I am a teacher and I am curious what people around the nation think about how the education profession is going. At my school, the kids seem to gain more power daily. I want to give our head principal the benefit of the doubt. She is pulled off campus just about every day for meetings. We have literally hundreds of kids tardy for almost every class period. We have a dress code that is not followed. We have etc..... Are there any schools out there that run smoothly?
You do actually forget to mention which nation . However, I think a lot of complaints would also hold water over here too. That said I'm at a very good school which does help matters and some of the things I'd complain about, many of my colleagues at other schools wouldn't think of as being something really that bad. Most things are relative.
I am a professor of chemistry at a major university in the US. The kids get worse each year in terms of complacency and discipline. These are supposedly adults but I really feel intimidated by how they approach me. I got even with some of them by being biased when grading their lab reports and handing out low grades. Lack of class on my part? Yes but nothing feels sweeter than revenge and I'm willing to keep this up if they want. I no longer take teaching seriously but it's not a loss to me anyway because I'm more into research. Teaching intro courses is something I'm obligated to do for my position and I leave it at that.
"Smoothly" is such a wide term... last year I only had to break up 2 fights... in my world, that is smooth... Tardies have been a problem as well... there is little to no penalty for it, but i blame the basis for the school's policy in general... too much havoc for myself to write everything up... we keep a tally on a computer program that fails to the spit out a list of totals to the principals... actually, the program does it, but the administration fails to implement it... Our dress code is actually enforced... we do a fairly good job of it... which is good, because what some of these girls are wearing is downright whorish [sp?]... I am now teaching honors kids, which is a whole new world of kids that take things responsibly... after 5 years of teaching "reg ed" it was a relief to know that not all has been lost... I think that starts at the top, however, after hearing (unofficially of course) to limit or eliminate homework... seriously... eliminate homework... avoid too many F's ... in fact, if there are too many F's given in any specific class, the TEACHER is at fault... that is a fine line i have to walk... balancing the responsibility of actually getting kids to learn something versus toeing the line for the administration and parents... our bottom line is getting kids to avoid dropping out and getting them across the stage at graduation, for 30% i would guess, without the proper needs met to survive in the real world... my class sizes have been ranging from 30-35... so that is tough to get some things through to teenagers with so much going on... but i am surviving... and for right now, still enjoy the job... it starts up again in 2 weeks, and i think my summer break has done it's job, made me forget all the failures from last year, and breathed some life into my passion for another year...
I hope your dean sees this and figures out who you are. It's clear your students already have your number.
You bring up a lot of things that sound very familiar. You are right. It all starts at the top. When i say top, I mean adminstration building. Our admin building has our head principal off campus at meetings pretty much every day. I think she told us every other friday she gets to be on campus all day without interruption. That is dumb. Your point about grades and how there is a magic number you have to meet is dead on. If the failure rate is above a certain number, it becomes your fault. Yeah, I love hearing that too. It was my fault they were out till all hours of the night having sex, doing drugs, working, playing on the internet, etc.... I guess we are supposed to follow them home and make them do their homework. Oh wait.....isn't that the parent's job???? I think that since our society is so letigous and our admin building bows down to all the threats of sueing, things have to change. The teachers and principals need to be in charge of the school, not the students and parents. Here is my suggestion for a solution. Every school district in America needs to hire a lawyer (which they already have). Every time a parent says "if you don't pass my innocent child, I will sue", the school district needs to say "bring it on". There won't be a judge in this country that will back up a parent when the teacher walks in with grades and attendance records. Our court system willl get even more backed up and then the judges will start screaming and then the politicians will get involved. At some point it will become too expensive for the parents to sue and it will send a message to the parents that we will not put up with your crap. If some parents would do their job as a parent, then we wouldn't have as many problems in the schools.
Sounds like you have been teaching a very long time. Have you considered taking a sabbatical and doing some of your research full time? Either way, it sounds like you need something to recharge your batteries.
I am going to have to agree. You are proof of what I tell my HS students all the time. I tell them in 10-15 years there will not be any teachers left that care because of all the BS we have to put up with. I guess some teachers started not caring earlier than I thought.
