on technology. our students can run circles around us in the technology department. they don't need to blog about multipication. they need to be learning their damn tables. the technology route is cutting into way too much of the basic learning foundation. it should be a perk, not the basis of learning.

fail students. if there were a general consensus across the board that if you did not do the work you would not graduate, there would be a black void in the matriculation rate for a couple of years, but then students would rise to the expectation. the powers that be need to let this happen.

stop doing studies with a second grade class of 11 privileged children in yuppyville, usa and then tell us to apply that same technique to a sophomore class of 31 low income students that lives in the projects.

no one should be in the department of education if they have not taught in the last 5 years. 1974 does not count.

so there is my plan. it will never happen. :grumble:

raven56706

Add working on those useless conferences or make attending those conferences mandatory and you got a deal!

chanstriste13

Add working on those useless conferences or make attending those conferences mandatory and you got a deal!

what useless conferences? do you mean parent-teacher conferences? parent-teacher conferences are mandatory and included in the basic teacher package!

chanstriste13

just realized that i never gave my spin on what i would do differently if i were in charge. so here goes:

smaller class sizes. fifteen or less, no exceptions. it is impossible to give the degree of individualized attention that students need when you have 30+ children crammed into a room.

hire enough teachers and build enough schools to have those smaller class sizes.

get rid of 80% of testing. sure, we need standards and testing, but we don't need the practice test, and the practice practice test, and quarter test, and the practice quarter test, etc. our county spends millions on printing those tests (not the ones required by federal or state - these are just for our county!) and then spends more number pushing them to make them look good on paper even though they actually suck. which they wouldn't if our classrooms weren't so overcrowded.

put back technical tracks in the curriculum. a lot of these students would excel in a program that would offer job placement or internships in a trade job. then they can go and be a plumber or electrician and make more money than i ever will with their two year degree, which is a *valuable* thing in our society. i'm sick of the powers that be saying that everyone has to be college bound to be of worth. that's a load of crap.

let us actually work on our work days. we would love to spend our work days working, rather than attending a mandatory 7 hour long workshop telling us how and why we should be working.

stop spending so much money on technology. our students can run circles around us in the technology department. they don't need to blog about multipication. they need to be learning their damn tables. the technology route is cutting into way too much of the basic learning foundation. it should be a perk, not the basis of learning.

fail students. if there were a general consensus across the board that if you did not do the work you would not graduate, there would be a black void in the matriculation rate for a couple of years, but then students would rise to the expectation. the powers that be need to let this happen.

stop doing studies with a second grade class of 11 privileged children in yuppyville, usa and then tell us to apply that same technique to a sophomore class of 31 low income students that lives in the projects.

no one should be in the department of education if they have not taught in the last 5 years. 1974 does not count.

so there is my plan. it will never happen. :grumble:

VegesaurusRex

just realized that i never gave my spin on what i would do differently if i were in charge. so here goes:

smaller class sizes. fifteen or less, no exceptions. it is impossible to give the degree of individualized attention that students need when you have 30+ children crammed into a room.

Disagree - class size is irrelevant if you do ability grouping. You cold have 100 in the class and do a better job with ability grouping than having a class of 15 with all mixed ability. By the way, I assume you are talking middle school/high school

hire enough teachers and build enough schools to have those smaller class sizes.

Wrong wrong wrong - It is more efficient to use existing resources including computer technology at home. In my family, as I said we skipped grade school and high school and the lack of seat time and two or three classes a week were just as good as 5 classes a week.

get rid of 80% of testing. sure, we need standards and testing, but we don't need the practice test, and the practice practice test, and quarter test, and the practice quarter test, etc. our county spends millions on printing those tests (not the ones required by federal or state - these are just for our county!) and then spends more number pushing them to make them look good on paper even though they actually suck. which they wouldn't if our classrooms weren't so overcrowded.

Partly agree - testing is overemphasized now, but I would not eliminate it, particularly since tests like the SAT are so important in this culture. I would maybe eliminate 50% of testing and all state and federal standards.

put back technical tracks in the curriculum. a lot of these students would excel in a program that would offer job placement or internships in a trade job. then they can go and be a plumber or electrician and make more money than i ever will with their two year degree, which is a *valuable* thing in our society. i'm sick of the powers that be saying that everyone has to be college bound to be of worth. that's a load of crap.

agreed

let us actually work on our work days. we would love to spend our work days working, rather than attending a mandatory 7 hour long workshop telling us how and why we should be working.

okay, but I also think the summer vacation should be eliminated. That would be time to hold remedial or advanced classes.

stop spending so much money on technology. our students can run circles around us in the technology department. they don't need to blog about multipication. they need to be learning their damn tables. the technology route is cutting into way too much of the basic learning foundation. it should be a perk, not the basis of learning.

