I go after the students who intimidate or insult me. The abuse is unreal. I don't just go after anyone at random. You probably never taught at a major university with mediocre students.
I don't believe you for a second--there is something you're doing to provoke this "abuse" if it exists at all.
Back to the original post, here's something I read and found interesting. Check out the whole article, its worth a read. The failure of schools to educate
I'm very upset over the fact that parents have too much power. They even organize their kid's schedule to their wish. If they dont like this teacher, a particular floor, class or team they simply force the school to change the schedule. This sound simple, but guidance counselors go crazy making requested changes to accomodate these students. Parents are taking over and this need to stop. What can we do??????????????
I can't believe I didn't discover this thread earlier. I suppose I've been so wrapped up in the P&CE forum, I forgot this one was here. I couldn't possibly answer the question in the thread title in one post. You'll all just have to read my book, when it gets published. And, of course, I have to write it first. But I do want to respond to this: Funny story. Stop me if I've told this one already... My second year teaching at a Title I public school in Brooklyn, two of our guidance counselors were physically attacked by an angry parent and wound up in the hospital. We had a staff meeting to discuss the incident. At the meeting, some of the teachers expressed concern that this incident was only the natural outcome of the total lack of order, discipline and security within the school building. Many of the teachers could cite having been brutalized by children (not to mention threatened by parents), and most had reported it through all the official channels. Yet nothing had changed, and it seemed obvious that it was only a matter of time until something even worse happened. The principal's response to these concerns was, "Research shows that if you are properly differentiating instruction, you should not have any discipline problems in your classroom." I shit you not. That's exactly what she said.
I like your posts, and I understand why you tell the stories that you do. But, I struggle to understand why you still teach when these are the only anecdotes I hear. I want - scratch that - I NEED you to post a positive story from this same school.
The positive stuff doesn't come in story form. There's no story in "I learned how to maintain discipline within my own classroom, despite getting zero support from the administration." There's no compelling narrative in those little moments when the children show motivation, intellectual curiosity, or academic growth. How about this one? My second year, teaching third grade, I did a whole Hawaiian theme in my classroom. It was cute. Every Friday, as I was walking the kids to the exit, we would all sing "Aloha Oe." I taught them the words. Isn't that cute?
That was positive. I managed to nurture an atmosphere of camaraderie in an environment which tended to undermine that. In all honesty, I wasn't trying to sound pedantic. Apologies for coming across that way. The topic of the thread is whether teachers are happy with the state of education. The most succinct answer I can give to that is "no." Does that mean that positive things have never happened in my classroom? Of course not. I'm a pretty good teacher and so far I keep getting better. I can say, at the risk of sounding egotistical, that any positive stories I could share were positive because of what I did, not because of the school. I truly wish it were otherwise, but that's not the case. I also wasn't kidding when I said that the positive stuff doesn't make for good anecdotes. The positive things are small moments. The positive things are when nothing goes wrong. That's not really a story. As I teach my kids, stories need conflict.
Did you see what the school district in dulass is doing? Teachers are not allowed to let a student get a zero unless they have called home first. I see a lot of 1's in my student's future!!!!