When I was fresh and young out of my PhD and post-doc studies, I was really piped up and excited about teaching. My primary motivation was research but, still, I did enjoy the notion of teaching what I enjoyed doing. Move forward to 15 yrs later and here I am. Really, I'm too old and tired of irresponsible, poorly disciplined, and lazy students. My colleagues and I always talk about the students ( not the subjects ) whenever discussing anything pertaining to undergrad. It's getting worse each year and professors like to talk of certain students behind their backs. I'm in the process of finding another position. I applied to five and was offered five. I don't know what I'll do. These positions are scattered all over the country, requiring a big move and commitment.
I teach high school. I can't remember the last time we had a professional development where we actually learned something new and innovative. Well, let me take that back....we learn a new way to hand the grade to them and let them get away with more breaking of school rules. So, I guess I was wrong.
you almost sounded like my gen chem professor last year. then i remembered that she didn't grade any of our lab reports or homework. that was the grad TAs' job.
Well, its a step up from comments that anyone who works in a factory is worthless and can't be trusted that one of the lecturers I had last year came up with I suppose.
That's how my classes also are. But I tend to wander among lab classes from time to time. I spotted the students I had beef with and I took over the lab report grading in whatever lab sections they were in. My colleagues often get a big chuckle whenever I mention this.
As a teen and in part of my 20's, I wanted to get into high school teaching. Maybe some intro math or web design courses, or what have you. The one thing I've always had a fascination with was syllabi and especially grade breakdown: basically the structure and pace of a course. But after a while of thought, I realized I wasn't a good lecturer, and also didn't have tolerance for student disruption, but also might have handled it with an uneven hand. I do not agree with the corrupt way the aforementioned teacher handles things, but also fear I might have gone down that road, maybe out of laziness. I also imagine myself not doing much to quiet a room, but at the same time passionately teaching those who are attantive and seated toward the front of the classroom. I'd love to be able to do it for two weeks in a real teacher's shoes. However, I also believe I'd be shocked.
The shameless way you talk about doing a crap job and then blaming your students for it is mind boggling. I can only hope you're lying--that you're not really a prof (and with a juvenile screen name like extremegamer...). If you're not lying, then do the world a favor and take a research job with some pharmaceuticals firm. You'll make good money and you won't be damaging students anymore.
I pray you are right. This loser should not be a teacher any more if he can't handle a simple thing like ethics. Your attitude is refreshing. Most people just say if their kids fail the teachers must suck. I appreciate you looking at both sides.
Asking as a chemist myself, do you have the saem sort of system over there as we do in which the undergrad teaching side of the job is effectively a small side role taking up a few hours a week, or is it a more major component. I can't condone some of the things you've said, but having seen the difference in some of my old lecturers from undergrad to when I was doing my PhD it was clear that the teaching side was very much something they endured (of course others did like it, but it was a mixed bag).
I do it to the kids that asked for it. You won't believe the personal interactions I've had with some of them. I've been insulted and abused in many ways and the least I could do is give them crap grades. I don't want to steal the OP's thread, so I won't go into personal details. And I call myself 'extremegamer' because I am a computer addict with a fascination and burning interest in games.
Yes, it's also a few hours per week over here. But that's for teaching alone. There also needs to be time set aside for lecture preparations and grading. I spend far more hours in research, which most professors have greater interest in. But since I have the title of professor in departmental faculty, I still take teaching very seriously and try to keep my end of the commitment.
There is zero excuse for academic punishment. Zero. If students have insulted and abused you, you do have recourse under the honor codes that exist on most US campuses. And frankly I strongly suspect your attitude toward teaching does a lot to shape these interactions from the beginning. I've also taught large lecture courses (over 500 students) that satisfied basic requirements, which means there were people in there with no intrinsic interest in the subject. It's not easy and on too many days it's not remotely fun. But there is no way in Hell I would ever stoop to what you describe. And if I had and had spoken to my colleagues about it I would have been in trouble, and rightly so.
Well, the opponants you must confront in computer games are a lot less intimidating than actual human beings--such as, to pick an example completely at random, undergraduate students.