Agree.

fail students. if there were a general consensus across the board that if you did not do the work you would not graduate, there would be a black void in the matriculation rate for a couple of years, but then students would rise to the expectation. the powers that be need to let this happen.

Agree

stop doing studies with a second grade class of 11 privileged children in yuppyville, usa and then tell us to apply that same technique to a sophomore class of 31 low income students that lives in the projects.

Agree

no one should be in the department of education if they have not taught in the last 5 years. 1974 does not count.

The Federal DOE should be eliminated, and the state DOE severly curtailed. Education should be local at most and family at best.

so there is my plan. it will never happen. :grumble:


Something is going to happen. I have been hearing since the 70's and even before how bad our school system is. When I went it was GREAT. We really need to go back to those days.

raven56706

Add working on those useless conferences or make attending those conferences mandatory and you got a deal!

what useless conferences? do you mean parent-teacher conferences? parent-teacher conferences are mandatory and included in the basic teacher package!

no no... the conferences that are done at some place for teachers.. in NJ, they have a conference in Atlantic City but it isnt mandatory for teachers to attend so essentially its just 2 days off. ITS USELESS

sjtreely

I wasn't going to comment on this topic because I'm pretty strongly opinionated. Unions were created in the 1890's to protect uneducated workers from being taken advantage of by company higher-ups. Now that we've come 120+ years into the future and America has moved away from being an industrial and manufacturing country there is absolutely zero need for unions any longer. If I went on strike I would be fired from my job. Easy as that. Once a teacher is tenured they have to do something completely stupid in order to get fired. From there teachers become apathetic to the needs of their students and no longer care about making sure the child is receiving a fair and justifiable education. You could apply the "you can lead a student to a classroom but you can't make them learn" argument but as a teacher your job is 50% educator and 50% motivator. If you didn't realize that before you got into teaching then that sucks. Hiding behind a union for protection is absolutely ridiculous considering 99% of teachers in America are college graduates who should be able to think on their own without being taken advantage of by a district. Besides, what was the last valuable thing a union did for you? Be honest. Do I think teachers are paid correctly? Absolutely. If I had 3.5 months off a year, incredible benefits, guaranteed pay raises and the ability to almost never get fired I'd be ecstatic.

With all due respect, then become a teacher.

I don't hide behind my Union. The last vaulable thing my Union did for me was give me the gift of time. Because of my Union and its continued efforts over the years, I got to spend time with my father as he was dying. My union has worked for years to help teachers secure benefits such as that one.

Good God, life is not a remote .... get up and change it yourself.

You, too, can be ecstatic. Why on Earth would you not be in a field of work in which you're not ecstatic?

Please clarify.

raven56706

I wasn't going to comment on this topic because I'm pretty strongly opinionated. Unions were created in the 1890's to protect uneducated workers from being taken advantage of by company higher-ups. Now that we've come 120+ years into the future and America has moved away from being an industrial and manufacturing country there is absolutely zero need for unions any longer. If I went on strike I would be fired from my job. Easy as that. Once a teacher is tenured they have to do something completely stupid in order to get fired. From there teachers become apathetic to the needs of their students and no longer care about making sure the child is receiving a fair and justifiable education. You could apply the "you can lead a student to a classroom but you can't make them learn" argument but as a teacher your job is 50% educator and 50% motivator. If you didn't realize that before you got into teaching then that sucks. Hiding behind a union for protection is absolutely ridiculous considering 99% of teachers in America are college graduates who should be able to think on their own without being taken advantage of by a district. Besides, what was the last valuable thing a union did for you? Be honest. Do I think teachers are paid correctly? Absolutely. If I had 3.5 months off a year, incredible benefits, guaranteed pay raises and the ability to almost never get fired I'd be ecstatic.

With all due respect, then become a teacher.

I don't hide behind my Union. The last vaulable thing my Union did for me was give me the gift of time. Because of my Union and its continued efforts over the years, I got to spend time with my father as he was dying. My union has worked for years to help teachers secure benefits such as that one.

Good God, life is not a remote .... get up and change it yourself.

