Education

I was watching cnn over the all star weekend. The commentators were interviewing basketball players about Obama. Magic talked abput the state of affairs today and one problem being that our children are not being educated. I’ve been hot ever since. I teach. I am on the front lines everyday jumping thru hoops for kids who are totally spoiled and easily “bored”. If I said I was bored when I was young I’d get “the look” and told to go read a book. I usually did go read a book since I listen to pretty much everything my father says. Tell a kid today to read a book and THEY CAN’T READ. Why? because the parents are young, didn’t finish highschool themselves and are perpetuating a cycle. Another reason I see students not acheiving is because material things are thrown at them to make up for something they are lacking. Like having a drug addicted mother or a father locked up, or being from a fammily that continues to have babies when the first 5 all have learning and/or emotional disabilities. What happens when I assign homework and the student 1) leaves it on his desk or 2) doesn’t bother to do it? I;m doing my part; giving them a free appropriate education but I am not their parents! Teachers are always made to feel that if there is failure, then it MUST be something we are not doing. Ok, so we remediate after school, tutor during our planning periods AND lunch and my favorite…staying in CONSTANT communication with parents. So I get in touch, tell them about their child’s behavior and the very next day, the same drama happens. Most things are all about CYA. I have to take my precious planning time calling and emailing and bending over backwards all for the same result. We do it because we hope that there will be just one that we can reach but I wonder…when are parents going to take some responsibility? If parents are struggling financially, emotionally or whatever, there are so many services for them to take advantage of but I think the most important would be for them to wake up and get to a parenting class, come in to school to meet their child’s teachers…and do their part as as a team member. We all go around saying it takes a village well some people are not pulling their weight.  Because of these socio- economic issues and the disintegration of the family unit, students are a handful. They come to us with a plethora of issues we have not seen before nor are we ready to deal with in our ever growing classrooms of 22-30.

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