You, too, can be ecstatic. Why on Earth would you not be in a field of work in which you're not ecstatic?

Please clarify.

Great... and as they should but they are the problem. They dont care for you or for the student. They care for themselves and no one else. Even some people close to the union have even said, its main purpose now is to protect the bad teachers.

There are no need for unions anymore.

ishallnotwant

"Thank you I agree and then they want you to start taking time off of work to meet with them on their schedule. I understand it is my child but you can't meet me halfway. In order for me to meet you in the middle of the day I have to take the whole day off of work. My son was sick one day and I was called by the teacher to come and get him thats fine but I work 30 min away and I told them this. Twenty seconds after I hung up the phone I was called back and told if I am not ther in 10min they would call DSS and have them pick my son up. I cannot shorten my commute and before anyone starts I do not send my son to school sick. If he has a fever or is visibly sick he does not go. "

"Seriously?? HOW often are parent teacher conferences? At our kids' school they are 3 times per school year. You can't take a little bit of time out of your day to do one THREE times during the school year, so you expect the teacher to work around you? Do you realize they have sometimes 30 or so children in their class? Do you expect them to drop everything and work around the schedules of 30 parents? Is your kid's education important to you or not? I am pretty shocked that you are complaining about taking time off to get your sick child, too. No wonder you get along so well with the complaining poster you responded to. Would you like the school to just raise the children for you too? Maybe you could work something out where they feed them and house them for the nights. Crazy. You are an excellent example of the entitled parent being spoken of in this very thread. I'm sorry your child and their education is such an inconvenience. God forbid the teacher not work 24 hours per day to fit into YOUR schedule. "

Great! Just what I would expect. In my business if I want to succeed I have to make the client happy. That may mean doing things at times that are inconvenient for me. But that is the way Capitalism is. I think you should get a bracelet that says WWJED - What would Jaime Escalentes do? If you want to know the answer to that question, see the movie STAND AND DELIVER about one of the greatest public school teachers of all times. JE never asked anyone to accomodate him. And John Tayor Gatto. New York Teacher of the year until he got fired for fighting against the system and advocating home schooling. There are many really great teachers like those two. Do you think, with your attitude, people will be making a movie about you?

and of course, don't forget about dead poets' society.

but, really, have you ever actually taught, or do you just watch movies about teaching? you seem to have a lot of answers - you must be a master teacher. just curious.

Yes, I have taught. For several years I taught Latin for homeschoolers. Also, before that, I taught in a post graduate professional school as an adjunct. I did that for 10 years.

Most public school teachers whom I have spoken to claim that they work several hours a day extra, i.e., not including time actually spent in school teaching. Yet the post I was reacting to here was from a teacher, who gets summers off, winter and spring break, works until 3:00, and resents having to work late to accomodate parents who probably get two weeks a year off. There is a disconnect here that I do not understand. Perhaps you can explain it to me. Why would a teacher who supposedly works extra hours anyway resent staying a few hours later to accomodate parents who do not have the huge number of vacation days she gets? Seriously.

Actually the post you were replying to was mine. I was replying to another parent, the top poster. I REALLY love this quote:

I understand it is my child but you can't meet me halfway.

Um, yeah, because the teacher was the other parent when you conceived right? Why do they have to "meet you halfway?" You and potentially 30 other sets of parents? Should they be working 24/7 just so they can fit each parent into a time slot that fits their schedule?

I am not a teacher, i'm a parent. WE are the children's parents, WE should have more time, love and energy invested in them than ANY teacher-They are OUR CHILDREN! No offense to teachers at all...what they do is supposed to COMPLIMENT what we do at home, not vice versa. We are the ones who are supposed to be raising the child, not them.. I know who Jaime Escalante was, and kudos to him for the things he did. It's great that he never made anyone work around his schedule. That doesn't mean, however, that all teachers are obligated to do so. I think it's rude and selfish to think a teacher should have to work around upwards of 20 parent schedules just because you seem to think your time is worth more than theirs. I think it's sad that parents are complaining that they have to take a little bit of time off of work to invest in their own children. To the top poster: take the day off, go to junior's conference, and for goodness sake, maybe take him out to lunch afterwards and actually spend time with him. Do you even remember what he looks like anymore? He is *your* child, remember? Not theirs.

VegesaurusRex

"Thank you I agree and then they want you to start taking time off of work to meet with them on their schedule. I understand it is my child but you can't meet me halfway. In order for me to meet you in the middle of the day I have to take the whole day off of work. My son was sick one day and I was called by the teacher to come and get him thats fine but I work 30 min away and I told them this. Twenty seconds after I hung up the phone I was called back and told if I am not ther in 10min they would call DSS and have them pick my son up. I cannot shorten my commute and before anyone starts I do not send my son to school sick. If he has a fever or is visibly sick he does not go. "

"Seriously?? HOW often are parent teacher conferences? At our kids' school they are 3 times per school year. You can't take a little bit of time out of your day to do one THREE times during the school year, so you expect the teacher to work around you? Do you realize they have sometimes 30 or so children in their class? Do you expect them to drop everything and work around the schedules of 30 parents? Is your kid's education important to you or not? I am pretty shocked that you are complaining about taking time off to get your sick child, too. No wonder you get along so well with the complaining poster you responded to. Would you like the school to just raise the children for you too? Maybe you could work something out where they feed them and house them for the nights. Crazy. You are an excellent example of the entitled parent being spoken of in this very thread. I'm sorry your child and their education is such an inconvenience. God forbid the teacher not work 24 hours per day to fit into YOUR schedule. "

Great! Just what I would expect. In my business if I want to succeed I have to make the client happy. That may mean doing things at times that are inconvenient for me. But that is the way Capitalism is. I think you should get a bracelet that says WWJED - What would Jaime Escalentes do? If you want to know the answer to that question, see the movie STAND AND DELIVER about one of the greatest public school teachers of all times. JE never asked anyone to accomodate him. And John Tayor Gatto. New York Teacher of the year until he got fired for fighting against the system and advocating home schooling. There are many really great teachers like those two. Do you think, with your attitude, people will be making a movie about you?

and of course, don't forget about dead poets' society.

but, really, have you ever actually taught, or do you just watch movies about teaching? you seem to have a lot of answers - you must be a master teacher. just curious.

Yes, I have taught. For several years I taught Latin for homeschoolers. Also, before that, I taught in a post graduate professional school as an adjunct. I did that for 10 years.

Most public school teachers whom I have spoken to claim that they work several hours a day extra, i.e., not including time actually spent in school teaching. Yet the post I was reacting to here was from a teacher, who gets summers off, winter and spring break, works until 3:00, and resents having to work late to accomodate parents who probably get two weeks a year off. There is a disconnect here that I do not understand. Perhaps you can explain it to me. Why would a teacher who supposedly works extra hours anyway resent staying a few hours later to accomodate parents who do not have the huge number of vacation days she gets? Seriously.

Actually the post you were replying to was mine. I was replying to another parent, the top poster. I REALLY love this quote:

I understand it is my child but you can't meet me halfway.

Um, yeah, because the teacher was the other parent when you conceived right? Why do they have to "meet you halfway?" You and potentially 30 other sets of parents? Should they be working 24/7 just so they can fit each parent into a time slot that fits their schedule?

I am not a teacher, i'm a parent. WE are the children's parents, WE should have more time, love and energy invested in them than ANY teacher-They are OUR CHILDREN! No offense to teachers at all...what they do is supposed to COMPLIMENT what we do at home, not vice versa. We are the ones who are supposed to be raising the child, not them.. I know who Jaime Escalante was, and kudos to him for the things he did. It's great that he never made anyone work around his schedule. That doesn't mean, however, that all teachers are obligated to do so. I think it's rude and selfish to think a teacher should have to work around upwards of 20 parent schedules just because you seem to think your time is worth more than theirs. I think it's sad that parents are complaining that they have to take a little bit of time off of work to invest in their own children. To the top poster: take the day off, go to junior's conference, and for goodness sake, maybe take him out to lunch afterwards and actually spend time with him. Do you even remember what he looks like anymore? He is *your* child, remember? Not theirs.

If I understand you correctly (and I am not sure I do - very convoluted post) you are exactly the kind of teacher we experienced when we pulled our own kid out of school. Or, if you are not a teacher but a misguided parent, then you truly are myopic. Any teacher who has 200 days a year off can and should accomodate a parent who is limited to two weeks of vacation per year. If I understand you correctly, and again, I am not sure I do, you are defending the reason people hate teachers and resent them. A teacher gets enough damn vacation for 50 people. In the last 30 years, I don't think I have had as much vacation in total as as a teacher has in one year. Yet you would force a parent to use a scarce vacation day so the teacher can be home in time to watch Oprah? Wow! Sorry, but I think that is just plain inane.

chanstriste13

just realized that i never gave my spin on what i would do differently if i were in charge. so here goes:

smaller class sizes. fifteen or less, no exceptions. it is impossible to give the degree of individualized attention that students need when you have 30+ children crammed into a room.

Disagree - class size is irrelevant if you do ability grouping. You cold have 100 in the class and do a better job with ability grouping than having a class of 15 with all mixed ability. By the way, I assume you are talking middle school/high school

hire enough teachers and build enough schools to have those smaller class sizes.

Wrong wrong wrong - It is more efficient to use existing resources including computer technology at home. In my family, as I said we skipped grade school and high school and the lack of seat time and two or three classes a week were just as good as 5 classes a week.

let us actually work on our work days. we would love to spend our work days working, rather than attending a mandatory 7 hour long workshop telling us how and why we should be working.

okay, but I also think the summer vacation should be eliminated. That would be time to hold remedial or advanced classes.

the 'ability' grouping thing may work hypothetically, but we don't get that option - we'll never be able to hand pick our students. and it would really not work well for the 100 sophomore students in one class who can't even read at a sixth grade level - because there are plenty of them to go around.

class size matters a *lot*.

even if you had 50 or 60 of the brightest of the bright, highly motivated, wanting to learn, sitting in your classroom, it just wouldn't work on a large scale because of the maturity factor of the age groups involved. yes, they do that in college, but college students are there because they want to be, generally, and they know they'll have hell to pay if they screw around and waste their parents' tuition money. public school won't reflect that in the least.

chanstriste13

Add working on those useless conferences or make attending those conferences mandatory and you got a deal!

what useless conferences? do you mean parent-teacher conferences? parent-teacher conferences are mandatory and included in the basic teacher package!

no no... the conferences that are done at some place for teachers.. in NJ, they have a conference in Atlantic City but it isnt mandatory for teachers to attend so essentially its just 2 days off. ITS USELESS

okay. we don't have those, but we'll ban them. they sound like crap.

chanstriste13

just realized that i never gave my spin on what i would do differently if i were in charge. so here goes:

smaller class sizes. fifteen or less, no exceptions. it is impossible to give the degree of individualized attention that students need when you have 30+ children crammed into a room.

Disagree - class size is irrelevant if you do ability grouping. You cold have 100 in the class and do a better job with ability grouping than having a class of 15 with all mixed ability. By the way, I assume you are talking middle school/high school

hire enough teachers and build enough schools to have those smaller class sizes.

Wrong wrong wrong - It is more efficient to use existing resources including computer technology at home. In my family, as I said we skipped grade school and high school and the lack of seat time and two or three classes a week were just as good as 5 classes a week.

let us actually work on our work days. we would love to spend our work days working, rather than attending a mandatory 7 hour long workshop telling us how and why we should be working.

okay, but I also think the summer vacation should be eliminated. That would be time to hold remedial or advanced classes.

the 'ability' grouping thing may work hypothetically, but we don't get that option - we'll never be able to hand pick our students. and it would really not work well for the 100 sophomore students in one class who can't even read at a sixth grade level - because there are plenty of them to go around.

class size matters a *lot*.

even if you had 50 or 60 of the brightest of the bright, highly motivated, wanting to learn, sitting in your classroom, it just wouldn't work on a large scale because of the maturity factor of the age groups involved. yes, they do that in college, but college students are there because they want to be, generally, and they know they'll have hell to pay if they screw around and waste their parents' tuition money. public school won't reflect that in the least.

as for summers, schools already use that time for enrichment and remediation programs. not all students need that, so not all teachers need it. i think it's silly that so many people are uptight about teachers getting summers off, because it's not for us - it's for the kids! some parents just think it's a bummer that they have to deal with them that length of time. if i were a 12 month employee, i would get more money, so i'm okay with that idea. and some schools do the year-round thing, although it still ends up being the same amount of time off, just spaced out differently. people act like teachers have control over the calendar, and that's really just silly.

Gitana

I completely understand, I've been been an aide for five years and been steadily working on my teaching certification for 10 and I hate it when my mother-in-law tell people what I'm going for then in a rush follows it with "but then she's going to continue her education" like being a teacher isn't good enough. And when I get that look like I just announced I'm going for a four year degree to be a janitor!!!

loopybec2002

I understand it is my child but you can't meet me halfway.

Um, yeah, because the teacher was the other parent when you conceived right? Why do they have to "meet you halfway?" You and potentially 30 other sets of parents? Should they be working 24/7 just so they can fit each parent into a time slot that fits their schedule?

I am not a teacher, i'm a parent. WE are the children's parents, WE should have more time, love and energy invested in them than ANY teacher-They are OUR CHILDREN! No offense to teachers at all...what they do is supposed to COMPLIMENT what we do at home, not vice versa. We are the ones who are supposed to be raising the child, not them.. I know who Jaime Escalante was, and kudos to him for the things he did. It's great that he never made anyone work around his schedule. That doesn't mean, however, that all teachers are obligated to do so. I think it's rude and selfish to think a teacher should have to work around upwards of 20 parent schedules just because you seem to think your time is worth more than theirs. I think it's sad that parents are complaining that they have to take a little bit of time off of work to invest in their own children. To the top poster: take the day off, go to junior's conference, and for goodness sake, maybe take him out to lunch afterwards and actually spend time with him. Do you even remember what he looks like anymore? He is *your* child, remember? Not theirs.

So when YOUR childs teacher is busy. Making time for you on your terms because your time is so much more important than theirs. What will THEIR child be doing the one they gave birth to.proberly waiting around for THEIR mum to finnish making time for YOUR kid because you didn't want to take the holiday. My mum got a lot if. stuck up mums who thought all teachers owed them the world and i often lost a lot of he's of her time because she had to hang around until mums could be bothered to show their faces.

ishallnotwant

I understand it is my child but you can't meet me halfway.

Um, yeah, because the teacher was the other parent when you conceived right? Why do they have to "meet you halfway?" You and potentially 30 other sets of parents? Should they be working 24/7 just so they can fit each parent into a time slot that fits their schedule?

I am not a teacher, i'm a parent. WE are the children's parents, WE should have more time, love and energy invested in them than ANY teacher-They are OUR CHILDREN! No offense to teachers at all...what they do is supposed to COMPLIMENT what we do at home, not vice versa. We are the ones who are supposed to be raising the child, not them.. I know who Jaime Escalante was, and kudos to him for the things he did. It's great that he never made anyone work around his schedule. That doesn't mean, however, that all teachers are obligated to do so. I think it's rude and selfish to think a teacher should have to work around upwards of 20 parent schedules just because you seem to think your time is worth more than theirs. I think it's sad that parents are complaining that they have to take a little bit of time off of work to invest in their own children. To the top poster: take the day off, go to junior's conference, and for goodness sake, maybe take him out to lunch afterwards and actually spend time with him. Do you even remember what he looks like anymore? He is *your* child, remember? Not theirs.

So when YOUR childs teacher is busy. Making time for you on your terms because your time is so much more important than theirs. What will THEIR child be doing the one they gave birth to.proberly waiting around for THEIR mum to finnish making time for YOUR kid because you didn't want to take the holiday. My mum got a lot if. stuck up mums who thought all teachers owed them the world and i often lost a lot of he's of her time because she had to hang around until mums could be bothered to show their faces.

I'm sorry to hear that Loopy.

loopybec2002

Its fine i love my mum to bits and she was an . amazing
mum& an amazing teacher but mostof my child hood we were at school waiting for good parent s who really do love their kids to turn up for meeting but because they work& its the teachers job to look after their kid why should they make time for meetings until the parents are ready. My mum spent every holiday with me& we deserved that time togeather but unlike all my friends who's parents would pull them out of school mid term to go abroad bbecause school holidays were so expensive, me and my brother went without because our mum couldn't pull us out of school because she worked but with two kids couldn't afford the increased prices

ishallnotwant

Its fine i love my mum to bits and she was an . amazing
mum& an amazing teacher but mostof my child hood we were at school waiting for good parent s who really do love their kids to turn up for meeting but because they work& its the teachers job to look after their kid why should they make time for meetings until the parents are ready. My mum spent every holiday with me& we deserved that time togeather but unlike all my friends who's parents would pull them out of school mid term to go abroad bbecause school holidays were so expensive, me and my brother went without because our mum couldn't pull us out of school because she worked but with two kids couldn't afford the increased prices

I agree with you wholeheartedly. That's what I was trying to point out in my post above, that the teacher should not have to cater to the 20+ parents who have different work schedules. They should make the effort to be there when the teacher is available.